Dheepan: A metaphor for the L.T.T.E

First of all, I am from Sri Lanka and have lived through two major era's of the Civil War. I believe that the war was a futile one fought over a situation that could have been solved with an initial Political solution. I have no animosity towards Tamil people in general, (Myself being part of the Sinhala majority) but this is simply how I see it interpreted in the movie.

Anyway getting to the point. I won't go into the plot in detail cause I guess you all have watched it at this point. First of all, contrary to what many people think, Dheepan's situation in France is much better than what he would have faced had he stayed behind in Sri Lanka. The final weeks of the battle resulted in heavy casualties among the Civilians, and Dheepan most probably would have been one of them had he stayed. Had he survived, the living conditions at the IDP camps wouldn't have in the least bit compared to what he has in France. Especially, when it is evident that Dheepan and his ' family' have grown into their house/apartment due to the drastic change in the house the audience sees from when they first move into it and during the latter scenes. They seem to be well off for illegal immigrants and definitely doing much better than those back in Sri Lanka. There are references to this in a news report Dheepan watches on his laptop.

Moving onto my next point - The brushes with the underworld, I think it's obvious that almost every country has an underworld, and people questioning the existence of such things even in a developed country is stupid.Nevertheless as Dheepan has a decent house and means of income, he really can't afford to give them dirty looks and complain about his neighbors, especially being an illegal migrant who has been granted asylum in a developed country. His 'wife' is also treated well by the Underworld kingpin (I can't recall his name) and there are some great scenes between the two of them like the scene in which they share each other's unique culture in their native language. Anyway with all that, and by indications that the family has settled down, Dheepan feels like he wants to get involved even after drawing a 'No fire zone' which brings me to my final point, The No fire zone was a recurring thing in the final stages of the Civil War in Sri Lanka where civilians caught in the crossfire could cross into a 'safe zone' and not be harmed. However both sides unfortunately never respected this No Fire Zone and continuously shelled it (as each side believed the other would use it as an excuse to infiltrate the other) Dheepan after drawing the line himself, blatantly crosses over to the other side and attacks the people he had nothing to do with.(This is shown intentionally by the director, so I believe it has some significance) Sure they may have insulted him and irritated him, but he retorts in using violence against them to save ' Yalini.

So summerizing all that, I think this is a film that needs to be looked at metaphorically rather than literally. This is the way i see it, Dheepan represents the Tamil people - He is the protagonist, the one the viewer relates to. The 'Everyman'. The one who fights on behalf of the L.T.T.E Yalini represents the ideals of Eelam or what the L.T.T.E fought for -
Separatism. She is the one most reluctant about the family façade. She always insists on 'separating' herself from the other two and going to England. She is also the most violent of the three. Often being critical of Illyan. So in the final scene I can claim, that Dheepan rescuing Yalini is symbolic of how the Tamils fought for Eelam. Finally the girl, Illyan is a representation of understanding and reason. She speaks the most fluent French and is probably the most educated of the three. However Dheepan and wife are disconnected from her, only taking advantage of her ability to speak French. This is evident in the final scene, where they appear to have made their way to England, but Illyan isn't there. They believe in a life without reason. ( I saw a post about how the final sequence may be a dream of what Dheepan and Yalini actually wanted. This actually would make sense as Illyan has been replaced by the child of Dheepan and Yalini, and the drastic change in lighting seems to suggest a weary and dream-like sequence) The family facade may also be a representation of the disconnection between these three elements which eventually caused a bloody 30 year long civil war. During the initial stages of the war the L.T.T.E was backed by the international community until they ended up using violence and terrorism to achieve their goals. This Showing the connection between the people and ideal, but the disconnection of reason and understanding. Dheepan's weary relationship with Yalini may be seen as the reluctance of the Tamil people in general to accept the violent ideals of Eelam.

So there's my interpretation of the film. I'm sure there maybe a lot of shortcomings and mishaps in it, but I think if you look at it this way you ge the larger picture, with the final action scene actually making sense instead of portraying Dheepan as Sri Lankan Superhero. I know it maybe a bit too much for a western audience, but it's quite admirable for a western director to portray something like this on film. Anyway like i said this aren't my ideals, but simply what I think the director wanted to portray. So no, don't believe this is a film about humanity or the human spirit or any of that sentimental stuff, but rather an observation of the seeds of the Sri Lankan Civil War and the futility of the 'Eeelam ideals'.

Probably serves as evidence as to why Jacques Audiard chose not to focus on the Syrian Refugee crisis which is way more relevant to French society than the story of a deserted 'freedom fighter' from Sri Lanka. Anyway like I said, just my interpretation.