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Review of Pavuru Valalu (Walls Within)

By Piyaseeli Wijegunasinghe
27 February 1999
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Pavuru Valalu (Walls Within), directed by Prasanna Vithanage, screenplay by Tony Ranasinghe.

The Sinhala film Pavuru Valalu (Walls Within), now being screened at the Regal Cinema in Colombo, Sri Lanka, is one of the best cinematic works created in this country and it is no exaggeration to say that the film in some ways establishes new standards of artistic perfection for cinematic creation here.

The film has won many international awards. It won for best film, the Prix de la Ville d'Amiens (1998), in France. It also won the Jury NETPAC (1998) and Jury du GPCI (1998) awards. Nita Fernando received the award for best actress at the Singapore International Film Festival for her portrayal of the female lead in the film. Ten of the eleven awards presented by the Film Critics' Association of Sri Lanka for 1997 went to Pavuru Valalu.

Though the director of the film is a relative newcomer to the film scene in Sri Lanka, and also rather young, the film Pavuru Valalu is a rewarding cinematic and artistic experience And in a way Chekhovian in its meaningfulness, artistic poignancy and brevity.