The Forsaken Land (2005)

Set in Sri Lanka, The Forsaken Land (Sulanga enu Pinasa) is a mesmerizing, poetic film that captures the disorienting quality of daily life during a never-ending civil war. After two decades of violent ethnic strife, a tenuous cease-fire holds between the Sinhala government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Composed of uncanny, startling set pieces portraying death, sex, and waiting, the film conveys the experiences of this uneasy truce through the eyes of one household: Anura (Mahendra Perera), a soldier who mans a remote checkpoint; his jaded, cheating wife; and his sister who still sees hope in the future.