RN Documentary: Not Enough Tears
Series: RN Documentaries
From: Radio Netherlands Worldwide
Length: 00:29:31
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Piece Description
Rajani Thiranagama was gunned down by the Tamil Tigers in 1989. She was a doctor, poet, scientist and her crime had been to speak out against human rights abuses being perpetrated on her people. For 15 years her family have kept silent about her murder but have finally decided to speak out. Her daughter Narmada was 11 years old and here, along with her aunt and her father, she talks about her mother and how her murder has affected her life.
3 Comments
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Review of RN Documentary: Not Enough TearsIn this informative, moving portrait of a courageous human rights activist, doctor, teacher, and mother murdered for her beliefs, we get also a portrait of her family, as well as a fleeting yet panoramic view of politics and life in Sri Lanka. Rajani Thiranagama?s husband, sister and daughter speak of their life before, during and after her death; their voices resonate as instruments of emotion, a small chamber orchestra of love and grief, its 4th player invisible, yet utterly present. Sujan accents the words with ominous music, and one dramatic, but right-feeling fling of gunfire, but it?s the words, the poetry of phrase or insight, that kept me taut with attention. Hearing excerpts from Thiranagama?s letters, read by another, about how ?not moving, not making a shadow or a sound can kill the whole household,? brought my mind to other war zones; likewise her sister?s lamenting so many others killed, a ?community bereft.? Her daughter carefully assesses the mother she lost when only eleven, recounting lessons learned, among them that the most political work one could do in the war zone was to continue normal life. I highly recommend this story of one woman, one family, one war zone, or of anywhere, really, where people are fighting and dying. |
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Review of RN Documentary: Not Enough TearsI loved the way this deeply personal story was introduced. References to armed revolutionaries, love stretching beyond death and the soundbite in which the daughter talked about a story that is "...too shocking to tell the truth." All that, early in the presentation, raised my level of interest. Soon, however, I felt like an interloper who was encroaching on the personal and tragic story of a grieving family. The very real drama wore me down in the end and I was left reflecting on the horror of the incident and not the lessons learned. I was grateful that I was given context for this family's personal horror in respect to the unneccesary deaths of tens of thousands of Sri Lankans. That context came some 5-minutes into the show and about the time I was looking for background. Good use of sound and music and appropriate music at that. Clean edits and incredibly authentic in voice. The gun shots might turn some off but it drove a grim point home for me. I must admit that I had to work hard to understand the heavily accented voices, especially that of the husband, and I found myself desiring additional narration as we progressed through the story. Would I air this program assuming I could find another half-hour segment that would be suitable and somewhat complimentary? Probably not if only because I feel I have so much other content to use that tells the story of Americans and citizens of Iraq in a war that is top of the mind and top of the hour on the radio dial in the U-S-A.
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Transcript
You're tuned to Radio Netherlands. Vox Humana presents Not Enough Tears produced and presented by Dheera Sujan
MUSIC CD prive: Invites Tr 9 Les Bles en feu Comp and performed by Rene Aubry. MPO 3070972 3?20
This is a story that is wrapped in many other stories ? stories about sisters, mothers and daughters, about armed revolutionaries and single dads, about the weight of memory and of grief and about a mother?s love that stretches beyond death.
Nar ? don?t tell people ?31
Usually when people ask ? ..related to her
Day ? allegiance ?21
At the very beginning.. ..days in the country
Narm ? sl tenderness 1
When they find out.. memory of her
Nirm ? teaser joy ?25
She was very joyeous.. shot dead
MUSIC + GUNSHOT
Nar ? SL tenderness ?46
My mother was a....talk about her publicly
INTERWEAVE LETTER AND SCRIPT
Some times tear...
Read the full transcript
Musical Works
MUSIC CD prive: Invites Tr 9 Les Bles en feu Comp and performed by Rene Aubry. MPO 3070972 3?20
MUSIC signes Tr 5 Aquarelle. Comp and Perf: Rene Aubry SACEM 3024002 500
MUSIC CD Signes Tr 9 Trou Noir Comp and Perf by Rene Aubry SACEM 3024002 3?00 + SFX shots
Related Website
Lucia Covelli
Posted on August 10, 2009 at 07:09 PM | Permalink
Deeply moving
Thank you for this exceptional piece.