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Wednesday, 2 March 2011

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Film Review:

Child is the father of man

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.

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