Film Review:
Child is the father of man
E M G Edirisinghe
What we notice usually, in our children’s theatre and cinema is
either dominating the child or acting as guardian leading children into
the future. Vidhu the film by Asoka Handagama the eminent filmmaker,
visualizes the child entirely in a different perspective to find it over
coming the hegemonious dominance of the adult over the child.
Vidhu on stage |
A vision alien to Sinhala cultural tradition according to which
children are fondled and loved under parental domination. Children are
expected to play the role of an underling within strict limitations and
restrictions.
Vidhu without a legitimate father to enjoy paternal love finds
obstacles to get himself admitted to a school with no birth certificate
to legitimize his birth.
He could be the son of any person who slept with his mother and among
them he could have been a son of a nobleman, professional or a
politician. Vidhu’s personality grew out of proportion to his age and
conception with hazards and insinuations, both mother and the son had to
face Indirectly it could be linked to the nature of fatherhood that is
not identified.
Mother living under stress and socio-economic pressure to make a
living, does not beg or accept gifts. Her character is consolidated in
will and skill to steal which she had developed into an art and her
source of self-employment which she developed into a profession. This
determination and devotion has made her to bring up her son without
pleading others on knees.
Upright character she is, which she wants instilled in her son whom
she believes should be the son of a socially stable person. Her pride
and arrogance is a reflection of her own personality that enticed
several men to her bosom, who begged for her blissful intimacy. And,
knowingly well the roots of her son although he appeared to be without
roots, she conducted herself with pride.
On the other hand, the movie Vidhu tells that it is the politician
who runs after money which hardly goes into the pocket of the poor, but
to other areas to produce more money. The poor who are more principled
in life are without any comfort in life because of being exploited by
the rich.
The director gives a strong verdict on value of money as it is
something much sought after by the rich among whom are the politicians
as well. The politicians need it both to climb up over the others and to
buy the electorate in their next step. Corruption at the top is revealed
to the audience through their hunt for Vidhu and trouble given to his
mother within the existing social order. The politician and the rich
together form an arrogant combination which sees no bounds on the path
to social and political heights.
It was the child, the child of the poor socially backward lonely
mother who teaches them a lesson in true social existence where lies the
reality of life leading to psychological and spiritual enhancement.
Triumph of the child led to frustration and defeat of the political
will however strong it was, aimed at capturing power. The director
reminds that the politicians as well as the elders are being made to
learn from the children who in their resolution, honesty and purity
stand above the corrupt politicians and their henchmen who cherish
nothing but arrogance and superiority.
The director sees that the poor need money to live, but they are not
slaves to money. Thus the movie downplays the role of money through
Vidhu’s mother who being made to strictly uphold the principle for which
she stands for. Also, Vidhu emphasises that talent whatever it is cannot
be suppressed by external forces while the politicians tried to exploit
his talents and attraction to meet their selfish political ends, the
principal of the school who identified Vidhu’s capacity and capabilities
applied for the benefit of the school and the society while elevating
the child’s personality for its own gain. The struggle fought resolutely
but concealed from each other disclosed that what is discovered in Vidhu
is all-embracing.
Structurally and visually Vidhu moves fast in keeping with the
temperament of ambitious politicians and growing lively child. The
Director was able to realize this twin objective through quick cuts and
fast moving long shots. It makes it to move fast keeping with the inner
tempo of the movement of the socio-political environment within which
the various conflicting interests kept in motion. Another device that is
used to introduce depth into the movie is to capture the mother mostly
in close up which brings her trepidations and anxiety that was
tormenting her within a hostile fast moving environment. There too, she
is captured mostly in one-shot frames specially when she found that the
politician (Jothiratne) was behind hunting for her son (Vidhu).
On the other hand, the Principal of the school is lifted in medium
shots to indicate omni-presence of his personality dominating the school
atmosphere. This is evident from the scene from where he confronts the
politician at the stage where he was getting ready for a festival to
elevate Vidhu. Vidhu speaks of the significance and potential of the
child irrespective of his beginnings, to change the tide of general
opinion. Lack of education or absence of legitimate roots is no bar to
his growth.
While both children, Vidhu and Jothiratne’s son Sarath, end up
jointly in triumph their parents too, strike a note of victory. The two
children together, beat a note of how to meet evil and obstacles to
teach a lesson to forces of hostility and corruption within the
boundaries of their early childhood.
Chandani Senewiratne as the mother of the child carries a persistent
mood of oppression and denial and Saumya Liyanage with a brisk and
determined responses imposes a dominant personality strengthening the
thematic development of the movie. The film ends with a close-up of the
Vidhu addressing the crowd gathered there to listen to him. Eventual
domination of the film by Vidhu demonstrates how a child could be a
deciding factor of an arrogant father in domestic, personal and social
life.
That abrupt end introduced to the film at a moment the audience
seemingly not prepared to leave, gives them a moment to think in
retrospect as to the true nature of that end could bring about in the
child-man conflict in dialogue with various social forces. Dominant
disposition of a sensible penetrative child irrespective of its obscure
origin and unwholesome background is thereby registered in the attentive
audience.
One may notice fancy and fantacy being made central to the content of
the film which is in fact is also the strength of the film. It satisfies
the sentiments of children through absorbing fantasy while in clear
undertones it captures the adults in deep thought making them to
transmit that child is really the father of man. |