TV Times

The tragedy of war is different phases. The two decade long ethnic war in Sri Lanka has taken the lives of not only soldiers and LTTE cadres but also many civilians, politicians, journalists, writers, and educationist. A medical practitioner at the Jaffna hospital and lecturer in anatomy at Jaffna University medical faculty, Dr. Rajani Thiranagama voicing against the murders committed by the LTTE paying with her own life was yet another victim of the tragic war in Sri Lanka.

"No More Tears Sister" depicts Rajani's tragic tale retold through the eyes of Canandian filmmaker Helene Klodawsky as a cinematic was screened in London as a part of the Human Rights Watch film festival last week.

Interestingly the documentary 'No More Tears Sister' in which the role of Rajani Thiranagama nee Rajini Rajasingham played by her own daughter Sharika Thiranagama portrays the price of truth one pays in times of war. Set during the violent ethnic conflict that has enveloped Sri Lanka for decades, the film recreates the courageous and vibrant life of renowned human rights activist Dr. Rajani Thiranagama.

The film is directed by Canadian film maker Helene Klodowsky and produced by the National Film Board of Canada. World renowned Sri Lankan born writer Michael Ondaatje's sensitive narration, and the highly effective use of archive footage and interviews, add value to a film which is powerful and poetic.

The film was a revelation of Rajani from the eyes of her eldest sister and husband who were willing to come on board and Rajani's younger sisters, parents and daughters and her fellow activists, all of whom are now living underground who joined them later. The challenge of recreating the story of Rajini cinematically, the director Helene Klodawsky says "When I went to Sri Lanka, I realized that most people were afraid to speak about Rajani, not because they weren't inspired by her or they didn't love her - they did. It's just that given the political climate that exists now and then, to speak out about Rajani could mean their own death,".

"Rajani Thiranagama was part of a generation of young political activists in postcolonial countries around the world whose idealism continues to be ruthlessly thwarted by narrow nationalist agendas," says the director.

Regarding the choice of Rajini for the film, the filmmaker says "While researching ethnic nationalist wars and their impact on women's lives, I came across the remarkable story of Tamil human rights activist Rajani Thiranagama. A brilliant anatomist, revolutionary, feminist, and mother of two, Rajani was brutally gunned down in northern Sri Lanka in 1989, at the age of 35. Her life and murder offered a striking way to look at both state violence and militant reaction through a feminist lens. Even today, an entire movement of human rights advocates and women's groups in Sri Lanka and the Tamil diaspora considers Rajani a source of its inspiration."

"I quickly realized that working in Sri Lanka on themes related to human rights would precipitate a re-examination of how to achieve truth-telling through the documentary form. How would it be possible to tell the story of Rajani when the very people I wanted to include in the film were too frightened to speak on camera?"

Explaining the dangerous uphill task Helene Klodawsky "I was warned that the Tamil Tigers, whom some accuse of killing Rajani for her outspoken dissident views, would be very unhappy to learn that such a film was being made,".

At the beginning Klodawsky wanted the participation of Rajani's family, in particular of her sister and husband who were both former revolutionaries which was essential, in addition characters' stories to understand Rajani's evolution, as well as the complex political backdrop to her life. In the end, it was only Rajani's family and a few highly committed underground activists who were willing to participate in the project.

"Cinematically, I wanted "No More Tears Sister" to reflect the passion and beauty of Rajani's ideals."

Creating a portrait of a slain human rights activist would be no easy feat - especially given the fact that there were no surviving archives, few photos and, due to security concerns, no access to filming in Jaffna, where Rajani lived and worked. In addition, most of her friends, former students and colleagues were far too fearful to speak about her on camera.

Almost everything would have to be constructed, but based always on careful and detailed research. Hence, "No More Tears Sister" is about as far you can get from a cinema verité documentary.

The story of Rajani Thiranagama - her courageous life, unique vision and tragic assassination - offered a compelling narrative through which to pose many of my questions. Rajani's evolution into a spirited champion of the rights of the Tamil people in the 70s and 80s paralleled the escalation of ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. Moved by her people's complex struggle against ruthless state violence, she believed Tamil militancy was the answer and joined the liberation movement. But when she witnessed the corruption and cruelty within these forces, she felt compelled to document what she saw and urged her people to desist from blind adherence to any leader or movement.

Portraying young Rajini in 'No More Tears Sister' is Sharika Thiranagama, her own daughter who was a kid at the time of her mother's assassination.

"At that time, there were a lot of killings, and it was a very dangerous situation, and so it was very difficult to get any actresses to come forward to play the role of my mother, because to be in this film, to speak out, would be a political statement. It puts people at risk. So that is one of the main reasons why I agreed to portray my mother.

"I didn't really prepare for the film. And when I started filming it the process was much more difficult than I thought it was going to be," the main actress in the film said.

"I found the death scene very difficult to do, obviously. My sister and I were there. My mother was shot outside the house, and my sister and I were inside the house at the time, so we heard the shots. For the film I had to depict her at that same moment that I had experienced as a child, but from my mother's perspective. So I was just lying on the ground next to a bicycle, with fake blood on me. And I had this moment where I thought about what she had seen just before she had died. That scene was a jarring moment of connection between myself and my mother.

Given the conditions under which Rajani lived and worked, a late letter predicting her own death "One day some gun will silence me, and it will not be held by an outsider but by a son born in the womb of this very society..." hardly seems melodramatic. Rajani seemed to have lived more than one lifetime of struggle when a bullet, undoubtedly fired by a Tiger gunman, brought her down in the prime of her life.

Director Helene Klodawsky has been writing and directing social, political and art documentaries for 20 years. Her films have been screened and televised around the world and have won more than 25 awards. She has received honours at the Chicago, San Francisco, Jerusalem and Mannheim International Film Festivals, Hot Docs and the Academy of Canadian Cinema. Her documentary credits include Painted Landscapes of the Times (1986), Motherland (1994), What If (1999) and Undying Love (2002).

Klodawsky is currently working on Family Motel, a feature-length alternative drama about a group of homeless families and refugees in Toronto thrown together in an old motel along a busy suburban highway, and 'Till We Drop, a feature documentary about malls, shopping and the "malling of the planet." She is a graduate of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and Queen's University in Canada.