TIME CODE TEXT / DIALOGUE
10:00.03:00 CARD: “One village can speak for many villages. One victim can speak for many victims.” Michael Ondaatje, “Anil’s Ghost.”
10:00.17:00 NARRATOR: When the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami struck Sri Lanka, over 30,000 people were killed. Millions were left homeless.
10:00.29:00 NARRATOR: The disaster took an incredible toll on a country already battered by two decades of civil war. A war that’s taken more than 60,000 lives…double the number lost to the tsunami.
10:00.49:00 NARRATOR: It’s little known that during the conflict, tens of thousands of people were arrested and never seen again…they have simply ‘disappeared’. Only Iraq under Saddam Hussein has had more people go missing.
10:01.05:00 NARRATOR: Thousands of Sri Lankans are still looking for loved ones lost before the natural disaster. They’re victims of a silent political tsunami that swept the country for over 20 years.
10:01.20:27 Title: Missing: Sri Lanka’s Silent Tsunami
10:01.29:00 NARRATOR: Once known as Ceylon, Sri Lanka was a British colony for 150 years. After independence in 1948, the Sinhalese majority, based in the south, took control of the government….and everything else – from the best jobs to the official language, and religion – Buddhism.
10:01.48:00 NARRATOR: The Hindu minority Tamils, in the north and east, pushed back. In the 1970s, the militant Tamil Tigers began fighting for independence and their own homeland.
10:02.01:00 NARRATOR: The government passed the Prevention of Terrorism Act in 1979. This act gave government forces the power to arrest and imprison anyone suspected of supporting the Tamil Tigers. It’s believed that as many as 30,000 people in the north and east of Sri Lanka went missing. Most were killed, buried in mass graves.
10:02.28:00 NARRATOR: The government had used similar tactics in crushing a Marxist rebellion in the south within the majority Sinhalese population. As many as 30,000 more ‘disappeared’.
10:02.42:00 NARRATOR: Mrs. Thamavani lives outside Batticaloa in the northeast. Nearly 100 people in her family died in the 2004 tsunami. But it’s her husband’s ‘disappearance’ – 15 years earlier – that Mrs. Thamavani cannot put behind her.
10:02.59:00 MRS THAMAVANI (subtitled): This is my house.
10:03.03:00 NARRATOR: Before the war broke out, Mrs. Thamavani lived a comfortable life. She and her husband owned a beautiful home and were raising their small children. The army forced them to leave their house. Mrs. Thamavani’s home is now a tin hut she shares with her mother and daughter.
10:03.24:00 MRS. THAMAVANI: (SUBTITLED) Our house is occupied by the army. They have not paid any rent for five years. An aid organization gave me ten tin sheets and I brought them here. My land is inside the army camp. We came to my brother’s land, and built a small hut. Now this is where we are living.
10:03.50:00 NARRATOR: In 1990 government forces were escalating their assault on the Tamil Tigers. Entire villages were bombed. Civilians like Mrs. Thamavani and her family were caught in the crossfire. They fled, along with 40,000 others, to the Eastern University campus in Vantharamoolai.
10:04.15:00 NARRATOR: In the early morning of September 5th, 1990, the Sri Lankan army surrounded the campus. Soldiers seized 158 men they suspected of supporting the Tamil Tigers. Mrs. Thamavani’s husband was one of them. None of the 158 men have ever been seen again.
10:04.42:00 NARRATOR: Dr. Thangamuthu Jayasingham was the rector of the Eastern University and was there the morning of September 5th.
10:04.49:00 DR. JAYASINGHAM: So this whole area was actually a refugee camp. You can imagine having 40,000 people. …They came here at about 5 o’clock, 5:30 in the morning, and they practically surrounded the entire building. They then called for us, and after we came, only then the entire operation started. You had all the people, more or less, everyone in the grounds and then coming in rows where you had people to identify – some masked, and some unmasked, and they were just passing through that. And anyone suspected, or anyone said yes, or nodded their head. And then what happened is they were taken aside, and they were taken outside the wall…… They said ‘We are taking them for inquiry, and they’ll be released as soon as that is over.’ And to this day, we haven’t seen them.
10:05.45:00 NARRATOR: Mr. Rasanayagam and his family were also at the Eastern University that day. His son Shanmunayagam was taken away by the soldiers.
10:05.56:00 Mr. RASANAYAGAM SUBTITLE: They took my son and tied his hands with a cloth. One of the two masked men said, ‘Don’t arrest him.’ The other fellow said, ‘Arrest him.’ The line of men were loaded onto the bus. The bus left towards Valaichennai.
10:06.14:00 MR. RASANAYAGAM SUBTITLE: After the bus left, I spoke with the university rector. He said they would question the boys and release them. I walked in the same direction the bus went to see if they boys were coming back. They didn’t come.
10:06.29:00 NARRATOR: When his son didn’t come home, Mr. Rasanayagam wrote to the Sri Lankan government and army pleading for help. The army sent him a letter asserting no-one was detained.
10:06.46:00 NARRATOR: Mr. Rasanayagam’s story is common in Sri Lanka. There is hardly a family that hasn’t been touched by the ‘disappearances’.
10:06.57:00 Super: Radhika Coomaraswamy, Chair - National Human Rights Commission
10:06.55:00 INTERVIEW: I think ‘disappearances’ is perhaps the biggest human rights issue in the context of Sri Lanka, and I think it’s Sri Lanka’s greatest shame. If we have a major shame with regard to human rights it’s the problem of disappearances.. It has totally destroyed the very fabric of our society.
10:07.13:00 NARRATOR: In the 1990s, four separate presidential commissions investigated the ‘disappearances.’ They identified the perpetrators responsible for the atrocities. But since then, little has been done to bring those responsible to justice.
10:07.34:00 SUPER: Ramani Muttetuwegama, LL.B, LL.M Law and Society Trust
10:07.31:00 INTERVIEW: The majority have never really been prosecuted, and it’s a pity, because in some of these cases, there is very good evidence. Although it was so long ago, there are still whole villages of people who knew exactly who did it, because they saw these people, and they knew these people from before, so they can identify people. But unfortunately nothing’s happened.
10:07.52:00 Super: Joseph Pararajasingam, MP, Tamil National Alliance
10:07.50:00 INTERVIEW: This is really the impunity that the military is enjoying. They have been enjoying impunity under the previous laws knows as the Prevention of Terrorism Act, the PTE, and the Emergency Regulations. They have been given all sorts of impunity under this act. They can arrest anybody without a warrant, they can detain them months without any warrant or any detention. This is the real reason for Human Right violations in the eastern part of Sri Lanka at that time.
10:08.23:00 NARRATOR: With no word from the government, many Tamils with missing loved ones like Mr. Rasanayagam have been left with no other choice but to turn to oracles.
10:08.35:00 NARRATOR: Oracles are believed to embody the spirit of the Hindu goddess Kali. The faithful turn to them to solve life and death problems.NARRATOR: Today, Mr. Rasanayagam is hoping an oracle can give him information about his son.
10:08.58:00 NARRATOR: The oracles meet with people once a year. Some offer healing rituals. Others offer guidance. Most have ordinary jobs – as grocers, electricians, mill workers, or weavers. But they’re all specially trained to serve as oracles.
10:09.16:00 NARRATOR: Mr. Rasanayagam has waited all day, and he’s finally getting his chance to meet with an oracle.
10:09.33:00 Subtitle / RASANAYAGAM: I’ve come to ask you two things.
10:09.39:00 Subtitle/ RASANAYAGAM: The first thing was about my eyes. He said I was going blind, but my eyesight is getting better.
10:10.03:00 Subtitle / RASANAYAGAM: He didn’t know that I had an operation my eyes. The oracle wiped my eyes, and now I can see people’s faces and recognize them.
10:10.23:00 Subtitle / RASANAYAGAM: The second thing he talked about was my son.
10:10.33:00 Subtitle / RASANAYAGAM: He said, ‘You’ve been thinking about your son. According to your son’s horoscope, when he turns 18 he’ll face a major danger.’
10:10.47:00 Subtitle / RASANAYAGAM: That’s when he was arrested, when he was 18. The oracle told me, ‘because of your strong faith, your son is still alive and he will come to you.’
10:11.17:00 NARRATOR: Sinhalese families in the south of the country are also waiting for the return of their loved ones from the war. In Kandy, known as the Buddhist heartland of Sri Lanka, Visaka Dharmadasa is still looking for her son.
10:11.32:00 DHARMADASA: This is my second son who is the one reported missing, and for whom that I am really waiting to return.
10:11.49:00 NARRATOR: Achinte went missing in 1998. He was 21 years-old. When the Tamil Tigers attacked his army camp, more than 1,500 soldiers were killed. Achinte and 700 others were declared missing in action.
10:12.08:00
DHARMADASA:
These are the chocolates I’ve been keeping for my son. His share will be kept for him. It will be there, and I really hope he’ll
come one day to eat them.
10:12.25:00 DHARMADASA: Thousands of pages or days of speaking never can explain the pain that a family goes through. It’s day in and day out. Every moment, every minute, every second of twenty-four hours, you wait for the return of this person, and that is very very difficult for a family.
10:12.44:00 NARRATOR: Dharmadasa has found her own way to take action. She’s organized a spiritual pilgrimage with a political message. Two hundred mothers of the missing from both sides are coming together. They’re traveling to Trincomalee in the northeast. They’ll visit some of the most significant spiritual sites for three of the country’s major religions – Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity. It’s one of the first times that women – divided as enemies during the war – have come together in the search for the missing.
10:13.17:00 DHARMADASA:
I feel it’s very important to bring women from different parts of the country together so that they can share their experience and learn from each other. In Sri Lanka, the biggest problem we see is that there is a very big communication gap. People don’t know about the others. They always think that the other side is greener. That the other people have more. And this is the main problem we see in this country, and especially for this conflict also.
10:13.44:00 NARRATOR: It’s late when the women finally arrive in Trincomallee. The women can’t afford to stay in a hotel, so they spend on the night in a local school.
10:13.57:00 NARRATOR: The next morning, the women rise early, and head to Koneswaram Temple. It’s one of the country’s most sacred Hindu sites. Some of the worst fighting during the war took place in this part of the country. This area is still contested by the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government.
10:14.26:00 NARRATOR: The women come from different faiths. But on this trip, they all take part in each others’ rituals.
10:14.39:00 NARRATOR: From the temple, the women head to a Catholic church. Mrs. Fernando’s son was arrested and ‘disappeared’ by the Sri Lankan army nearly ten years ago.
10:14.48:00 MRS. FERNANDO SUBTITLE: I do not know what will happen, but I still believe my child is alive. I dream about him. I always have good news of my son in my dreams.
10:15.33:00 NARRATOR: The women begin sharing photographs of their missing loved ones.
10:15.37:00 DHARMADASA: They’re exchanging the details of the missing children from each other from jaffna from the south, all people who is missing and exchanging the details.
10:15.52:00 NARRATOR: The women from the north and the south speak different languages. A translator is there when words are required.
10:16.00:00 SUBTITLE: This mother’s son disappeared.
10:16.10:00 SUBTITLE: Where did he disappear?
10:16.23:00 SUBTITLE: He lived in Chavakacheri?
10:16.26:00 SUBTITLE: Did he live in Chavakacheri?
10:16.31:00 SUBTITLE: This woman says he lived in Chavakacheri and she knew him.
10:16.40:00 SUBTITLE: Don’t cry, mother.
10:16.42:00 SUBTITLE: Ask her if she knows about her son.
10:16.56:00 SUBTITLE: I’ve seen him in Chavakacheri. He was in the army.
10:17.03:00 NARRATOR: Families are rarely reunited with the missing. But until there is confirmation that loved ones are dead, most will hang on to any shred of hope.
10:17.12:00 FILMMAKER: How’s the day going so far?DHARMADASA: Good. Really, really good.FILMMAKER: Any surprises? Good surprises. DHARMADASA: Her son was seen by her. We’re still working on that. FILMMAKER: Where did she see her son?DHARMADASA: In Chavakacheri. That’s what we’re going to see.
10:17.34:00 NARRATOR: There are other rare cases that light up people’s hopes. This Tamil man says he escaped from a Sri Lankan army camp in the south where he was imprisoned and tortured for 15 years.
10:17.49.00 SUPER: K.N. Tharmalingam, Social Worker, Home for Human Rights
10:17.46.00 INTERVIEW: It’s an unusual case. We’ve never heard anything like it. In fact, the people have granted him to be dead. People feel that they cannot have survived such a long period of ordeal.
10:18.00.24 INTERVIEW (SUBTITLES): I couldn’t contact anyone outside the prison and because of that my wife swallowed poison and killed herself. She waited for me. She was helpless, and she drank poison and died. My daughter was two years-old when I was arrested. She won’t call me father. She doesn’t recognize me.
10:18.24.00 NARRATOR: What’s even more shocking is that he’s brought a list of names of other Tamil men he says are still being held in the same army camp.
10:18.33:00 SOCIAL WORKER: He’s giving a list of persons who are there. Those papers are all torn to pieces.
10:18.42:00 FILMMAKER: How many people does he believe are still there? SOCIAL WORKER: 26 people. 26 names he has.FILMMAKER: And these people are from where? SOCIAL WORKER: They are from Kokadicholai,,,
10:18.56:00 NARRATOR: When word spread of his return. Hundreds of families from across the northeast came to meet him. They hoped he’d have news of their own missing loved ones. To date, none of the men on the list have been found or released.
10:19.21:00 NARRATOR: A year after the tsunami, ongoing clashes are pushing the country back to the bring of all-out war. And ‘disappearances’ at the hands of government forces have started again.
10:19.34:00 NARRATOR: In the fifteen years that her husband has been missing, the only answers Mrs. Thamavani has gotten have been from the oracles. She keeps returning to them hoping, each time, the news will be different.
10:19.49:00 NARRATOR: After three days of fruitless waiting at the temple, Mrs. Thamavani finally brings a gift. It will guarantee her an audience with an oracle. It’s a silver tray – with clothing, fruit, flowers – and even some cash.
10:20.08:00 NARRATOR: The oracle signals to Mrs. Thamavani that he’s now ready to speak to her.
10:20.57:00 ORACLE 1 SUBTITLE: She has a serious problem. It’s about a person. Do you understand?
10:21.05:00 ORACLE 2 SUBTITLE: Yes, I understand. Now tell her whether the person she has come to ask about is dead or alive.
10:21.13:00 ORACLE 1 SUBTITLE: I can’t tell you. I can’t say it. Don’t force me to say it. She will be sad if I tell her the truth.
10:21.32:00 ORACLE 2 SUBTITLE: It doesn’t matter whether it’s good or bad, just say it.
10:21.57:00 ORACLE 1 SUBTITLE: Tell her to perform the funeral rites.
10:22.06.14 MRS. THAMAVANI SUBTITLE: The oracle told me my husband is not alive anymore. He said I should perform the funeral rites.
10:22.17:00 INTERVIEWER SUBTITLE: Did you ask what happened?
10:22.21:00 MRS. THAMAVANI SUBTITLE: Yes. He said they hit him and killed him.
10:22.27:0010:22.31:00 INTERVIEWER SUBTITLE: Do you believe what the oracle said?MRS. THAMAVANI SUBTITLE: I believe him and think he is telling the truth.
10:22.35:0010:22.50:00 MRS. THAMAVANI SUBTITLE: I still hope that he’ll come home. Everybody tells me different things. When I go and ask the army, they say, ‘He may be here, or he may be there.’ INTERVIEWER SUBTITLE: How many times have you visited the oracle?
10:22.53:00 MRS. THAMAVANI SUBTITLE: I have spent almost 75% of my money on the psychic.
10:22.58:00 INTERVIEWER SUBTITLE: Are you going to consult the oracle again?
10:23.02:00 MRS. THAMAVANI SUBTITLE: No. I want to do things that will allow his soul to rest.
10:23.18:00 NARRATOR: Thousands have come from across the northeast to Punnaicholai Hindu Temple.
10:23.23:00 NARRATOR: Fire-walking is considered the ultimate act of spiritual purification. Mr. Rasanayagam believes that by walking across the coals, his prayers for his son’s safe return will be answered.
10:24.19:00 FILMMAKER:: Are you ready?RASANAYAGAM SUBTITLE: Yes.
10:24.41:00 RASANAYAGRAM SUBTITLE: My son has been missing since 1990 but now I have peace of mind. I truly believe my son will come back to me.
10:25.01:00 NARRATOR: Visaka Dharmadasa’s pilgrimage is coming to an end. The women’s last stop is to the ruins of one of Sri Lanka’s oldest Buddhist temples: Valigamvehera. It’s one last moment to come together – to pray for peace and answers.
10:25.19:00 DHARMADASA:
What I want to say to the world is that as women, we don’t feel the others are enemies. We want peace. We don’t want our children to die anymore. It’s as simple as that. None of us want another woman to go through the same pain that we have gone through.
10:25.38:00 NARRATOR: She wanted to establish a spiritual and political connection between Tamil and Sinhalese women. And she thinks that’s exactly what has happened.
10:25.47:00 DHARMADASA: We will be working together for the next couple of months and we hope it will be a shorter time period until we achieve a sustainable peace based on equality and justice and dignity to all citizens of this country. So I’m really happy about that. FILMMAKER: And concerning the missing, what is the most important thing that needs to be done now?DHARMADASA: For the authorities to start opening up. To tell exactly what has happened. Good. Thank-you.
10:26.24:13 CARD: Since the making of this film, fighting between the Tamil Tigers and Government Forces has escalated.
10:26.28:27 CARD: Since the making of this film, more than 4000 people have been killed.
10:26.33:01 CARD: Since the making of this film, over 300,000 people have been internally displaced.
10:26.37:24 CARD: Since the making of this film, over 400 new ‘disappearances’ have been reported.
10:26.44:00 CARD: The conflict in Sri Lanka has now claimed more than 65,000 lives…most of them civilians.
End credits.
10:00.03:00 CARD: “One village can speak for many villages. One victim can speak for many victims.” Michael Ondaatje, “Anil’s Ghost.”
10:00.17:00 NARRATOR: When the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami struck Sri Lanka, over 30,000 people were killed. Millions were left homeless.
10:00.29:00 NARRATOR: The disaster took an incredible toll on a country already battered by two decades of civil war. A war that’s taken more than 60,000 lives…double the number lost to the tsunami.
10:00.49:00 NARRATOR: It’s little known that during the conflict, tens of thousands of people were arrested and never seen again…they have simply ‘disappeared’. Only Iraq under Saddam Hussein has had more people go missing.
10:01.05:00 NARRATOR: Thousands of Sri Lankans are still looking for loved ones lost before the natural disaster. They’re victims of a silent political tsunami that swept the country for over 20 years.
10:01.20:27 Title: Missing: Sri Lanka’s Silent Tsunami
10:01.29:00 NARRATOR: Once known as Ceylon, Sri Lanka was a British colony for 150 years. After independence in 1948, the Sinhalese majority, based in the south, took control of the government….and everything else – from the best jobs to the official language, and religion – Buddhism.
10:01.48:00 NARRATOR: The Hindu minority Tamils, in the north and east, pushed back. In the 1970s, the militant Tamil Tigers began fighting for independence and their own homeland.
10:02.01:00 NARRATOR: The government passed the Prevention of Terrorism Act in 1979. This act gave government forces the power to arrest and imprison anyone suspected of supporting the Tamil Tigers. It’s believed that as many as 30,000 people in the north and east of Sri Lanka went missing. Most were killed, buried in mass graves.
10:02.28:00 NARRATOR: The government had used similar tactics in crushing a Marxist rebellion in the south within the majority Sinhalese population. As many as 30,000 more ‘disappeared’.
10:02.42:00 NARRATOR: Mrs. Thamavani lives outside Batticaloa in the northeast. Nearly 100 people in her family died in the 2004 tsunami. But it’s her husband’s ‘disappearance’ – 15 years earlier – that Mrs. Thamavani cannot put behind her.
10:02.59:00 MRS THAMAVANI (subtitled): This is my house.
10:03.03:00 NARRATOR: Before the war broke out, Mrs. Thamavani lived a comfortable life. She and her husband owned a beautiful home and were raising their small children. The army forced them to leave their house. Mrs. Thamavani’s home is now a tin hut she shares with her mother and daughter.
10:03.24:00 MRS. THAMAVANI: (SUBTITLED) Our house is occupied by the army. They have not paid any rent for five years. An aid organization gave me ten tin sheets and I brought them here. My land is inside the army camp. We came to my brother’s land, and built a small hut. Now this is where we are living.
10:03.50:00 NARRATOR: In 1990 government forces were escalating their assault on the Tamil Tigers. Entire villages were bombed. Civilians like Mrs. Thamavani and her family were caught in the crossfire. They fled, along with 40,000 others, to the Eastern University campus in Vantharamoolai.
10:04.15:00 NARRATOR: In the early morning of September 5th, 1990, the Sri Lankan army surrounded the campus. Soldiers seized 158 men they suspected of supporting the Tamil Tigers. Mrs. Thamavani’s husband was one of them. None of the 158 men have ever been seen again.
10:04.42:00 NARRATOR: Dr. Thangamuthu Jayasingham was the rector of the Eastern University and was there the morning of September 5th.
10:04.49:00 DR. JAYASINGHAM: So this whole area was actually a refugee camp. You can imagine having 40,000 people. …They came here at about 5 o’clock, 5:30 in the morning, and they practically surrounded the entire building. They then called for us, and after we came, only then the entire operation started. You had all the people, more or less, everyone in the grounds and then coming in rows where you had people to identify – some masked, and some unmasked, and they were just passing through that. And anyone suspected, or anyone said yes, or nodded their head. And then what happened is they were taken aside, and they were taken outside the wall…… They said ‘We are taking them for inquiry, and they’ll be released as soon as that is over.’ And to this day, we haven’t seen them.
10:05.45:00 NARRATOR: Mr. Rasanayagam and his family were also at the Eastern University that day. His son Shanmunayagam was taken away by the soldiers.
10:05.56:00 Mr. RASANAYAGAM SUBTITLE: They took my son and tied his hands with a cloth. One of the two masked men said, ‘Don’t arrest him.’ The other fellow said, ‘Arrest him.’ The line of men were loaded onto the bus. The bus left towards Valaichennai.
10:06.14:00 MR. RASANAYAGAM SUBTITLE: After the bus left, I spoke with the university rector. He said they would question the boys and release them. I walked in the same direction the bus went to see if they boys were coming back. They didn’t come.
10:06.29:00 NARRATOR: When his son didn’t come home, Mr. Rasanayagam wrote to the Sri Lankan government and army pleading for help. The army sent him a letter asserting no-one was detained.
10:06.46:00 NARRATOR: Mr. Rasanayagam’s story is common in Sri Lanka. There is hardly a family that hasn’t been touched by the ‘disappearances’.
10:06.57:00 Super: Radhika Coomaraswamy, Chair - National Human Rights Commission
10:06.55:00 INTERVIEW: I think ‘disappearances’ is perhaps the biggest human rights issue in the context of Sri Lanka, and I think it’s Sri Lanka’s greatest shame. If we have a major shame with regard to human rights it’s the problem of disappearances.. It has totally destroyed the very fabric of our society.
10:07.13:00 NARRATOR: In the 1990s, four separate presidential commissions investigated the ‘disappearances.’ They identified the perpetrators responsible for the atrocities. But since then, little has been done to bring those responsible to justice.
10:07.34:00 SUPER: Ramani Muttetuwegama, LL.B, LL.M Law and Society Trust
10:07.31:00 INTERVIEW: The majority have never really been prosecuted, and it’s a pity, because in some of these cases, there is very good evidence. Although it was so long ago, there are still whole villages of people who knew exactly who did it, because they saw these people, and they knew these people from before, so they can identify people. But unfortunately nothing’s happened.
10:07.52:00 Super: Joseph Pararajasingam, MP, Tamil National Alliance
10:07.50:00 INTERVIEW: This is really the impunity that the military is enjoying. They have been enjoying impunity under the previous laws knows as the Prevention of Terrorism Act, the PTE, and the Emergency Regulations. They have been given all sorts of impunity under this act. They can arrest anybody without a warrant, they can detain them months without any warrant or any detention. This is the real reason for Human Right violations in the eastern part of Sri Lanka at that time.
10:08.23:00 NARRATOR: With no word from the government, many Tamils with missing loved ones like Mr. Rasanayagam have been left with no other choice but to turn to oracles.
10:08.35:00 NARRATOR: Oracles are believed to embody the spirit of the Hindu goddess Kali. The faithful turn to them to solve life and death problems.NARRATOR: Today, Mr. Rasanayagam is hoping an oracle can give him information about his son.
10:08.58:00 NARRATOR: The oracles meet with people once a year. Some offer healing rituals. Others offer guidance. Most have ordinary jobs – as grocers, electricians, mill workers, or weavers. But they’re all specially trained to serve as oracles.
10:09.16:00 NARRATOR: Mr. Rasanayagam has waited all day, and he’s finally getting his chance to meet with an oracle.
10:09.33:00 Subtitle / RASANAYAGAM: I’ve come to ask you two things.
10:09.39:00 Subtitle/ RASANAYAGAM: The first thing was about my eyes. He said I was going blind, but my eyesight is getting better.
10:10.03:00 Subtitle / RASANAYAGAM: He didn’t know that I had an operation my eyes. The oracle wiped my eyes, and now I can see people’s faces and recognize them.
10:10.23:00 Subtitle / RASANAYAGAM: The second thing he talked about was my son.
10:10.33:00 Subtitle / RASANAYAGAM: He said, ‘You’ve been thinking about your son. According to your son’s horoscope, when he turns 18 he’ll face a major danger.’
10:10.47:00 Subtitle / RASANAYAGAM: That’s when he was arrested, when he was 18. The oracle told me, ‘because of your strong faith, your son is still alive and he will come to you.’
10:11.17:00 NARRATOR: Sinhalese families in the south of the country are also waiting for the return of their loved ones from the war. In Kandy, known as the Buddhist heartland of Sri Lanka, Visaka Dharmadasa is still looking for her son.
10:11.32:00 DHARMADASA: This is my second son who is the one reported missing, and for whom that I am really waiting to return.
10:11.49:00 NARRATOR: Achinte went missing in 1998. He was 21 years-old. When the Tamil Tigers attacked his army camp, more than 1,500 soldiers were killed. Achinte and 700 others were declared missing in action.
10:12.08:00
DHARMADASA:
These are the chocolates I’ve been keeping for my son. His share will be kept for him. It will be there, and I really hope he’ll
come one day to eat them.
10:12.25:00 DHARMADASA: Thousands of pages or days of speaking never can explain the pain that a family goes through. It’s day in and day out. Every moment, every minute, every second of twenty-four hours, you wait for the return of this person, and that is very very difficult for a family.
10:12.44:00 NARRATOR: Dharmadasa has found her own way to take action. She’s organized a spiritual pilgrimage with a political message. Two hundred mothers of the missing from both sides are coming together. They’re traveling to Trincomalee in the northeast. They’ll visit some of the most significant spiritual sites for three of the country’s major religions – Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity. It’s one of the first times that women – divided as enemies during the war – have come together in the search for the missing.
10:13.17:00 DHARMADASA:
I feel it’s very important to bring women from different parts of the country together so that they can share their experience and learn from each other. In Sri Lanka, the biggest problem we see is that there is a very big communication gap. People don’t know about the others. They always think that the other side is greener. That the other people have more. And this is the main problem we see in this country, and especially for this conflict also.
10:13.44:00 NARRATOR: It’s late when the women finally arrive in Trincomallee. The women can’t afford to stay in a hotel, so they spend on the night in a local school.
10:13.57:00 NARRATOR: The next morning, the women rise early, and head to Koneswaram Temple. It’s one of the country’s most sacred Hindu sites. Some of the worst fighting during the war took place in this part of the country. This area is still contested by the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government.
10:14.26:00 NARRATOR: The women come from different faiths. But on this trip, they all take part in each others’ rituals.
10:14.39:00 NARRATOR: From the temple, the women head to a Catholic church. Mrs. Fernando’s son was arrested and ‘disappeared’ by the Sri Lankan army nearly ten years ago.
10:14.48:00 MRS. FERNANDO SUBTITLE: I do not know what will happen, but I still believe my child is alive. I dream about him. I always have good news of my son in my dreams.
10:15.33:00 NARRATOR: The women begin sharing photographs of their missing loved ones.
10:15.37:00 DHARMADASA: They’re exchanging the details of the missing children from each other from jaffna from the south, all people who is missing and exchanging the details.
10:15.52:00 NARRATOR: The women from the north and the south speak different languages. A translator is there when words are required.
10:16.00:00 SUBTITLE: This mother’s son disappeared.
10:16.10:00 SUBTITLE: Where did he disappear?
10:16.23:00 SUBTITLE: He lived in Chavakacheri?
10:16.26:00 SUBTITLE: Did he live in Chavakacheri?
10:16.31:00 SUBTITLE: This woman says he lived in Chavakacheri and she knew him.
10:16.40:00 SUBTITLE: Don’t cry, mother.
10:16.42:00 SUBTITLE: Ask her if she knows about her son.
10:16.56:00 SUBTITLE: I’ve seen him in Chavakacheri. He was in the army.
10:17.03:00 NARRATOR: Families are rarely reunited with the missing. But until there is confirmation that loved ones are dead, most will hang on to any shred of hope.
10:17.12:00 FILMMAKER: How’s the day going so far?DHARMADASA: Good. Really, really good.FILMMAKER: Any surprises? Good surprises. DHARMADASA: Her son was seen by her. We’re still working on that. FILMMAKER: Where did she see her son?DHARMADASA: In Chavakacheri. That’s what we’re going to see.
10:17.34:00 NARRATOR: There are other rare cases that light up people’s hopes. This Tamil man says he escaped from a Sri Lankan army camp in the south where he was imprisoned and tortured for 15 years.
10:17.49.00 SUPER: K.N. Tharmalingam, Social Worker, Home for Human Rights
10:17.46.00 INTERVIEW: It’s an unusual case. We’ve never heard anything like it. In fact, the people have granted him to be dead. People feel that they cannot have survived such a long period of ordeal.
10:18.00.24 INTERVIEW (SUBTITLES): I couldn’t contact anyone outside the prison and because of that my wife swallowed poison and killed herself. She waited for me. She was helpless, and she drank poison and died. My daughter was two years-old when I was arrested. She won’t call me father. She doesn’t recognize me.
10:18.24.00 NARRATOR: What’s even more shocking is that he’s brought a list of names of other Tamil men he says are still being held in the same army camp.
10:18.33:00 SOCIAL WORKER: He’s giving a list of persons who are there. Those papers are all torn to pieces.
10:18.42:00 FILMMAKER: How many people does he believe are still there? SOCIAL WORKER: 26 people. 26 names he has.FILMMAKER: And these people are from where? SOCIAL WORKER: They are from Kokadicholai,,,
10:18.56:00 NARRATOR: When word spread of his return. Hundreds of families from across the northeast came to meet him. They hoped he’d have news of their own missing loved ones. To date, none of the men on the list have been found or released.
10:19.21:00 NARRATOR: A year after the tsunami, ongoing clashes are pushing the country back to the bring of all-out war. And ‘disappearances’ at the hands of government forces have started again.
10:19.34:00 NARRATOR: In the fifteen years that her husband has been missing, the only answers Mrs. Thamavani has gotten have been from the oracles. She keeps returning to them hoping, each time, the news will be different.
10:19.49:00 NARRATOR: After three days of fruitless waiting at the temple, Mrs. Thamavani finally brings a gift. It will guarantee her an audience with an oracle. It’s a silver tray – with clothing, fruit, flowers – and even some cash.
10:20.08:00 NARRATOR: The oracle signals to Mrs. Thamavani that he’s now ready to speak to her.
10:20.57:00 ORACLE 1 SUBTITLE: She has a serious problem. It’s about a person. Do you understand?
10:21.05:00 ORACLE 2 SUBTITLE: Yes, I understand. Now tell her whether the person she has come to ask about is dead or alive.
10:21.13:00 ORACLE 1 SUBTITLE: I can’t tell you. I can’t say it. Don’t force me to say it. She will be sad if I tell her the truth.
10:21.32:00 ORACLE 2 SUBTITLE: It doesn’t matter whether it’s good or bad, just say it.
10:21.57:00 ORACLE 1 SUBTITLE: Tell her to perform the funeral rites.
10:22.06.14 MRS. THAMAVANI SUBTITLE: The oracle told me my husband is not alive anymore. He said I should perform the funeral rites.
10:22.17:00 INTERVIEWER SUBTITLE: Did you ask what happened?
10:22.21:00 MRS. THAMAVANI SUBTITLE: Yes. He said they hit him and killed him.
10:22.27:0010:22.31:00 INTERVIEWER SUBTITLE: Do you believe what the oracle said?MRS. THAMAVANI SUBTITLE: I believe him and think he is telling the truth.
10:22.35:0010:22.50:00 MRS. THAMAVANI SUBTITLE: I still hope that he’ll come home. Everybody tells me different things. When I go and ask the army, they say, ‘He may be here, or he may be there.’ INTERVIEWER SUBTITLE: How many times have you visited the oracle?
10:22.53:00 MRS. THAMAVANI SUBTITLE: I have spent almost 75% of my money on the psychic.
10:22.58:00 INTERVIEWER SUBTITLE: Are you going to consult the oracle again?
10:23.02:00 MRS. THAMAVANI SUBTITLE: No. I want to do things that will allow his soul to rest.
10:23.18:00 NARRATOR: Thousands have come from across the northeast to Punnaicholai Hindu Temple.
10:23.23:00 NARRATOR: Fire-walking is considered the ultimate act of spiritual purification. Mr. Rasanayagam believes that by walking across the coals, his prayers for his son’s safe return will be answered.
10:24.19:00 FILMMAKER:: Are you ready?RASANAYAGAM SUBTITLE: Yes.
10:24.41:00 RASANAYAGRAM SUBTITLE: My son has been missing since 1990 but now I have peace of mind. I truly believe my son will come back to me.
10:25.01:00 NARRATOR: Visaka Dharmadasa’s pilgrimage is coming to an end. The women’s last stop is to the ruins of one of Sri Lanka’s oldest Buddhist temples: Valigamvehera. It’s one last moment to come together – to pray for peace and answers.
10:25.19:00 DHARMADASA:
What I want to say to the world is that as women, we don’t feel the others are enemies. We want peace. We don’t want our children to die anymore. It’s as simple as that. None of us want another woman to go through the same pain that we have gone through.
10:25.38:00 NARRATOR: She wanted to establish a spiritual and political connection between Tamil and Sinhalese women. And she thinks that’s exactly what has happened.
10:25.47:00 DHARMADASA: We will be working together for the next couple of months and we hope it will be a shorter time period until we achieve a sustainable peace based on equality and justice and dignity to all citizens of this country. So I’m really happy about that. FILMMAKER: And concerning the missing, what is the most important thing that needs to be done now?DHARMADASA: For the authorities to start opening up. To tell exactly what has happened. Good. Thank-you.
10:26.24:13 CARD: Since the making of this film, fighting between the Tamil Tigers and Government Forces has escalated.
10:26.28:27 CARD: Since the making of this film, more than 4000 people have been killed.
10:26.33:01 CARD: Since the making of this film, over 300,000 people have been internally displaced.
10:26.37:24 CARD: Since the making of this film, over 400 new ‘disappearances’ have been reported.
10:26.44:00 CARD: The conflict in Sri Lanka has now claimed more than 65,000 lives…most of them civilians.
End credits.