'Paradise' movie review: The film is thought-provoking and ambitious in its attempt to bring to the fore the manner in which human beings crumble in the face of intense pressure
A still from Paradise
Film: Paradise
Cast: Roshan Mathew, Darshana Rajendran, Shyam Fernando, Mahendra Perera, Sumith Ilango, Azer Samsoodeen
Director: Prasanna Vithanage
Rating: 3/5
Runtime: 110 min
Internationally recognized Sri Lankan auteur Prasanna Vithanage’s first Indian language film, ‘Paradise, ’ winner of the Kim Jeseok Award at Busan 2023 is being released in Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil and Sinhala. It’s a simple film about a middle-class Indian couple Keshav (Roshan Mathew) and Amritha/Ammu (Darshana Rajendran) celebrating their 5th Wedding anniversary by holidaying in Sri Lanka during the acute economic crisis of 2022. Sri Lanka was then engulfed in massive protests due to mounting discontent against the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his mismanagement of the Govt coffers.
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Keshav opines that the country is welcoming tourists because they need their Dollars for an economic turnaround. But that doesn’t really explain the couple’s reasons for choosing their anniversary destination. An economically struggling Indian couple is unlikely to go in for Dollars when the Indian Rupee itself has a high valuation in that country. That intrinsic flaw aside, this film derives a little heft from a parallel analogy detailing Sita’s trials following her kidnapping by Ravana who is revered as a God in Sri Lanka and, Amritha’s counter-questioning of beliefs as put forward by their local driver and guide Mr Andrew (Shyam Fernando).
In a smooth flowing narrative we see Keshav and Ammu traversing through sprawling Sri Lankan estates in a tourist vehicle expending precious fuel while protesters struggling for food and fuel occupy the periphery. They have a candlelight dinner at the home stay but Ammu soon realises that it’s not intended as a romantic setting but a practical one because of frequent power cuts. Keshav’s interest in tasting Venison and Ammu’s spotting of a Deer gets the conflicts going. Evidence that their relationship is not all hunky dory crop up as differences arise to deepen the cracks. The drama heightens as the picture gets murkier with politics, identity, religion, state, civil strife, ethnic discontent making its way into the conversations, steadily increasing its toxicity. Paradise hints at a bigger picture but fails to shed greater light on its many intricacies, as it inches towards a shocking denouement - one that feels rather inorganic and contrived.
The tumultuous setting allows for skin-deep references to the multiplicities of Lankan society and complexities in human nature. The drama is never fleshed out and the couple’s problems don’t exactly come to the fore in order to justify the climax. The narrative though, touches through various aspects of human beliefs and behavior while making its bid for loftier gain. The script feels underdeveloped, at times even contrived, and the characters gain flimsy purchase because there’s very little we get to know about any of them. The film is a little meek and inadequate in its depiction of conflict. It’s the contrasts that paint a poignant picture of the inequalities prevalent there during the crisis. The tension in the narrative builds up slowly but it never achieves any peak before the startling climax.
Ably aided by well-calibrated performances from Darshana Rajendran, Roshan Mathews and Shyam Fernando, evocative character defining cinematography by Rajeev Ravi, revealing edits by A Sreekar Prasad, intricate sound design by Tapas Nayak and a befitting score by K - that help enhance the evolving drama, the film is thought-provoking and ambitious in its attempt to bring to the fore the manner in which human beings crumble in the face of intense pressure. This film is at best a fragile revelatory exploration of evolving ideas set within the confines of an unraveling marriage in a politically turbulent country.
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