Some are called heroes, some villains. Histories get buried and the dead are resurrected. Sometimes a thread of humanity gets drawn from blurred stories. It could clothe the world one day or stitch together a fallen flag.
A group of prisoners are released in November 1977 after six years of incarceration. They were among the leaders arrested, put on trial and condemned to life imprisonment for their role in the failed insurrection in April 1971. In 1982 Wijeweera, the candidate of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) secures some 300,000 votes at the Presidential Election after the rebels decide to enter mainstream politics. The reemergence of the JVP causes consternation in political circles. The party is forced underground in 1983 when it is unfairly and conveniently accused of involvement in ethnic riots.
Thus begins a dangerous and bloody game of hide-and-seek. Wijeweera and some of the leaders first flee to the Southern jungles but later return to a life of disguise and intrigue where intense political activity is enmeshed with personal dilemmas. They are forced to contend with their personal demons, the mismatches between theory and practice, rhetoric and personal choices.The humanity of those around him prevails over the fear of reprisals but cannot protect him and his family for ever. The search for Wijeweera intensifies as the insurrection gathers momentum following the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987.
Logistical issues as well as a series of betrayals seal WIjeweera's fate and that of his comrades. Approximately 60,000 people are killed. Wijeweera himself is captured and made to suffer a terrible death. All the key leaders except one are killed. His wife and five children surrender to the military establishment. A particularly bloody chapter in the country's history thus ends leaving behind an image of a rebel abstracted from who he was and reduced to a political persona to be celebrated or vilified.
