A Letter of Fire

In this over-the-top melodrama from Sri Lanka a 12 Year old boy (Isham Samzudeen) is accused of the murder of a Courtseen. Although not banned, the Sri Lanka board tried to revoke the films distribution license to the outrage of the world film community. It's a film that deals with issues of incest, murder, rape, contempt of court; and as the film opens 12-year-old Isham is obviously infatuated by his mother's body in a bathtub scene that drew a lot of controversy at private film screenings. Isham is a schoolboy and one day with his friend they are caught at school looking at pornography on the computer. Punished, they wrongly believe that the police are going to arrest them so they hide in an abandoned building and as the boys feel cornered, and fearing for their lives, Isham accidentally kills a prostitute with a dagger thinking she was a mugger. Isham's mother is a magistrate and her father is a retired judge (they do not live together) so they try to hide the boy from the authorities as the incident has made headline news on television. The story now goes back and forth between Piyum, Isham's mother, and her story of incest with her father years earlier. As the melodrama builds, Isham (their love child) becomes a victim to events from the past that leads to further tragedy. Criticized for its length, be prepared for 133 minutes of soap opera that couldn't be shown at film festivals, and instead had to be screened in private theaters by invitation only.