Bunohan (2011, Malay)
After hearing many rave reviews again and again about this Malaysian movie, produced by Universal Studios, I decided to give it a peek. It was a film done spoken completely in Kelantanese Malay and shot in Kelantan Thai border where beliefs of mysticism and spirits of the land is rife. This piece of nobody's land is a waste land where nothing much is happening. People cross the border at their whim and every guy looks like a bad dude. In fact there were no ladies at all in this movie except for an apparition of the protagonist's dead mother later in the movie.
One have to digest the whole movie in order to understand the flow of the story which appeared disjointed initially where everybody is fighting and is being killed ruthlessly.
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| Dain Said, Director. |
One have to digest the whole movie in order to understand the flow of the story which appeared disjointed initially where everybody is fighting and is being killed ruthlessly.
It starts with Adil, a Muay Thai boxer, absconding from a fight, with his buddies after he injures his Thai opponent early on the fight (which he was not supposed to).
Meanwhile Ilham, a hired assassin, is summoned by the Thais to track Adil down and he lands in Bunohan, the village he grew up. He discovers that his mother's grave had been shifted unceremoniously. He is sidetracked to place his mother's remains at the rightful place.
Adil's father, a wayang kulit puppeteer (dalang) is visited by his eldest son, Bakar, under the pretext of caring for his ailing father. His ulterior motive is take over the ancestral land to sell it off. Things gets complicated when he discovers that his father holds steadfast to the promise he had made to Adil's mother to pass the land to Adil. Adil is soon revealed to be a illegitimate child to the puppet master. Ilham is the dalang's first wife's son who left Bunohan after the death of his mother.
As Ilham thinks twice of killing his sibling, his Thai masters decided to terminate his services and his life. Adil engages in another Muay Thai encounter, wins the fight but is poisoned and dies. The old man is also killed to ease the business transaction. The plot of land is soon sold and development is about to take place.
At one look, the story may not seem much. The plus point for this movie is artistic approach of storytelling. The cinematography is breathtaking making me wonder at splendour of our country. Of course, CGI helped to enhance the beauty of landscape and skyline.
The completely Kelantanese dialect used throughout the movie brought me memories of those two trying lonely years in Kubang Kerian. The idea of using this lingo, in my opinion, makes it more interesting and believable. The politicians may not be so happy looking at the lawlessness of this part of the country. Well, in any part of the world, be it US or China, parts of the border is indeed no-mans-land and a badland.
The film has its followers in the independent film makers' circles and has enriched itself with many nods, mentions and awards.
N.B. With the talk of multiple wives and Kelantan, I remember my Psychiatry posting ward rounds discussion with SMR. He emphasised the importance of history taking including marital and extra marital liaisons as it had bearing on mental health. Taking to consideration that most Kelantanese men and women that we saw had illustrious marital lives, we asked him what was norm. In most cultures, more than two marriages were considered excessive. In Kelantan it was 6!
Meanwhile Ilham, a hired assassin, is summoned by the Thais to track Adil down and he lands in Bunohan, the village he grew up. He discovers that his mother's grave had been shifted unceremoniously. He is sidetracked to place his mother's remains at the rightful place.
Adil's father, a wayang kulit puppeteer (dalang) is visited by his eldest son, Bakar, under the pretext of caring for his ailing father. His ulterior motive is take over the ancestral land to sell it off. Things gets complicated when he discovers that his father holds steadfast to the promise he had made to Adil's mother to pass the land to Adil. Adil is soon revealed to be a illegitimate child to the puppet master. Ilham is the dalang's first wife's son who left Bunohan after the death of his mother.
As Ilham thinks twice of killing his sibling, his Thai masters decided to terminate his services and his life. Adil engages in another Muay Thai encounter, wins the fight but is poisoned and dies. The old man is also killed to ease the business transaction. The plot of land is soon sold and development is about to take place.At one look, the story may not seem much. The plus point for this movie is artistic approach of storytelling. The cinematography is breathtaking making me wonder at splendour of our country. Of course, CGI helped to enhance the beauty of landscape and skyline.
The completely Kelantanese dialect used throughout the movie brought me memories of those two trying lonely years in Kubang Kerian. The idea of using this lingo, in my opinion, makes it more interesting and believable. The politicians may not be so happy looking at the lawlessness of this part of the country. Well, in any part of the world, be it US or China, parts of the border is indeed no-mans-land and a badland.
The film has its followers in the independent film makers' circles and has enriched itself with many nods, mentions and awards.
N.B. With the talk of multiple wives and Kelantan, I remember my Psychiatry posting ward rounds discussion with SMR. He emphasised the importance of history taking including marital and extra marital liaisons as it had bearing on mental health. Taking to consideration that most Kelantanese men and women that we saw had illustrious marital lives, we asked him what was norm. In most cultures, more than two marriages were considered excessive. In Kelantan it was 6!
Having more than 2 is considered as norm now.
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