Comments on: No More Tears Sister

By: Lankan

Lankan — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 11:41:25 +0000

It has been realesed by National Film Board of Canada on DVD for $30 with Running Time: 78:28 http://www2.nfb.ca/boutique/ibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?a=b&formatid=51681&support=DVD

This version is 45% LONGER than the version shown on PBS USA recently with running time of 54:02 and sold for $195 !! http://www2.nfb.ca/boutique/ibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?a=b&formatid=53570&support=DVD

Is ther a major difference in the content bias.

BTW don’t miss reading CV of the cause http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/889

By: tryingtobefair

tryingtobefair — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 04:45:23 +0000

I think the movie’s pretty good, and also relatively fair, considering that it is not supposed to be an exhaustive look at the Sri Lankan conflict, but a story about one woman. (Fairly summarizing the whole conflict would take a movie of Gone with the Wind’s length, or maybe Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet–the unabridged version.) The LTTE has committed many atrocities; so has the Sri Lankan government; so did the Indian troops. Anyone looking for a pretty reasonable basic rundown of everyone’s human rights violations (to start, anyway) should read Rajani’s book (co-authored with three others from UTHR). It’s called The Broken Palymra. Copies are hard to come by, but the whole thing is available online on the UTHR website… another good book: Only Man is Vile, by William McGowan. There are also a couple of relatively recent histories of the Tigers by an Indian journalist–one is a bio of Prebhakaran, and the other a history of the LTTE. Both are pretty objective and well done. The bio of Prebhakaran is called Inside an Elusive Mind…

Hope this is of interest to those who care about what’s happening over there.

By: ramanan

ramanan — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 13:37:05 +0000

I think the reason it comes off one sided is because it’s a film about the LTTE killing this women; everything else is a tangent. Someone could and should make a great film about the IPKFi n India. This film isn’t it.

By: Rose

Rose — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 17:50:27 +0000

I had randomly caught the documentary midway last night and watched it till the end. It was deliberately one-sided and even though Rajani in her letters speak of the IPKF’s atrocities, their role is never highlighted. I agree that its hardly an excuse for what the LTTE committed and Rajani was taken aback at just that..Her words at the end predicting her death was poignant. ps-thanks Ganesha for the ‘Tintin and I’ heads up..I love those comics-it’d be interesting to see it when it airs..

By: Filmiholic

Filmiholic — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 23:44:25 +0000

I watched this last week and was pretty clear when it ended who the documentary pointed to as the group responsible for her killing, but since then I've read at least one article (that I can't find the link to right now) suggesting the ending was far less cut-and-dried that it seemed to me.

I'll be interested to hear other folks reax after they see it.

By: The Great Ganesha

The Great Ganesha — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 17:59:52 +0000

this is totally off-topic, but some desis might find this upcoming episode of pov interesting as well...

By: ramanan

ramanan — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 16:34:40 +0000

The documentary is quite good. I watched it when it premiered at HotDocs about 2 years ago now. You can buy the DVD from the National Film Board of Canada. I wrote about it briefly at my site some time ago.

As Parthi pointed out, there was non-violent resistance to Singhla nationalism in Sri Lanka from the 50s through to the middle of the 70s which netted the Tamil people nothing. A lot of Tamil people feel that the LTTE are their only option when it comes to addressing the grievances they have with the government. As such, they are going to be sharply critical of anything that casts the LTTE in a bad light. Them's the breaks.

The IPKF did some pretty horrific things in Sri Lanka; I have family friends who hate the country for what it did in Sri Lanka. But, that really has nothing to do with a post about a movie on the LTTE killing an innocent women.

By: JayV

JayV — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 16:03:36 +0000

Blather from Parthi #3 and #4: Imagine that, a bunch of supporters for LTTE, an organization that killed her sister, gets the brush off from Nirmala. Shocker isn't it.

The LTTE are a barbaric, bloodthirsty, bunch of f*wads that have imposed themselves as the sole spokesmen for the Tamizh people.

I am sure the EROS, TULF, EPRLF folks would have lots of love for the LTTE, if it weren't for the fact that the LTTE hunted and killed their membership/leadership in the same manner as they did the main protagonist of the documentary, Nirmala.

However, if it weren't for the blatantly exclusionary policies of the Singhala government in 1972 a lot of this may not have come to pass.

By: Nanda Kishore

Nanda Kishore — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 12:07:30 +0000

I second Mirax on the response to Parthi's atrocious comments.

The intervention in Sri Lanka is widely acknowledged even in India as a colossal mistake, especially the handling of the peacekeeping operations, and it is also acknowledged that there were many excesses committed by the IPKF. But using that as an excuse to justify a Bollywood style 'revenge' (that whole garland story was puke-worthy) that involved Rajiv Gandhi's assassination is just shocking. On a scale of reprehensible terrorist organisations in recent times, LTTE is second only to the Al-Qaeda/IIF/whatever.

I saw a documentary about Dr.Rajani on SBS (Australia), not sure if it was the same one, and she and other Tamils were victims of ruthless oppression, LTTE style. Not that we should take the piece as the whole gospel truth, but there is enough truth there to remind the world of the LTTE's dark deeds.

By: mirax

mirax — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 09:50:27 +0000

Parthi

Your support and excuse of the LTTE would be laughably naive - if not for the fact that fools like you aid and abet murderous fascist thugs like the Tigers from the comparative safety of your diasporic homes. Rajani was not the first Tamil to be assasinated by the LTTE who have done more than the SL govt to eliminate all moderate, peaceful Tamil leadership. You are a fine one to talk about intellectual dishonesty!