Global Visions film series presents "The Forsaken Land" March 6 The next film in the Global Visions Film Series is "The Forsaken Land," March 6. All films are held in the Memorial Union Lecture Bowl and begin at 7 p.m. They are free and open to the public and to students, faculty, and staff. The Global Visions Film Series is sponsored by the Department of Anthropology and the Anthropology Club, directed by Marcia Mikulak, and funded by the Multicultural Awareness Committee. For additional information call 777-3008 or 777-4718. Some films offer up their mysteries openly; others, like the quietly affecting Sri Lankan film "The Forsaken Land," keep their secrets close, revealing them gradually shot by shot, scene by scene. Directed and written by Vimukthi Jayasundara, this fine first feature takes place on a desolate stretch of wind-swept coast far from the big city and much of anything else that might evoke the modern world. Here, amid the swaying palms and an occasional pool of blood, men and women drift through life as if they were ghosts, casualties of a civil war that hangs over them like a curse. Among these walking, if rather taciturn, wounded is a serviceman, Anura (Mahendra Perera), who, when not patrolling the nation's home front, is pointedly ignoring the tension crackling at his own house between his wife, Lata (Nilupili Jayawardena), and sister, Soma (Kaushalya Fernando). Jayasundara studied film in France and has probably watched his share of classic European art cinema. Although his influences may originate closer to home, his use of landscape to convey states of mind suggests that he has more than a passing acquaintance with the work of Michelangelo Antonioni. — Manohla Dargis, The New York Times Upcoming films are: * March 20: “The Cuckoo” (2003), a Russian film directed by Aleksandr Rogozhkin. * April 3: “Take My Eyes” (2003), written and directed by Spanish actress, author and filmmaker Icar Bollan. * April 17: “Broken Wings” (Israel), a 2002 film directed by Nir Bergman. * May 1: “Me, You, Them” (2000), a Brazilian film directed by Andrucha Waddington and written by Elena Soarez. -- Marcia Mikulak, Assistant Professor, Anthropology, marcia.mikulak@und.nodak.edu, 777-4718