Burning Birds

1989, Sri Lanka is still mired in Civil War. After the arrest and murder of her husband by a local militia that accused him of subversive activities, Kusul has to support her eight children and her harsh mother-in-law on her own. Faced with the contempt of a patriarchal society, Kusul is determined to do anything to save her family, hammering stones in a quarry, clearing blood and body parts in a slaughterhouse. However, she is soon on her uppers, especially when she wants to make sure her oldest daughter continues her studies instead of working in a sweatshop. Kusul starts working as a prostitute.