Kaki Bakar & Jogho-U-Wei Bin Haji Saari

Synopsis:

Kaki Bakar @ The Arsonist

According to Filem Malaysia the story goes like this Kaki Bakar involves the struggles of an undocumented immigrant family and a boy's coming-of-age. The son Kesuma must forge his own identity against the intimidating presence of his father Kakang, a man proud of his Javanese heritage and well aware of the social inequalities that allow his exploitation. Kakang counteracts by torching the property of those who slight him, leaving Kesuma simultaneously proud, fearful and ashamed. A clash of wills is all but inevitable. The film climaxes in a poignant conflagration, literal and metaphorical.

Jogho

According to Filem Malaysia the story goes like this Mamat is a native of Kelantan, Malaysia, but he had left Malaysia many years earlier to join his brother Lazim in South Thailand in order to continue making his living as a trainer of fighting bulls (a Jogho). The practice had been outlawed in Malaysia but continued in Thailand. Mamat lives with his wife and three daughters, three divorcees and one who has not yet married, but he has sent his only son to boarding school in Kelantan. Mamat and Lazim are the leaders in a small village that depends mostly on the money won from gambling in bullfights for its sustenance. The story begins when Lazim is killed by Isa at the bullfighting arena. By tradition, this leaves Mamat and the young men the responsibility of taking revenge and thus preserving the honor of the village. Mamat visits Kelantan and arranges for his friend Jaafar to find and kill the perpetrators. Returning home, Mamat is gored by his new bull and is bedridden for several days. At the same time Lazim's two sons and a friend have gone into the town and managed to kill Isa's son Hamdan and his assistant Dollah Munduk. After the killing, the young men hide and Mamat is arrested by the Thai police, leaving the women alone to manage not only the village affairs but also to care for the bull. From the jail, Mamat pleads with his wife to pay the bail so that he will be able to fight the new bull. He is at last freed on the morning of the bullfight. At the bullfighting arena, Isa comes to avenge the death of his son. Isa shoots Mamat but miraculously misses his first shot and the second shot only manages to wound Mamat in the shoulder. Mamat wrestles the gun from Isa and knocks him to the ground. Now Mamat has the chance to kill Isa and avenge the death of Lazim, but Mamat refuses as he has become tired of Malays killing Malays. He lowers the pistol. But Lazim's son Sani grabs the gun and shoots Isa instead. The police come and Mamat surrenders himself to them, taking the responsibility for the murder. Although Mamat is taken away by the Thai police, the cycle of violence within the Malay community continues.

Review:

Both movies have won the best films in their respective year. Kaki Bakar has won international award in foreign language category.

In these two films directed by the famous U-Wei bin Haji Saari, we can clearly see the authorship techniques embedded in them. Authorship approaches means the styles that an author used to write his film or text. There are seven ways one can identify authorship, they are: Origins, Personality, Sociology of Production, Signature, Reading Strategy, Site of Discourses and Technique of the Self. They must be traceable across few films from the same author.

U-Wei uses his signature where he repeated his production traits and styles across these two award winning films. The tracking shots that U-Wei uses in Kaki Bakar when the camera tracks the father and son walking towards Mr Kassim’s house. Whereas in Jogho, the shots became slightly sophisticated where a added a touch of creativity in the shots. Instead of a traditional tracking shots, where two characters were walking, he then add a pan to the right and crane shots towards a kampong house.

The scene that I like in Kaki Bakar is where Kakang was in distress and he seeks for comfort from God. This shows that no matter how depress or how down his feelings is, he still turns to God and seeks reassurance. He is strong in his religion and beliefs. His family also reads the Quran everyday and prays together as a family. In Jogho, I like the part where the female have courage to voice out eventhough in the end they still follow whatever the male said, for example between Mamat and Minah. Compared to Kaki Bakar, the female’s role was always to follow whatever the man said. Kakang was portraying his hypermasculinity throughout the whole film and his wife and daughters listen to him without objecting. At the end, his wife finally objects his idea of holding Kasuma down and she frees him to save Kakang.

In the two films, the part that I dislike was the non-diegetic sound. It was very disturbing to me. The sounds give me a creepy feeling and make my goose bumps rises. It is very obvious in both films that they have non-diegetic sounds. Maybe this is the author’s signature which I did not like it.

The way that these two stories been told is very different. Kaki Bakar starts off with a linear sequence where there is a beginning then the middle and follows with an ending. Where else, in Jogho, it begins with the middle, then the beginning and ends with the ending. The number of characters also increases in Jogho so there is more point of views being shown.

Both stories share the same theme.

 -Fight for one's right even if it was perversed or tainted.

-Fight for one's justice.

-Fight for one's freedom.

-Fight for one's honour.

The social inequalities were very obvious. In Jogho, the locals look down on the Patani. For example, when the police came over to Mamat’s house, he said : I don’t want to hear any more trouble from your people. In Kaki Bakar, the local Malay looks down on Kakang and his family because they are Javanese. Both Kakang’s family and Mamat’s family struggle to live in an alien place. They are trying their best to survive but they are being alienated by the locals. It is not fair for them as they are human beings too and they have emotions.

Mise-en-scene of the two movies was appropriate. The only disappointing thing is that the night scene which is too dark. Nothing can be seen. It was just solely black screen. Luckily there was subtitles gor me to read if not I would not know what happened.

Kusuma at the end, betrayed his dad by reporting the incident indirectly to Kassim. I admire his courage and I felt his heart ache. It was a tough decision to make as they lost their sole breadwinner. Overall, I am not in favor for two films by U-Wei. They have good storylines with valuable themes but I still do not like the movie. 

Abang-Rahim Razali (1981)

Abang is refered to brother in the Malay context. As a sign of respect, the word Abang is usually added in front of the person’s name before addressing the person. In the Malay society, Abang plays a vital role and as the eldest son, he is basically in charge of everything. Abang usually is the heart and soul of the family, the one that brings the family together as one. He is usually the decision maker.

Rahim Razali , a Malaysian director and a well-known actor in a few major movies such as Puteri Gunung Ledang, Muallaf and etc. Not forgetting that he stars in his own movie Abang 1981 as the main role, Fuad. He won the best male actor in the 2^nd Malaysian Film Festival 1981. Abang is also known as Big Brother in English.

Synopsis:

According to Filem Malaysia the story goes like this the oldest son and heir apparent to a wealthy Kuala Lumpur family returns home after his sudden departure to London a decade ago. His family struggle with their emotions about his return while he tries to make life as normal as he possibly know how and keep his secret intact.

Review:

Abang is a movie full of hybridity involved in it. Language and culture hybridity are despict obviously throughout the whole film. The Din’s Family is a modern, rich family who owns a family business. Din and his wife have 3 sons and 1 daughter named Fuad, Faizal, Farid and Dila respectively.

In language hybridity, the family uses quite a number of English terms in their daily conversation. The words such as “shut up”, “I” and sentences such as “A ghost from the past” are being used. Even the malay accent is slightly westernized. It is very obvious that they are rich and educated people as Dila plays the piano which is pricey in cost to learn.

The culture hybridity can be seen transparently throughout the whole film. The Din’s family dresses up in modern, westernized clothes. Guys are seen in bell bottom jeans with shirts. Whereas the girls wore dresses, skirts and tube tops. Tube tops are against the malay customs as it is skin revealing but the Din’s family are fine with how the way Dila and Nazreen dress up. This proves that they accept the western fashion style and infused a bit of traditional clothing where Mona wears a baju kurung. But they are all tudung-less as they never use a veil to cover their heads.

Other than that, they drink alcohol, smoke cigar and did the welcoming party in a western style. The welcome party done by Din’s family and also the villagers back in the kampung is totally different. The Di’s family has chefs, Englishmen, Dila playing the piano and people walking around with their cocktail glasses. Whereas the party organized by the villagers are much more traditional, where there are people playing traditional instruments such as kompang and singing traditional songs. People in the village also are more united as all of them take part in the party. The school teacher was the chef, the chief of the village was the organizer and etc. These 2 scenes show the main differences between an urban people and a villager who lives in the kampung.

Every movie provides valuable lessons for us to learn. Nevertheless, Abang did provide me with important lessons. Responsibility as the eldest. I totally can relate myself to Abang Fuad as I am also the eldest in my family. The responsibility that the eldest hold is quite a huge weight; I would not use burden as for me it is a positive thing. Abang Fuad saves his sister from danger and got himself an incurable illness. He came back to save his family and bring them back to their roots. He saves his brother, Farid from a scam and educates him to be much more intellectual and be smart in making decisions.

Leaving his beloved family, his girlfriend who bears his only child without any early notice is a heart breaking thing to do.  But Abang Fuad had to take this action because he knew that Faizal likes Mona and she deserves to be with a man that can give her a bright future and his child deserves to have a healthy father. When Fuad knows that he does not have much time left, he rushes back to Kuala Lumpur in a short notice and put his family members in awe as they did not know what to aspect from him. He knows that he needs to patch things back before he leaves the world.

The part that I like in this 2hour film is the part where Fuad went back to the village. He played the “tarik nipah” game with the kids where one is supposed to drag another on a coconut leaf and races to the finish line. Fuad swims in the waterfall, cycles around the village on a bicycle, climbs a coconut tree and stays in a wooden house. These all reminds me of my childhood memories in my kampung. It brings back a sense of nostalgic that one can relates easily when one are not born in the city.

The scene that I dislike is when Fuad went to seek forgiveness from Mona. The editing of it is poorly done. Shots are repeated and it makes my head goes everywhere wondering what is happening. Shots of a bright day view of the house in intercut with a night scene which is totally out of place. Maybe this was the mistake done by the editor or a technique used by him which I totally do not get it.

In mise-en-scene, the only part that I dislike was the script. The scriptwriter uses a lot of words just to emphasize 1 thing. For example, to portray disgusting, the scriptwriter uses words such as “jijik”, “geli” and “keji” all in one sentence. This to me is too much of exaggerating that one particular word. Other than that, the scenery and setting was applicable to the scenes and soft lights are used most of the time. The movie’s mise-en-scene was appropriate to me as it was a 1980’s film.

Overall, despite it is a slow pace movie, I am still a huge fan of drama and romance. So this movie is my cup of tea. I did cry at the end when Fuad died and knowing that what he went through for his family. Hiding a secret that huge was not an easy thing to do. I did not expect that the movie would have that impact on me when I watch it in tutorial class. But when I watched it again, it did have a meaningful storyline about love, family and responsibility. I did not regret watching it and even my dad said it was a good movie. Surprisingly, he watched Abang too.

So, thumbs up for Abang. =)

Selubung-Suhaimi Baba (1992)

Selubung means fabric used to cover certain parts of the body for example head, body and etc.

Suhaimi Baba, a Malaysian Film Director, who directed Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam which was a major box office in Malaysia in year 2004. Selubung was her first masterpiece when she decides that she would write the screenplay and also direct the movie by herself. Selubung also known as Veil Of Life in english won 7 awards in the 10th Malaysian Film Festival 1992.

Synopsis:

According to Filem Malaysia the story goes like this Mastura, who returns from her studies abroad, feels the loss of her good pal, E.J. who has chosen to follow the path of the religious extremist group led by Brother Musa. She decides to pick up voluntary work as her mission to promote good will for society. Halim, who has had experiences working abroad serving the Middle East, supports Mastura’s good intention and encourages her to join ‘Rescaid’, a volunteer organization. In her line of duty in helping the children refugees from Palestine, Mastura falls in love with Kamal, a divorcee who shares the cause she is pursuing. The success of a nation-wide charity concert promoted by Mastura and the team from ‘Rescaid’ becomes the pride of the locals, until one day, tragedy strikes unexpectedly. However, it does not kill Mastura’s determination to protect the fate of the unfortunate.

Review:

To be brutally honest, I am not a huge fan of this movie even though it has won best film and best story. I particularly hated the editing of this movie. I know hate is a harsh word but for me, I beyond dislike the editing. It is called parallel editing, a film technique used by Suhaimi, the director to convey her messages.  For me, the technique used confused me. My brain was all over after I watched the movie. The scenes keep on jumping to different locations while portraying that they are happening in the same time zone. The movie looks like it doesnt have a sense of direction and it was all over the place. It was very obvious that this is her first movie and it shows clearly on screen.

What I like in this movie will be the gender representation of females. Mastura (Deanna Yusoff) portrays a strong, independent girl who is blends well with her surrounding. She is modernised but she still keeps her traditional value in her. She practices the adat which is known as customs in Malay. She still wears her baju kurung, a traditional Malay costume and tudung when she meets some one that is still traditional minded.As reference, she wore a traditional baju kurung and covers her head with tudung when she went down town to see an old man. Monogamy was represented when she insist that she did not want to have a relationship with Kamal (M.Nasir) when she founds out that he was a married man. Her sense of independence in making decisions and choosing her path of life makes me grew fonder with her character. Independence was depicted when she chooses to finish her studies abroad  and start working as a highly posted executive rather that getting married and have kids straight away.

EJ in the other hand was a total different representation of Mastura. EJ played by Ida Nerina, portrays a girl who is conservative in her dressing and is an extremist in her religion. She sticks to the tradition of the 60's, where females are supposed to get married and be a good wife even though one has to share her husband with another female. Brother Musa (Harith Iskandar) is EJ's husband. He is a religious teacher who is also a polygamist. Due to being an extremist,EJ eventually married him and they got a baby who was killed by Hani, a psychotic fellow wife of Brother Musa. At the end, EJ was seen as an extrovert lady when she starts working in  RESCAID (a rescue aid organization). She tends to talk more and dresses up with vivid colours such as purple to show that she is beginning to accept modernity into her life.

Dr. Sadar and her crew's perseverance in continuing their act of helping the refugees in Lebanon shows clearly when they receive a blackmail letter but they still continue doing their deeds. The building that they were in was bombed and that did not break their hope in helping the needy. They have tables and phones beside the road and move into a smaller building. Still they bond together and work much more harder to help the refugees. Even Mastura depicts her perseverance in this scene. She was being hospitalised and after she recovered from coma, she continues to help out in RESCAID and still be an active member in the organisation.

The scenery and settings of the whole show was nice and applicable.It was in 1969. The beach as an establishing shot shows that it starts off in a village that lies in the coastal borders. Terengganu known as a Malay state as it were made up of more than 90% of Malays, there fore adats are practice firmly there. People are usually bounded with customs in a village. The movie started off with Terengganu and in between Mastura went back to her village to meet her father and an old man. The settings were very traditional where kompangs (a malay instrument) and other significant instrument were played. The old man sang a traditional malay song and he speaks in a Terengganu slang. No matter how the world is changing in the 1960's, they still stick to their own beliefs and tradition which have been passed down for generations.

The costumes wore by the actors were both traditional and modernised. In the village, people there wore traditional baju kurungs, tudungs, sarongs and also songkoks. Where else, in the city, they wore dresses, shirts, accessories and etc with bright and vivid colours. The make up was appropriate depending on the situations. 

Lighting in the whole movie was not really good. It was very obvious at some scenes they used a direct spotlight on the actor. Yellow to represents happiness and joy while blue represents sadness. Even silhouette were used to show some scenes. Overall, I think it was good since it was in the 90's and I would not expect more and it was also her first show. The normal close-ups, mid shots and basic angles was used throughout the whole show.

In a nut shell,Suhaimi is trying to show the differences between the two ladies that was after the National Economy Policy(NEP) was planted. One that comes back and still stick to her own customs and traditions. And another, who comes back with a total different set of thinking. Being modernised and improving without forgetting her roots. Even in a patriarchy system, women still have their rights to voice out, make decisions and stand for themselves. As the world is moving forward, one's mind set need to move also. Not to say that, tradition pulls you back but it is time to think way beyond. Like a tree, it must have firm roots at the bottom for support, but still it must grow upwards to receive sunlight and other essentials for basic living. We as humans have to move forward to compete with this fast-growing world, in the same time, do not forget our roots as they are the core, the fundamental that we grew up with.

Watching the movie again? I will think about it. :)