The pain equally painful!

Rain Town (Cantonese, English; 2024)
Director: Tunku Mona Riza 

Our needs, dreams, ambitions, and desires to ensure the best for our children and peace in the family are universal. We all yearn for the same thing. 

The most exciting thing about the movie is that it was produced and directed by two Malaysian Malays, but there was a single inkling of Malayness in its setting, spoken dialogue and props. It went on to premiere at the Silk Road International Film Festival in Fuzhou, China. 

Set in the wettest town in Malaysia, Taiping, hence the title Rain Town, it is a favourite pastime for the local retirees to bet on whether it would rain that day. It follows one of the betters, a proud Mr Choo, to his home. He is a disciplinarian, a domineering figure who runs his home like an army regiment. 

He is a father of 3 adult kids, two men and a lady. His wife, a former Ms Taiping, an Anglo-Chinese, had fitted into the family as a docile, all-embracing mother who is the stabilising figure snugged nicely between the silently rebelling children and the all-knowing father. Mr Choo scared the daughter’s suitor away because he was ill-qualified. The girl finds solace in baking cookies and selling them. The elder son is doing his medical internship and struggling to cope with a vocation that his father forced him into. His real love, however, is music. He resorts to recreational drugs to keep on going. The second son has not really settled on what he wants to do in life, but Mr Choo does not hesitate to tell him the obvious. In Mr Choo’s vocabulary, life is a race and the fast wins.

In the midst of all these, Mrs Choo is diagnosed with breast cancer. She keeps it away from the family and tries to handle it herself. Meanwhile, the elder son is expelled from work for stealing drugs. The family has to get together, put aside their differences and solve the problems at hand.

It does not matter who directs the movie or who acts in it. Cultural misappropriation may not be relevant at all. The dynamics of a family can be observed. The pain felt, the frustrations endured, the struggles fought, and the dreams shattered feel pretty equally devastating.

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Once they were kings!

Sensuous Horizons - The stories and the plays
Author: KS Maniam

Thanks to MEV for introducing this book.

This is an exciting collection of plays, prose and newspaper writings on plays written by KS Maniam. In the 1990s, all through into the Millenium, Kishen Jit was an influential theatre practitioner. His collaboration with various local and international playwrights, including KS Maniam, set the template for stage plays in the post-colonial multicultural Malaysia. He was one of the founder members of Five Arts Centre.

Most of the book discusses KS Maniam’s play, ‘The Cord’. It is a social drama about the goings-on in an estate where the workers are predominantly immigrant Indians. Still living in the shadow of their cultural beliefs from their home country, it seems that most of them are missing their ticket on the bus to modernity and prosperity.

In this story, the thundu, or ceremonial piece of cloth worn by Tamil men in cultural functions, acts like a MacGuffin. A thundu, in better times, is kept clean and pristine, and it never lets touch the ground. It gains its honourable status by being over the shoulder. As the Tamil worker slowly loses his status and starts working as a coolie, the thundu becomes a towel to wipe his sweaty sunbaked skin. It becomes dirty and loses its ceremonial status. It goes a notch lower on his body, tied over his chest or waist. As a mark of respect, too, he would automatically remove it in front of his bosses, as if he is unworthy of wearing a thundu, a sort of blazer to cover his bare body.

As the stresses of work and family life spiral down the path of destruction, when domestic violence, toddy, and post-drinking fights become the norm, the thundu becomes a weapon. The divine thundu loses its divinity to evolve into a weapon used in a fight to strangle in a drunkard brawl.

Metaphorically, a proud Indian with his rich heritage, culture, and tonnes of wisdom and knowledge to civilise the world finds himself becoming a slave to the colonial masters during the imperial phase of history. The once most affluent country in the world has become one of the poorest.

The question that begs to be asked is this. Why do you rever a tradition that has obviously failed you? Cultures and traditions evolve from the practices that have worked for societies for a while. They would assume that that must be the way to do things as they carried the society over generations. Now, here, it had obviously failed you. You were displaced, scurrying like a headless chicken for safe space and the bare minimum to survive. Instead of reassessing, changing and emulating other successful groups, you chose to do the same repeatedly and expect a different outcome. That is madness. Living in the glory of the past will only make you stumble and fall.

Many of the characters in the stories are so compelling. I swear they feel like some of the people in 'The Sandpit' and 'Rock Melon' used to be my neighbours. A guy used to have a well-concealed double life for more than ten years, only to be discovered when he died suddenly, and his mistress turned up to perform the final rites at the funeral. Yet another had no qualms about parading his mistress in front of his docile wife. The legitimate wife was to care for his kids, while the mistress took care of his needs. The last time I heard, the man had a debilitating stroke. The legal wife stayed back to care for the man. The mistress and his two kids just scooted off once they grew wings.

I know how a few couples in my neighbourhood went along with their day-to-day living very secretively. They generally kept to themselves, mainly living behind closed doors. They would suddenly disappear for a long time and return for short visits. I used to wonder what they did for a living. Perhaps they were in the same as 'Mala'.

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Slithering cold hearted snakes?

Ular (Snake, Malay; 2013)
Director: Jason Chong

This is a knock-off of the many Hollywood and Bollywood horror flicks. Even the film poster bears an almost near-replica resemblance to Hollywood's blockbuster 'Anaconda (2008)'. Besides that, it is a worthy effort, nevertheless. The CGI effect looks believable. It creates uneasiness; not laughs. The storyline seems credible enough. How different can a disaster movie be? As per usual, it starts with a potpourri of characters landing at a resort island, gleaming from ear to ear, hoping to have a whale of a weekend. Whale, they did not have, but snakes aplenty. The owners of the resort took great pains to keep the news of killer snakes away for the public. To ensure the safety of the guests, the owner did install an electric fence to keep the snakes at bay. As to how Murphy's laws dictate, anything and everything may go wrong when it is destined to go wrong. Thanks to a few mischievous frolicking holiday-makers, the fences fell into disrepair. So, the snakes, who were the pioneer occupants of the island, go on a frenzy to reclaim their island. 

Caduceus and Serpeants on
rod of Aslepius.

The people who rose to the occasion to try to save the day are a disgraced journalist (Lisa Surihani) and her photojournalist colleague ex-boyfriend (Yusri of KRU).

Man's fascination with snakes transcends all borders. Every civilisation, from the Sumerians to the Greeks, have had their brush with our reptilian friend. From the Caduceus to imply successful commerce and skilful negotiation to the twirling serpent on the rod of Asclepius to denote healing and medicine, we have seen Ouroboros which signify rejuvenation, cyclical nature of life and immortality.

Ouroborous

We have towns named after serpents (Nagapattinam), and we have people with snakes-honouring names (Nagaratnam, Nagma). They are amongst the many who have been worshipping snakes for aeons. From North America all the way to the Champas in Vietnam, they have built a symbiotic relationship with the ophidians in sharing the planet.

They are others who vilify our reptilian friends. Snakes, often associated with evil and negativity are often blamed for Man's misery on Earth. After all, it was the evil serpent's enticement that lured Adam and Eve to savour the fruit of knowledge and subsequent expulsion from the Garden of Eden.

Snake Plissken
Escape from New York (1981)

If you are one of those who take David Icke's conspiracy theories as gospel truths, then you would realise that many world leaders and entrepreneurs who live amongst us are reptilians in human's clothing!

And to top it all, I recently heard on a Youtube presentation by Praveen Mohan, the explorer of ancient Hindu temple about the rock cutting technology and the ancient alien visitation by a race referred to by the locals in Hire Benakal in Karnataka as Moryars. The Moryars are said to be small built highly intelligent serpent-like creatures who imparted their architectural skills to humanity. Humans, awed by their wisdom, started showing their reverence by placing them on a pedestal to honour them.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. 

As old as history of mankind

Dukun (Witch Doctor, Malay; 2018)
Director: Din Said

In the early 1990s, the news of a gruesome murder appeared in the headlines of most Malaysian newspapers. The story of a politician chopped into pieces, of black magic, a small-time singer turned shaman with the elixir of immortality (she had claimed to be close to 100 years old), a smiling poser with something sensational to say during each court appearance was enough to excite the nation. Internet was restricted to the science fiction genre then. Hence, there was a dire need to whet the appetite of the general public who were looking for tabloid-like news to pass their time. The trial of Mona Fandey fitted the bill nicely.

An up and coming politician wanted to go places. Mona Fandey, who was a rave among certain circles, promised him invincibility through the sciences of the occult. He paid a deposit but what he got back was a severed head, his own. Enjoying being in the limelight, Pandey savoured every exposure to the camera flash. Without much fanfare, she was found guilty. Her appeals were rejected, and pardon from the royalty was denied. She was subsequently hanged in 2001.

Enjoying every minute of the limelight
Mona Fandey

The only things remaining of her legacy are her not-so-appealing songs, the memory of the murder she was convicted and this film, Dukun. Dukun was supposed to be released way back in 2007. Due to opposition from family members and the national film governing body, FINAS, it only hit the screens some ten years later with a caption that it is a work of fiction.

The fascination with Malaysians to the world of dark arts and black magic goes way back to a time before Abrahamic religions and its ideology of fearing the One God hit its shores. The National Museum realised this about ten years ago when it curated an exhibition on the 'Ghosts of Malaysia'. The board procured so many exhibits and paraphernalia towards this end. Just a couple of weeks into the exposition, it received orders from the religious bodies to stop the display immediately. The authorities were worried that the laypeople would be confused and hence deviate from their faiths as busloads after busloads of the curious public arrived in droves from the four corners of the country. That was the first and last time the National Museum had drawn such a crowd. 

[P.S. Can be viewed at mubi.com/sinema]

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The Universe does not revolve around you!

 Roh (Soul, Spirit, Malay; 2019)

A few years ago, around Kuala Lumpur, a seasoned trekker went on a solo reconnaissance look around to prepare a route for his friends to walk the following day. He wanted to make a quick recce as he could only start it at 6pm. It was still bright, not too dark but not yet twilight. It was 9pm when the family realised that he was uncontactable. A search was initiated. Many experienced hikers and firemen joined the foray. After failing to locate him that night, they deployed the help of Orang Asli master trekkers who were well-versed with the affairs of the wilderness. Scurrying up and down the path using paper markers that were left behind by the missing trekker, they were puzzled why he could not be traced. Then the Orang Asli trekkers summoned their shamans. The experienced man did some salutations to the guardians of the forest, and before they knew it, the lost trekker was found right under their noses along the very same paths that they were scrutinising all the while. The trekker was too dehydrated or dazed to remember what had happened to him. 

Though everyone was happy that the trekker was finally found, they also puzzled where did he actually go. It was like someone taken him away for a while, and then like a second thought, or cajoling, had put him back again. It sounds much like an alien abduction story, does it not? There are many things that we do not understand about Nature. Out in the wilderness, unprotected, alone and vulnerable, we make our rules as we needle our ways through the unknown. We learn the respect every living thing, and we are no longer the centre of existence. We do not tolerate but merely co-exist.

This film is Malaysia's submission to 2021 to the Academy Awards in the category of Best International Feature Film. So far, over the years, five films had been sent to compete, but sadly none had been nominated. FINAS recently announced that this Malaysian movie was chosen for this purpose. I find it intriguing as FINAS had clear cut guidelines about not approving any film which seem to go against the grain of the nation's official religion, it had endorsed this film which deals with spirituality and the occult.

'Roh' is set in an unspecified time at an isolated jungle location where life is simple, and living means working hard day-to-day depending on the elements of Nature. A mother, living with her two kids, an early teen girl and a pre-teen boy, is greeted with a wandering young girl who was picking up in the woods. Economical with her words, she slashes her neck before warning them the family would all die before the next full moon. Two other characters appear in their otherwise isolated lives asking for the dead girl. The rest of the story is a psychological affair with a lot of combustion and eerie music which would make the audience's hairs stand on end but without the lousy make-up type of gore.

The whole story is based on a verse from the Quran 7:12 & 14, where Satan claims to be superior as compared to humans as He is made of fire whilst humans of clay. And Satan asks God for time, till the day of reckoning, to influence humans!

[P.S. Can be viewed at mubi.com/sinema]

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Standing in the eyes of world

Once We Were There 
Bernice Chauly (2017)

Yes, we were there. A time of hope and desire to tell the world that we have arrived. We wanted the world to know where Malaysia was located on a map. For the first time, they realised that there was not a void between the land of the pagodas, Thailand and the little chewing gum free city of Singapore. They have heard of the loud mouth premier who walked the talk. We had the Twin Towers and the Commonwealth Games to showcase. It was 1998. Then this happened.

A country which advertised itself as a moderate Islamic country with conservative views had people talking openly about nocturnal activities that happened behind closed doors. Unexpectedly, its Deputy PM was arrested like a common criminal and dragged to its kangaroo courts racoon-eyed. Suddenly it was alright for the leaders to discuss sex openly and for its dailies to describe in graphic details about homosexuality and sodomy.

Against the familiar landmarks around KL and a dark cloud that seem to shroud the nation, the author dissects deep into the psyche of two main characters. The first is a confused young lady who just drags herself along the tide as the wind brings her. The central premise of the narration is her handling of grief of losing her unborn child and later her toddler. Another important person in the narrative is a cross-dressing transvestite from Sabah who tries to survive in a seeming irreligious, chaotic, hostile and corrupt KL.

The book comes with an 'Only for Mature Readers' label for sale in Malaysia. Perhaps, the publishers thought that the story was too graphic for Malaysians. Or maybe, the portrayal of vice, drugs, corruption and crime was not in keeping with the squeaky clean image that the country seems to put up. Or maybe the image of Muslims living in apparently 'decadent' lives, indulging in alcohol and other intoxicants prove too much for religious authorities to stomach.

(P.S. Funny how time changes everything. If in 1998, the then PM and his deputy were arch enemies, now twenty years on, there are standing on the same platform screaming foul against the current system. Politics make strange bedfellows.)