Dr. Lester James Peries
An iconic cinematographer
Were a star quenched on high
For ages would its light,
Still travelling down ward from the sky
Shine on our mortal sight
So when a great man dies
For years beyond our ken
The light he leaves behind him lies
Upon the paths of men.
- Henry Wordsworth Longfellow.
The line of mortal destiny of Dr. Lester James Peries, has run its karma and reached the finale at 99 years of age.
When we take a panoptic view of the near-century-long life he led, the image that emerges is that of a subdued, sober visionary. His quiet, restrained and civilized cultural heroism further enhanced the lustre of his life.
Hailing from insular urban roots, Dr. Lester James Peries eventually found himself in the global gallery of cinema savants.
The paths he had to tread, to scale such creative heights, had not always been rosy; he had to defy hideous challenges. Obstructions and impediments serried against him had to be overcome.
Destiny is an expression that seems to have dominated the unparalleled human and creative evolution of Dr. Peries.
His father, Dr. James Francis Peries, once gifted him an 8mm Kodasko projector. This rudimentary piece of film equipment ran Charlie Chaplin's silent movies. To the young Lester, this proved not only a simple toy, but also the foundation stone for his life-long dedication to the film industry.
That toy had an eradicable impact on his inner being during his formative years.
His urge for cinematic creation goes back to the late 1940's, when he was young and living in London. For him and for a like-minded group of enthusiastic young people, the cine-camera became an absorbing toy that gave them an instrument to impose a semblance of visual discipline upon the disarray of diffuse experiences of their youthful days in a cosmopolitan city, far away from home.
Peries’ initial forays into the cinematic field were exclusively in the format of the documentary genre.
The erratic progress in the documentary medium was a fitting apprenticeship for a lively talent whose Line of Destiny (Rekawa), was eventually to lead him to creative heights in fictional films.
His return to Sri Lanka was to have a far-reaching effect on the course of the island's film industry. Strangely enough, his homecoming was determined by an expatriate who headed the Sri Lankan Film Unit at that time. The person in question, Ralph Keene, was so persuasive that Dr. Lester came back home and joined the unit.
He plunged into documentary film-making with zest and zeal and made a series of documentaries that still remain pioneering works in this genre in Sri Lanka.
The documentary period of Peries’ evolution made him appreciate how resource-rich Sri Lanka was for the film-maker. The locations impressed him, especially after his sojourn in the west.
Since, he was back in his native land as an outsider due to his long absence from home, the exotic in our culture–the fresh appeal of our way of life–began to entice him.
At this stage, when we look back on the life of Lester–the cinematic genius–it is essential to dwell briefly on his advent into Sri Lanka's cinema history.
The central event that was to determine his future in Sri Lankan cinema took place in January, 1947, when the first-ever Sinhala film appeared to the massive enthusiasm of the Sri Lankan film-goer. For Sri Lankan audiences, the novelty of a Sinhala-speaking film–their own tongue–was an overwhelming experience.
But soon, the novelty wore off, partly because the country's compact society tended to be more critical than the amorphous audiences that had been the mainstay of South Indian films for decades.
The mere theatricality of the presentation and the artificiality of the first Sinhala films, began to jar the sensibilities of Sri Lankan film-goers during the first few years of Sinhala cinema. The stilted dialouge, which was satisfying in the legitimate theatre, seemed incongruous in the cinema medium, in which realism held the predominant appeal. Peries’ years in the documentary made it possible for him to utilise the genuine film medium to achieve a more realistic appeal to life. When he made his first feature film debut with Rekawa in 1956, Dr. Lester was still document-rust turned fiction filmmaker. From the first, he set out to be more plausible than those pioneering Sinhala film-makers, for whom a film was essentially a cinematographed stage-play.
Rekawa dramatically embodies the core of Dr. Lester's cinematic credo.
From then on, Dr. Peries’ cinematic destiny was altered substantially.
Early in his formal film career, Dr. Peries came to be recognised as the establishment. The subsequent history of Sinhala cinema could be described as the Sri Lankan cinema's creative efforts reacting against this establishment. Whether the film-workers who came in the slip-stream of his films admired him, opposed him or even denounced him, Dr. Peries remained the central force propelling Sinhala cinema forward.
Dr. Peries’ film philosophy is characterised by a cautions, non-controversial stance. He may deal with vital, socially relevant issues at times, but such situations are viewed with detachment and objectivity, that not even a mere trace of partisan shop could be detected. His cinematic style is essentially reflective and is bereft of biased comment or controversial polemics.
The body of his works exudes a refined Asian flavour. He always maintained a calmness, bordering upon a tranquillity akin to a spiritual state. Jealousy, rancour, pettiness and other blemishes of the ilk, never marred the purity of his soul.
Dr. Lester James Peries presided over the destine of Sri Lankan cinema, imperceptibly, impersonally and in spirit.
Even when his physical presence is no more around his influence will remain a potent factor, that will affect, Sri Lanka's Cinema Establishment.
During this unfortunate time, when we mourn the passage of the unquestioned safe of Sri Lankan cinema, there are certain hesitations that trouble us.
We cannot help but come to the anguished conclusion that the mass culture, folk values and the dominant collective ideals of this paradise island, have plummeted, from which they are almost unretrievable.
The life of the great genius who has just left us, is a shattering example.
We have not had adequate national awareness to cherish such an unparalled genius in the manner he deserved.
And almost tearfully, we have to reconcile ourselves to the shattering reality that we have been reduced to a cultural desert where men of outstanding genius are largely confined to limbo until they pass away.
Let us face the truth that our island paradise claiming a brilliant tradition of fabled glory, seems incapable of producing geniuses anymore. And the worst is that we seem to be incapable of curating even the rare handful we get.
Media too, are to an extent, responsible for this heart-rending neglect. I doubt whether we could produce geniuses of this calibre in the years to come; Dr. Lester, above all, was a complete human being. He had an reputation for keeping his actors and actresses at ease, even during the most tense of situations.
Until his last breath, as it were, he was a genius days before the passing. He once scrutinised Chekovs’ Cherry Garden for scripting possibilities. Dr. Peries possessed a sense of humour and wit.
Dr. Lester James Peries’ passage is an irreparable loss. This is not a routine platitude; this is profoundly felt and springs from the depths of my soul as I have understood the genius comprehensively.
All our limitless sympathies should be offered to Sumithra, whose exacerbated loneliness cannot be fully understood by anyone.
May the genius Dr. Lester James Peries rest in eternal bliss.
Dr. Edwin Ariyadasa
****
A tribute to Dr. Lester James Peries
Sir, the line (Rekawa) you drew in the 1950's
Not only demarcated parameters
Of a new genre,
But it also distinguished your stamp
From miming, copying and pilfering:
the modus operandi as it were,
Of many a predecessor of yours
To whom art was a merchandise
Your line stretched beyond the known horizons
Seeking and probing nourishment
For an ill-fed audience
Which, with reluctance, had to consume
The cheap fodder offered,
Despite its poor quality that
Satisfied only the palate
At the expense of nutrition.
The new found food:
The result of the trail you blazed
Has in a large measure, remedied
The malnutrition
The Sri Lankan cinema-goers
Were afflicted with.
Lester! Honoured Sir,
Thank you immensely for the outstanding service
You rendered to the Sri Lankan cinema,
And for the fame you brought to the country.
May God bless you!
S.S.,
Kelaniya University
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