Machan

It was raining today and a friend and I wandered into this film (by mistake!! We looked at the wrong day and thought this was a Slovak documentary) at the Trencin Film Fest in Slovakia. It was one of the most fortunate mistakes I've ever made. I am not a movie fan, but with no knowledge of the plot, etc, watching this unfold was magical. Many others have commented on the acting, the authenticity, the story. . . I concur; all converged perfectly. I felt I was there in SL, and that it wasn't a script. Truly one of the best films I've ever seen (admittedly, I see few films). So human, so true, and in the way perhaps art does best, it shined a light on a situation (economics, politics, immigration) that often fails to consider people-- individuals with dignity who bear the brunt of the economic machine's brutality. I hope this movie goes further and I will recommend it to all of my friends. Wow.

Mi chum is Machan.

While Ulberto was shooting the movie in Sri Lanka, the most frequently spoken word that got his attention was "Machan". A common word used among Sri Lankan males when they talk to each other. As a result the director at the end decided to name the movie after it.

As the title suggests it is a bond between friends, not limiting to the youth, all types of age groups come together to achieve a common goal. That goal is somehow reaching a developed country for a better life.

Few years ago,Uberto Passolini read a news article featuring a story about a Sri Lankan handball team who traveled to Australia for an international tournament. There was a surprise in that story and based on the actual events he decided to make a movie on those events.

The story of the handball team appeared to be a very calculated and smart effort to illegally migrate into a foreign land. Inspired by that Uberto visited Sri Lanka with the intention of finding a writer and a producer to bring that story into life on silver screen.

It was a successful effort and the end result turned out to be a very good original movie.

The story can be quite universal to the youths looking for a better life in most under developed countries. Even though the movie passes itself to be reckoned as a comedy, it is no short of drama. The difference is those actual events have not been dramatized and it has given the movie such a realistic feeling that the audience can sit through relating themselves to the situations portrayed in the movie. I believe the genius of the director in balancing the story and drama is the best quality attributed to the success of this movie. The other main aspect is the casting. The choices are superb. The actors can not be more authentic. The convincing nature of the acting talents has been the highlight throughout the movie. The audience will embrace them, cause they are the closest thing to your own family and friends you rarely get to watch on Sri Lankan made movies. Not to mention the movie is filled with social clichés as well. I believe even though it is a hard core indie movie, those clichés deviate the movies' path from conventional indie style to Hollywood low budget nature. Apart from that the overall performance of the movie can be applauded and to me it was the most pleasurable Sinhala movie experience of my lifetime.

This film was very enjoyable to watch. Captures local culture very well.

I realize the words "foreign movie" and "Sri Lanka" are enough to scare away some Western audiences, let alone the very idea of watching a movie with subtitles. But if you miss Machan, you'll miss one of the best movie experiences you'll ever have.

I use the words "best movie experience" rather than "best movie" because this is no Apocalypse Now, no Vertigo. But it'll evoke feelings in you that you forgot you ever had. This is heartwarming without being cliché, very funny without being a comedy, very sad without being sentimental. It feels very real, and the fact that this was a real story helps enormously.

The story is simple yet unbelievable, even more so when you think it actually happened: A group of poor people in the slums of Sri Lanka, loving their families but financially desperate, are trying every way they can to go abroad. Then one of them has an idea: To go to an international handball tournament in Germany, disguised as the national Sri Lanka handball team.

I had the pleasure of watching this when it first came out, when the migrant situation around the world wasn't yet in the shape it is today. This movie should act as a beacon for the westerners who, rightfully or wrongfully, are puzzled about the whole phenomenon. These aren't people who want to go and pillage the western countries. They aren't after their women. They aren't even after making lots of money. All they want to do is get by. Their dream is not to go to the West and make it big: their dream is simply to be a janitor, a factory worker, a driver, a cleaner somewhere in the West, solely for the purpose of sending home some money. Because no matter how much effort they make, there's no money to be made home.

This is a very sad existence, and certainly extremely hard to grasp for anyone who has never faced poverty. But for these people, it's not something they notice on news bulletins and then move on. It's not a nasty feeling that goes away when you give 5 bucks to a homeless person. It's a daily, stark reality. And all their thoughts, their dreams, all their talk revolves around the only option they can see: going abroad. Knowing very well that they will be ridiculed, cold-shouldered, and shun, they still want to do it to send some real money to their families, who they won't be seeing for years.

But don't misunderstand me: This isn't a preaching movie, or a demoralizing documentary about how people in less fortunate countries live. Quite the contrary: It's very upbeat, very hopeful. And although it's not an out-and-out comedy, it'll make you laugh out loud many times. You'll know and care for each and every character. By the end, you'll feel more happiness than all the Disney movies you've seen have given you combined, and without all the fake sentimentality. Everything works so well, from the smallest bit players to editing, from the dialogue to the musical score, that it'll catch you off-guard.

Kudos to Mr. Pasolini who wrote and directed Machan, but I was surprised to see that he's directed only one movie since. Also kudos to all the cast and everyone involved. But I have to give a special hats off to Mahendra Perera, who plays Ruan. This guy is so funny you won't believe it. He looks very much like (and even sounds exactly like) American comedian Tim Allen, except Perera is a lot funnier. He steals every scene, and proves he's a very fine actor.

In short: do not miss Machan. Seek it out, and see it.

I noticed almost all the comments on the movie come from Sri Lanka. I can understand how much this movie has been loved in his own country. Cause the story, the interpreters, everything involved in the movie belongs to Sri Lanka. But after the movie is over, editing and post production done, especially after you watch it and the lights turn on, this "Machan" belongs to the world, to everyone: it's a true story, and it's the truth about sad and unfair differences in the world, about the cruelty and necessity of a lot of people (men, women, husbands, wives, sons and daughters, father and mothers) to emigrate to survive and to help their families, about the cruelty and stupidity of a lot of European laws about immigration, about the surviving instinct all the men have, about life's meaning, in general, if we can all admit life is "the" right for everybody, and not only life\survive, but life\pursuit for happiness (just to use another Italian director\world citizen's -G. Muccino- words). And the movie reaches this big and high target using humor and levity. The hardest way. I want to thank personally Pasolini for the richness watching this movie gave me. To finish it costed only 2 euros millions. Imagine... and compare with all the expensive garbage we're forced to watch from the industry...just to make them richer, and produce more expensive garbage. I really hope this movie will be loved. It deserves it.