Year: 2011
Running time: 125 Minutes
Language: Sinhala and Tamil
Shot in a seemingly idyllic village by first-time director Sanjeewa Pushpakumara, this startlingly assured film conveys the devastating effects of Sri Lanka's civil war without ever showing a military clash. The languid pace of the villagers belies the hostility that has built over a quarter century of clashes between the Sri Lankan military and the Tamil separatists. The film follows three interwoven stories involving forbidden love and ethnic tension. A village girl falls in love with a soldier and is impregnated. When the soldier abandons her, the girl and her father struggle to endure the shame. A widow and mother of eight children has an affair with another villager. When her teenage son discovers the tryst, his reaction leads to dire consequences. Finally, a young girl is harassed at school by Tamil Tiger soldiers, who demand monetary "donations" that her family cannot pay. Little dialogue is spoken during the film, which makes the violence all the more shocking when it finally does occur. In the end, Flying Fish is a harrowing account of war's malignant effects on even the simplest of human interactions.
