In Tamil Jaffna is a phonetic combination that expresses the words harp and town. If we do a translation, we could say that Jaffna is the City of Harps. Located in the north of Sri Lanka, it is the second most important city in the country and during the Sri Lankan civil war, it was the command base of the Tamil Tigers, the separatist military group that faced the government for more than 20 years. In Little Jaffna (2024), the debut feature by director and actor Lawrence Valin, we delve into this conflict from the perspective of the Sri Lankan diaspora embodied in a suburb of Paris.

“Little Jaffna” is a small community in a Parisian neighborhood where the Tamil Tigers have total control, entering here is like traveling to the north of Sri Lanka. It is in this environment where the script of Litte Jaffna takes shape. The film places us in the final days of the civil war in Sri Lanka, the news speaks of massacres and the imminent end of the separatist Tamil army. From a television in a restaurant more than 8 thousand kilometers away, the voice comes out announcing how the government is getting closer to capturing the leader of the Tamil Tigers. Aya (Vela Ramamoorthy) is the leader of the resistance in Paris and tells her followers that they are fabricated lies.

The Little Jaffna

From its well-composed opening sequence, Little Jaffna captures our attention absolutely, the visual composition, cinematography, and music merge to masterfully introduce us to Puvi (Puviraj Raveendran), the leader of the Tamil gang and one of the axes central to the film. Music and the use of vibrant colors become the preferred vehicle for director Valin who uses this resource to introduce each of his characters. The director also plays the character of Michael, an undercover police officer who must find a way to infiltrate the Tamil criminal organization.

Little Jaffna works as both a social drama and a cop vs. bad guys suspense story. There are enough arguments to support the social and ethnic drama that underlies the story of the police officer who is willing to put his life in danger to fulfill his duty. Director Lawrence Valin handles suspense and character development very well. Even when his story encounters obstacles that seem difficult to overcome, a solution always appears so effective and well-executed that it allows us to forgive any previous mistakes.

The script seems to get complicated when it develops a parallel story with Romeo and Juliet edges that mix with the central idea. This doesn’t add much value to the story, but some elements of this subplot serve as support for the final act of the film. Little Jaffna is a great debut for Valin, a film with good pacing, quality performances, and impressive cinematography.