Just read this article titled ‘Cinema goers continue to be duped by cheap sex films’ by Jatila Karawita in the Weekend Standard and I’m so peeved! The main gist of the article is that the author bemoans the prevalence of cheap, adults only movies in Sri Lanka and ‘tries’ to make the case for what she calls “quality big screen entertainment”. Now the main reason I’m so pissed of by this bloody article is that towards the end of it she singles out “Sulanga Enu Pinisa” for criticism due to graphic sex scenes and other sinhala films which ‘gasp’ have “full frontal nude scenes”. Now I haven’t seen this movie yet cos it’s banned here but I’m assuming it should qualify as ‘quality’ because it won Camera d’Or.
It’s evident from this that the author equates “quality movies” with squeaky clean no sex movies. This Victorian attitude towards sex is one of the qualities of Sri Lankans that really pisses me off. What could have been an eloquent case for improving the lot of cinema goers in this country instead is simply a rehashing of the bloody conservative mindset that pervades this country. No mention is made against the censorship imposed on “Sulanga Enu Pinisa” despite the NFC chairman being quoted as saying he wants to “urge film importers to bring down award-winning pictures from reputable movie markets.” So I’m assuming Monsters Ball, Boys Don’t Cry, etc would not qualify as quality, sex is natural, yes what they show in cinemas these days is crude and exploitative but I don’t see the point of condemning films just because they have sex in them, stupid bastards.
stupid bastards indeed!
some people think they know what is good and what is bad for others. that is ok as long as they don’t impose their view on others by force whether legally or otherwise. this not confined to films. unfortunately lots of sri lankans don’t object when this happens.
Comment by sittingnut — March 4, 2006 @ 4:36 pm
stupid bastards indeed!
some people think they know what is good and what is bad for others. that is ok as long as they don’t impose their view on others by force whether legally or otherwise. this not confined to films. unfortunately lots of sri lankans don’t object when this happens.
Comment by sittingnut — March 4, 2006 @ 4:38 pm
Sex is a part of life and sex is every where and that for sure. But is sex is the only things that happen on this planet or in our country? What does sex has to do with army and a monk? Once is a way there may be incidents but to make them a big scene and show it to the whole world that we are a sex hungry nation is art ?? Art is very sensitive and like a sharp knife. When some directory uses it he may cut the roots of his own civilization.
And just because US does is its we cant let it happen to our cinema. Monster ball and boys dont cry is good I agree. But do u really think that Sri Lanka its the same situation. If so ur mistaking my friend.
Comment by farcry77 — June 16, 2006 @ 5:30 am
I’m not entirely sure what your point is farcry, are you saying our civilization is asexual? If so I would direct you to the Sigiri frescoes as an example of the fact our civilization may not have been as prudish as you think. Actually what I think is happening now with the prevalence of shitty, dodgy films in Sri Lankan cinemas is that we are parading the country as exceptionally sexually frustrated.
Also your point about what sex has to do with the army and a monk, I can’t really answer that in the context of Sulanga Enna Pinissa because I haven’t seen the movie yet. What I can say is that the army and monks are all human, and sex is a big, big part of our psyche, something that Sri Lankans seem especially afraid to acknowledge, especially the older generations. This IMO is a reflection of the old school Victorian values that we somehow still seem to hang on to.
I find it ironic that you picked the ‘situation’ in the US to compare to Sri Lanka. I would actually have picked a country like France because in reality the US is extremely prudish, witness the hoo-haa over Janet Jackson ‘malfuntion.’ Countries like France are on the other hand much more open about sexuality. Also I don’t understand what you mean by the ‘situation’ in Sri Lanka, just because we are a closed society when it comes to sex doesn’t mean that’s right and that I want to accept it. Feel free to elaborate what you meant by ‘situation’
Comment by childof25 — June 16, 2006 @ 8:36 pm
i’ve got the impression that in sri lanka, people attack ‘art’/serious movies that convey unpleasant/unconservative aspects of sri lankan society because they don’t like that reflection of society being brought into the public domain (this is more than just sexuality, for eg. movies that conveyed alternative viewpoints to the war were also publically chasticed and sometimes their directors branded as traitors. - an example of this was written in a book ‘voices of sri lanka’, about a film that told the story of a poor old man from a small village whose son joined the army then died in the war).
as for the strong moral fibre of sri lankan civilsation, please… adultury, prostitution, sexual harassment, child abuse, spousal abuse are all pretty common place. as if a couple of nude/sex scenes will denegrate sri lankan socieity further.
if there wasn’t a demand for dodgy adult movies, there wouldn’t be so many cinemas showing them. however, i can see why some people would be embarrased about them, as it is a physical manifestaion of the country’s sexual fustration.
what does sex have to do with army?
how about the huge demand for prostitutes in a’pura because of the large army population? (which was explored in iriya madhiama (or something like that - august sun was english name). or the fact that jaffna, a’pura, and puttulum have the highest HIV rates in the country (& also high army populations again).
& monks?
one of my friends were molested by a monk. i’ve heard similiar stories happen to friends of friends. there was a case last year of a monk being found guilty for raping a child. i’m not saying that the majority of monks partake in deviant sexual activities, i just think sexuality is something that monks too have to deal with.
is sulanga Enu Pinisa banned in the USA?
i was planning on seeing it at the savoy, but they stopped showing it very soon.
Comment by shimmi — June 29, 2006 @ 2:45 pm
Not banned in the US, but can’t seem to find it anywhere…and yes I agree with you that sexuality is an integral part of being human, whether one is a regular joe, an army private, a catholic priest or a buddhist monk
Comment by childof25 — June 30, 2006 @ 1:30 am