Demons in Paradise

Jude Ratnam was five when civil war broke out in Sri Lanka in 1983. The war would go on for 30 years. Jude and his parents fled by train from Colombo to the north of the country to escape persecution of the Tamils. His uncle, who lived there, joined the Tamil militants. Ratnam once again takes the same train from south to north, this time as a documentary filmmaker. He follows the traces of the war: the violence, the people who helped and the self-destructive terrorism of the militant groups. His uncle, who now lives in Canada, travels with him. We see the country’s still painful wounds from Ratnam’s point of view. Plants cover the ruins of homes abandoned by Tamils, and Ratman's compatriots wrestle with painful memories. The constant fear of the wartime period has left deep scars in his family, down to the very youngest generation: Ratnam still feels uneasy when his young son speaks loudly in Tamil.