| Me Mage Sandayi Movie was directed by Ashoka Handagama. Ashoka Handagama screened this film on invitations and did not release this to regular film circuit. ‘The horrors of the Sri Lankan civil war are the context for this understated film. A Tamil woman meets a deserter from the Sri Lankan army. Mistaking his brief interest in her for a greater commitment, she follows him back to his village. His own return is greeted with consternation as the army comes searching for him. The villagers are mixed about protecting him. But the arrival of the beautiful young Tamil woman causes enormous ructions in the village, where he already has a long-term girlfriend whom he is expected to marry. He tries to rid himself of the Tamil, but she shows unexpected devotion and determination to remain with him. The director, Asoka Handagama, who wrote the screenplay and the novel on which the film was based, points to the simplicity of his shooting style — static camera with no zooms, pans, tracking, fade-ins, or fade-outs — as the most honest and effective method of describing the angst of people at war.’ Anne Démy-Geroe, St.George Bank Brisbane International Film Festival |
