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The ends, not the means?

Fly by Night (Malaysian, 2019)

Once a while you get a good Malaysian movie without the usual ridiculing of races or filled with simpleton slap slick comedy. This is it. There are no attempts by the moviemakers to ensure that the characters are overtly different. They are who they are, Malaysians, and they act their roles. They switch between Malay, English and Cantonese seamlessly, with no demarcation of us and them.

Every scene springs familiarity as the background has been seen in real life many times before. The settings are authentic, like the back lanes and the interior of a typical working-class Chinese family.

The film centres around a band of brothers in a small family business of extortion and trickery. They use their city taxis and the airport terminal as their fronts for their nefarious activities. Their quiet business becomes a mess as their firebrand youngest brash family member spring wings and wants to explore greener pastures. A scorned mistress who is hellbent on seeking revenge from her jilting wealthy married boyfriend, everything goes wrong. Hot on their trail are the police and the leader of a triad whom the young member had royally pissed.

Trying to make everything as authentic as possible, I fail to see why they decided not to leave the 'TEKSI' labels on the cabs but rebrand it as 'TAXI'.

Mafia Boss Michael Corleone makes his confession to a 
Cardinal in “The Godfather-Part III” 

Credit: mozarellamamma.com
The world tries to divide all our actions into either good or bad. Professions associated with elements of gambling, intoxication and sex unsanctioned by the institute of marriage are frowned upon. Wealth acquired through these means is considered unholy. In reality, wealth is wealth. It does not matter where it came from. At the end of the day, one is either poor or rich. When he is rich, everything he does is right. He can even 'sanitise' his 'unholy' income.

Take the example of information technology. The leaps and bounds of progress that it has made is not merely via kosher means. Porn and porn-related industries form the backbone of the research and advancements that it has made. Nobody scorns the headways the digital world has executed but tribute it to the intelligence of computer scientists. The spread of successful small businesses and multitudes of trades based on algorithms helps to erase the internet of its somewhat tainted pass.

As a passing, one should not forget that the seemingly religious Sicilian mafias continue their treacherous activities planned right under the patronage of the Roman Catholic Churches. Their relationship can be described as twisted. The Mafia bosses baptise their children, attend Mass, wear crosses, pray to Madonna but their faith gets intertwined with acts of violence.





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