ANANTHA RATHRIYA (Dark Night of the Soul)
Sri Lanka 1995
Director Prasanna Vithanage
ROBERT CRUSZ

The question needs to be asked: dose Prasanna vithange's new film Anantha Rathriya (Dark Night of the Soul) mark the beginning of a new era in Sri Lankan Sinhala cinema? Perhaps I should temper my question and ask instead; "will it mark a new era?" We have to wait and see where this young director goes with his cinematic imagination and what his impact will be on filmmaking In Sri Lanka. Will producers, directors pay attention to and learn from what Vithange is tying to do?

Only history will tell whether Dark Night of the Soul is beginning a new trend. At this point in time one can only say that it is a significant milestone, just as. In my opinion, Gamperaliya ( The Changing Village,1965) by Lester James Peries and Soldadu Unnahe(1981) by Dharmasena Pathiraja were in their time. One can argue with hindsight that these two film did not start any lasting trends. Some film analysts might not agree with me here. However, I feel that the work of both Peries and Pathiraja has declined, judging from their most recent films although they were certainly major events in the history of sinhala cinema.

I feel something similar has happened with Dark Night of the Soul. My reason for saying this is simple. At the end of the first screening of the film- in its final cut stage - I was amazed. A few weeks later, after the second screening this time in its competed version - my reaction was the same. This immediate response is a valid enough reason on which it base a judgment for this film because I have never reacted like this to any other Sinhala film. It was linked too just one aspect of the film.- the dialogue and soundtrack. After the second screening, I realized that other areas of the film were equally impressive in the context of contemporary Sri Lankan Sinhala cinema.

In the Dark Night of the Soul, the dubbing of the actor's voices has been done to near perfect sync sound like standards, at last one has found a Sri Lankan director who cares about his audiences, his actors and his film. Sound is often poor cousin in the film production process and is rarely given the budget it deserves. Compromises are always made with sound compromises, which, would never be made with lighting, camera and virtually every other aspect of the film. How often have we not heard on the set something like "Never mind about the sound problem on that take, let's dub it later"? Continue