Product Details

• Actors: Mahendra Perera, Soumya Liyanage, Kaushalya Fernando, Nilupili Jayawardena, Hemasiri Liyanage
• Directors: Vimukthi Jayasundara
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: New Yorker Video
• DVD Release Date: September 2, 2008
• Run Time: 108 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001A8HTY6
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #103,552 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Review
EXTRAORDINARY! LYRICAL AND AFFECTING... images that sear themselves into your memory. --Michael Wilmington, CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Product Description
Following 20-plus years of civil war, a cease-fire treaty has been reached between the Sinhala government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. In its attempt to ensure that the cease-fire isn't breached, the Sri Lankan army's presence is felt everyday, conveying the strange sense of a country suspended in a state of being simultaneously without war and without peace.

In a far corner of this war-torn no-man's-land, serviceman Anura (Mahendra Perera) shares a small home with his wife Latá (Nilupili Jayawardena) and his unmarried sister, Somá (Kaushalya Fernando). Anura works by day as a guardsman, sharing his post and rifle with Piyasiri (Hemasiri Liyanage), an older man who takes the night shift. On one fateful day, when the army delivers early morning, life-altering orders to Anura, Latá's frustration will mount, and Somá will retrace the tragic consequences of Piyasiri's painful past, as told to her in the guise of a little girl's fairy tale.

Poetic and haunting, this remarkable debut from director Vimukthi Jayasundara asserts a powerful new voice in filmmaking and stands as a breakthrough for Sri-Lankan cinema.

Special Features:
- Theatrical Trailer
- Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack
- Enhanced for 16x9 Tvs
- Optional English subtitles
- Scene Selections
- Booklet: Interview with the director

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent movie, June 18, 2009

By	Film Wallah "filmwallah" (Michigan) - See all my reviews

It's an excellent movie although somewhat slow. It's not to be confused with a factual overview on the nature of peace in Sri Lanka. It's merely a story of a family during the so called peace. People who want to get some insight into the various phases of the 30 year civil war incl. a phase of peace had better grab a documentary or a book.

It's a very stylistic film - who says that's the preserve of some directors and not some others - and narrated purely from the point of view of a Sinhala soldier's family. In fact the Tamils, the other major community in Sri Lanka, do not enter the story at all. That's why it should not be confused with a commentary on the ethnic strife in Sri Lanka.

What the director wants to 'say' is ambiguously conveyed. Perhaps this ambiguity is at the heart of things. It's a very ambiguous time - neither war nor peace. The director also makes use of very specific devices like a folk tale to situate a particular point in the film.

It's a deeply moving film.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Forsaken Land is mostly an excuse to make a soft porn movie, November 14, 2008

By	David Thomson "Second Rate Eric Hoffer Imitator" (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The storyline and minimal dialogue reveal little about the continuing Sri Lankan violence. As matter of fact, it is primarily an indulgence in soft pornography. However, the short documentary included on the DVD, "The Land of Silence," is well worth watching. It alone may justify the cost of the purchase. This roughly twenty-eight minute film explores the suffering of the soldiers who lost limbs and other body parts in defense of their country from the Liberation Tigers terrorists. They are unquestionably brave and forward looking. These soldiers do not wish to be victims---but masters of their destiny.