Nun Other Than – A Review
Nun Other Than is a documentary film by Udan Fernando which tells the story of Chitra Bopage and her journey from being a Catholic nun to a social activist involved with the JVP and her marriage and life with Lionel Bopage, a founding member of the JVP.
I was curious about this film – I had not heard of Chitra or Lionel – an unfortunate gap of not knowing our most recent past. The story was interesting because a Catholic nun is familiar ground to me. And a nun who left her robes to marry and join a movement is something that was very intriguing.
The story starts with Chitra Mudalige the young nun taking her vows despite her family not being happy about it and how her encounters with JVP activists and those imprisoned makes her realise the plight of many people. She realises that she leads a luxury life as a nun in a convent and she becomes involved in the movement through her work with youth and through her ability to sing. She joins in singing Vimukthi Gee or Liberation songs on the sly, where she does this in civilian clothing without her nun’s habit. She eventually accepts that her feelings for Lionel Bopage go beyond platonic. She makes a decision to leave her robes and become a lay person in order to marry Lionel. Her mother is not pleased because she does not trust the JVP movement but later she becomes fond of Lionel once she gets to know him.
Lionel is captured by the CID and held with no cause and Chitra faces many hardships in trying to secure his release. After this ordeal, a few years later, Lionel eventually leaves the JVP due to ideological differences he has with the politburo. Yet many of the old JVP members blamed Chitra for this change and attributed it to a Catholic conspiracy. She says that some still believe that. Eventually they had to leave the country due to many threats to their lives and the lives of their two children.
Chitra’s interviews filmed in Australia where she lives in exile, are insightful and she speaks with a lot of emotion when explaining the different incidents. Her battle with her conscience and doing the right thing comes through in a very humane and sincere manner. The portrayal of the JVP shows the good and the bad and how in a way, the once protected family, eventually became a victim of the very group they helped found and support. Mainly because they disagreed on certain matters. Made me think of our current situation – many pro NPP supporters are very abusive and dismissive of those who even dare question the NPP. It becomes almost a childlike, ‘if you are not with us you are against us’ type of scenario. Which, in a working democracy, is absurd. Chitra was also identified and singled out for her ability to speak in English and Sunila Abeysekera along with Lionel are the first ones to speak to her to convince her to join their ‘human rights organisation’ which was more of a PR arm of the JVP. Again, I was reminded of people like Dr. Harini in the current NPP who are good links to Colombo and the English speaking elite as it were. She is not seen as elite – because she is a part of the NPP. But remove that tag and she would fall smack into the category of elites that many are claiming to be against.
I call this a documentary film because it has many interviews with Chitra, Lionel and other family member and key figures who tell her story. Dinara Punchihewa portrays the young Chitra, with her scenes interspersed between the interviews. Somehow for me, it was a little too pretty and only set in a domestic sphere. Dinara is showcased as a nun inside the convent and then as Chitra the lay person in a saree at home and eating vadei at home. There is nothing to show – even symbolically – the kind of activities Chitra was involved in. For example, Chitra as a nun used to sneak off to sing Vimukthi Gee or liberation songs – dressed in a skirt and blouse borrowed from her sister. Chitra also faced many hardships when Lionel was taken by the CID and held for no reason. Her frustration and encounter with the security there, where she threatens them, is not reflected in the young Chitra portrayed by Dinara when she comes back home. A harried, hassled woman in a saree returning home after spending hours in the sun with her small child would have some kind of messy hair and saree pota falling or some indication of that hassle. You do not see that in Dinara at all. She looks a pretty young girl coming home and looking a little bit worried. Perhaps there was an attempt to contrast the reality from what is in the film but I feel it was not an honest portrayal considering the incidents in Chitra’s life. I also wished there was better emphasis on the singing and the music which is integral to the story.
From a female perspective, as a woman, having to deal with what she did shows Chitra growing from being a sheltered nun to a woman who has to face battles and fight for her family. It is very familiar to many – the frustration of being mistreated, the need to protect one’s children and her feelings about herself now. She says at one point in the interview, ‘I was beautiful then though now I look like a hag’. That hit – I wanted to say, you are not a hag. But it was almost symbolic. I felt sad because it felt like her youth was when she was the most active and later on, she had to hide away to protect what was hers. That emotional toll on a person does show physically. And perhaps people like her would have been good leaders had the party been open to having diverse opinions. But honestly, from what I know of political parties that we have, diverse opinions are rarely entertained. And that is why good leaders are honestly rare. It’s a matter of straddling a tight rope across a raging flame. You are screwed one way or another.
From a religious perspective I still have mixed feelings about the clergy getting involved in politics. In the case of Chitra, nuns do not wield the kind of influence that Buddhist monks do. Then again, one can question, is the path of a Christian the path of Christ and rebellion or one of conformity and meditation? There are no easy answers to these but I understand the human condition and it is often this that is our greatest strength and our greatest weakness. It is, nevertheless, admirable what Chitra did and how she chose to live her life. Being true to oneself is often a lonely path but I don’t think she regrets her choices and that is wonderful.
I felt the cinematography could have been better and the English subtitles were not accurate and at times missed the context of what was being said. However overall, it was a good, insightful watch. Simply because our history has many stories and it is important that we learn not just one, but as many as possible.