Death on a Full Moon Day (2001)
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Death on a Full Moon Day Movie Review
Death on a Full Moon Day (Purahanda Kaluwara) is a 2001 Sri Lankan drama film directed by Prasanna Vithanage and starring Joe Abeywickrama. It’s such a good, moving film.
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“Are you trying to ruin the living too?“
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Set in Sri Lanka during their Civil War, the film follows an older man who gets the news that his son died in combat. He cannot cope with his death, gets into denial and wants to unbury his grave which could mean that the family thus would not get the monetary compensation from the government.
That’s the story here and, needless to say, it’s immensely powerful. My main problem with this film is the first half which is so slow and uneventful that it really affected the overall quality of the film which could have been great had it started on a more energetic and urgent note. The runtime also should have been much longer as around an hour is simply too little for such a powerful story.
The second half is truly excellent. You can’t help but feel empathy for the main character who is so well portrayed by Joe Abeywickrama in what is truly a terrific performance. The film acquaints you so well with the bloodiest and darkest chapter of Sri Lankan history by going in a more intimate instead of epic approach which I appreciated. The portrayal of parental loss and denial is so great here owing to a bunch of very touching sequences.
Death on a Full Moon Day is also very well directed by Prasanna Vithanage and although it’s obviously not well paced at all owing to its slower and uneventful beginning, I was so invested in its second half that I went past those pacing issues.
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The score is also quite good and the acting is strong across the board with all of the people being realistically portrayed here. I also really liked the cinematography as the drought-stricken land is so well utilized here. Its emotional engagement is great as is the dialogue. It’s thus most definitely an essential film from Sri Lanka both in artistic and in historical merits.
Death on a Full Moon Day has its pacing issues as the first half is slow and quite uneventful, but the second half is a great, emotionally powerful look into parental loss and denial. The film is very moving in some scenes, it’s so well shot, acted and directed plus its simplistic and intimate approach really worked in its favor.
