Blogging Woolf

Did you know? There is a film version of Leonard Woolf’s forgotten Sri Lankan novel, The Village in the Jungle (1913).

Also titled “Baddegama,” the 1981 film features Arthur C. Clarke in the role of Leonard. Directed by Lester James Peries, the film is in Sinhala with English subtitles.

The film’s court scenes with Woolf were shot in the actual courtroom where Woolf presided when he was in the British Civil Service. The 130-minute film was shown at the 1981 San Francisco International Film Festival.

The description of the film on the website reads:

“BADDEGAMA” is based on the celebrated novel written by Leonard Woolf who was the Government Agent in Sri Lanka in colonial times. A powerful story of village life in the Deep South it reveals the appalling misery of the villages exploited the head man and his associates. The film is a vivid and compelling record of their life.

The University of Oxford hosted a March 9, 2013, symposium to mark the centenary of Woolf’s novel and now offers three podcasts from the day online:

1. ‘The Village in the Jungle’ as colonial memoir: Woolf writing home
2. ‘The Village in the Jungle’ Roundtable Discussion
3. Sri Lankan Traditions and the Imperial Imagination: Leonard Woolf’s ‘The Village in the Jungle’