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Dreams remain dreams

Somaratne Dissanayake's film "Butterfly Wings" portrays the trials and temptations faced by a street boy

POIGNANT PORTRAYAL From "Butterfly Wings"

"I shall just let it speak for itself," explained Somaratne Dissanayake, Sri Lankan film-maker, about his latest film, "Butterfly Wings". "I don't usually target an audience. I take a risk. Commercial success is the last thing I worry about. But believe me, my films are making history at the box office in my country." "Butterfly Wings" is a story of utter simplicity, as to seem obvious. Yet, by the end of it, you are left enchanted and harrowed in turns as the simple but highly effective tones of the one stringed musical instrument fill the air and the images that Somaratne uses to underline his theme, recur in the mind. He has taken the most trite of themes, the trials and temptations faced by a young street boy, Sira, (Dasun Madushanka) who is trying to escape the fate of his father, a street entertainer, who uses the family to work the crowd while he sings and dances. The father, Martin (Suminda Sirisena), is already showing symptoms of a serious illness as the film begins. The mother, Batti, is a young woman, who is trying to keep the family together even though she has a handicapped daughter, superbly portrayed by Dulanjali Ariyathillake. She really has no arms, only stubs, like a thalidomide baby, but who can still play a musical instrument with her toes. The mother can also see that her son Sira is dying to run away and make his own money, just to escape the family fate. They live under a banyan tree and make just enough for their daily needs, performing outside a hospital gate. There are many kinds of temptations for Batti herself, as people try to persuade her into prostitution.

Sira is a dreamer. He dreams of owning a cycle and buying a doll with arms and a healthy body for his sister. Both the most humorous bits and the most traumatic ones are a result of Sira's determination to follow his dreams. There is, for instance, a sharp comment in the way the children are used to fuel the paedophilic urges of the rich Westerner who visits Sri Lanka just for this, and the irony of NGO types who make sure that children are not employed, but do not acknowledge that if they did not work, they would starve, along with their families.

Somaratne offers this comment as his director's statement: "Unblemished by racial, religious or political hatred, children are more human than adults. The childhood dreams of a prince in a palace and a lad in a slum are the same. The difference is the practicality of fulfilling them. For one, dreams come true on a silver tray, but for the other, they are dreams only. Not fair!" He also observes, "I really don't know whether I am influenced by anyone, I haven't even seen "Bicycle Thief" though I have always wanted to see it. But I am a great lover of Abbas Kiarostomi. I can say that I am definitely influenced by legends such as Satyajit Ray and Lester James Peris."

In "Butterfly Wings", Somaratne has created a small masterpiece that will allow Sri Lankan cinema to flutter its bright wings in the sun.

GEETA DOCTOR

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