People kill people, not guns?

If anything happens I love you! (2020)
Animated Short Film

This 11-minutes short film won itself an Academy Award in the Best Short Animated film category. In a concise graphic representation, the storytellers managed to capture the essence of emotions surrounding the loss of a young child. This emotional turmoil can make or break a family unit. The gamut of blaming, what-ifs, guilt and fault finding missions would eventually lead to a brick wall among the living but definitely not bring back the dead.

The death of a member of a family who has not lived his full potential, however, may invoke a myriad of responses. They say an addition to the family, especially the first-born, unites families. The sight of a newborn will make everyone all jello but strong enough to cement whatever minor frictions that may have been present in day-to-day dealings. It may make or break the bonds between the close relatives, especially parents, in the case of a young child.

This short film with no dialogue but a single song, 1950 by King Princess, tells the pain that a couple of parents endure when their pre-teen is killed in a random school shooting. The couple gradually grows apart with overpowering grief. All the while, their genuine emotions, feeling for each other and worries about each other are depicted by their shadows. When the door of their daughter's room, which they refuse to open all this while, suddenly opens, both parents enter the room to the sound of their daughter's favourite song. They reminisce about all the joyful times that they had together through a series of flashbacks. Finally, they shed their tears and reached a resolution.

The film highlights the problem of random shootings in the American public space, especially schools. Over the years, the interval between these types of shooting is getting shorter, and the types of weapons used are getting complex. It is no more pistols or hunting rifles. Instead, we are talking about assault rifles and semi-automatics. Pretty soon, the general public may be walking around with bazookas as it is their right to bear arms to protect themselves as permitted by the second amendment of the American Constitution. 

So many Presidents have come and gone promising to put a stop to all this gun violence. Even though many countries, the UK and Australia included, are testimony that this is indeed possible with very tight regulation of weapons ownership, such a situation will never happen in the US. The gun lobbying groups hold the purse string to the political parties. Being the central capital of weapon provider for the whole world to fight each other to maintain American interest and sustain despotic regimes worldwide, it will bad for business to put an all right ban on guns. 

Anti guns will continue doing their thing.  Aggrieved parties will pour their heartfelt disappointments, and the world will light an occasional candle at shooting sights, but the stock owners of Smith & Wesson and Colt's Defence will continue run laughing all the way to the bank. And they justify their rights by saying, "People kill people, not guns!" But, what they do not understand is that people just get a bruised face, dented ego or at most a broken rib with physical might. A gun has only one mission, to cause severe damage to the victim with minimal effort of its user.

All the loving feelings wither over the years. A child may make or break, not only by what turns out of them but in wanting to give the best for them. Differing parenting approaches and domineering-type of parenting accentuates drift. You ask yourself, "Is this the same woman that I married? "You coax yourself telling, "No, these are just battle wounds traversing the journey of life!"

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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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Go for Gold?

K.G.F. Kolar Gold Fields, Chapter 1 (Kannada, 2018)

It is touted as the highest-grossing Kannada film, the fourth highest-earning Hindi-dubbed film after the Bahuubali movies and 2.0, an international success and was feted at the National Film Awards. It was dubbed to Hindi, Telegu, Tamil and Malayalam almost immediately after its Kannada release with much success. And Chapter 2 is in the making. Am I missing something here that everyone else seems to enjoy? And, to say that this is one of the films that give people a reason to watch movies coming from the South, as quoted in a blog and recommended to me, is just too much.

Just how many times have we seen a child wronged at childhood to grow up with vengeance against the rich and the powerful as mighty as Sri Rama himself to be a Robin Hood to the poor? How many times have we seen unknowns infiltrating into gangs just to disintegrate the whole setup from within? Think Nayagan, Thalapathi and the umpteen Bollywood and Kollywood productions. Even the hero's nickname in the film is not original. I remember Sanjay Dutt calling himself as 'Rocky', a scrambler wielding kid-wonder who was able to achieve the unimaginable in an 80's crowd-pleasing matinee.

The film narrates how a cartel enslaved people in a gold mine to extract the precious metal in secrecy in cahoots with the politicians. Even though it is made to appear that gold is smuggled from overseas, it was mined locally in a clandestine manner. Everybody wants to have a stronghold in its control, even gangsters from abroad. To get this message across, viewers have to endure senseless violence, ruthless decapitation, gravity-defying stunts and larger-than-life pyrotechnic display. Again and again, there are repeated scenes of the macho hero walking away, leaving behind a trail of a destructive cloud of explosions and cadaver.

What spurred my interest while watching the movie was the fascination of man to gold. History of gold is as old as the modern history of mankind. It had been a fascination with Man for ages. The destruction of Aztec, as well as many of the advanced civilisations in the Americas, were solely because of gold. Rappage of India by Muslim invaders and 'traders' from the West was also due to this precious metal.

It is said the temples of India in ancient times were so rich with gold that they could finance many of its international naval expeditions as well as create a conducive environment for research on science, mathematics and Nature. Its wealth became its very downfall as it also drew many barbaric tribes. The gold stock had to be locked away in underground vaults only which were only to be lost in the annals of history. 

The Indian diaspora has always looked at gold as their fixed deposits. In times of needs, jewellery is still there for the rescue. No need laborious credit application and credit ratings. The friendly pawnshop owners are always willing to take your piece at low-interest rates. Gold will go a long way.

In one of the numerous Youtube presentations that I received recently, an economist was suggesting that perhaps with the amount of gold lying around in India, it could be used as leverage to secure loans for small businesses. Now that there is talk some countries are trying to put gold back as the golden standard as the value of currency instead of the Greenback, this could be a good option. With the colossal amount of gold lying around in India, this could be an exciting thing for the even big players to look into. But then, nobody is going to be so open to display their hidden treasures in public. It may attract the attention of the wrong kind. of thieves and legal pilferers from the internal revenue service. These significant changes require political will but the powers that be are quite content with the status quo. Many third-world leaders have parked their assets in foreign lands. Do they really care what becomes of the country they lead?

Dhanteras – Dhan meaning wealth and teras meaning the 13th day –
 precedes Diwali and is dedicated to summoning longevity,
wealth and prosperity. ©Jayanto Banerjee.

According to one story, the young son of King Hima was fated to die of snakebite on the fourth day after his wedding. His wife would have none of it. She sealed the entrances to the royal chamber with all her gold ornaments and, to dispel the darkness and snakes, she surrounded the place with lamps. All night long, she told her husband stories to keep him awake. The snake that came to kill him rested on the roof of the chamber, listening to the stories, and slithered away at dawn. It was the god of death, Yama, himself, and the princess had fended him off. The day is now Dhanteras when women light lamps, worship Lord Yama and seek protection for their loved ones. Lord Dhanvantri, who expounded the principles of Ayurveda, and is a Vishnu avatar, is believed to have emerged on this day and it is customary to pray to him for good health. Kuber, the lord of wealth, and Lakshmi are also central figures in the pujas. (Hindustan Times)

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A journey of conquest of a different kind

Xuanzang (大唐玄奘, Mandarin, Hindi; 2016)

Hsuan Tsang or Xuanzang is mentioned in early historical scriptures as of one the first person who journeyed from China via the Silk Road through Central Asia to reach India (or Sindhu as it was referred to then). He documented his travels meticulously and penned down all his escapades as he traversed the treacherous terrains, hills, deserts, monsoon and scorching heat. A child prodigy, Xuanzang entered the Buddhist monastery and was ordained a monk in Mahayana Buddhism at the age of 20. He then mastered Sanskrit and started studying ancient texts. Discovering discrepancies in the available scriptures, at the age of 25, in the year 627AD, he started a solo journey on foot from Chang 'An to India. This was the transition time from the Sui to the relatively peaceful Tang dynasty. His final destination was Nalanda University, in Meghada kingdom.

After three long years, travelling through modern-day Kazhakstan, Kyzhegistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Lahore and Delhi, he reached his destination. He is the first person to have described the Hindu kingdom to be extending as far as Afghanistan. 

He describes all the places that he visited within India. He told about how people live, the social norms and their dietary peculiarities. After learning at Nalanda University, he makes his teachers proud by winning an interfaith debate organised by King Varsha during Kumbh Mela in the holy city of Prayag (modern-day Allahabad). After 19 long years, traversing through 110 countries and walking 25,000 km, Xuanzang returned to Chang 'An with a wealth of knowledge and scriptures.

Ajanta Caves

The film is recommendable for its infotainment value. It brings to light of mesmerising natural landscapes and buildings that most of us will not have a chance to witness in our lifetimes. Many of the magnificent shrines and temples that existed at the time of his visit are still standing today. One such majestic structure is Ajanta Caves.

In the early 5th century AD, another Buddhist scholar from China named Faxian made a similar trip to India. He visited India during the reign of a Hindu dynasty, Chandragupta II, and reached Gautama Buddha's birthplace of Lumbini to obtain Buddhist scripts. He also visited Pataliputra, a Buddhist stronghold (Maurya's kingdom). Faxian, however, continued his journey to Ceylon. He described the island as a land of demons. He returned to China via sea. His boat went off course to Java and again swept off to Shandong on a second trip back to China.

Sand dunes in the Gobi Desert

Xuanzang's route to India.

Faxian's land route to India and back by sea.

With so much ease of acquiring knowledge through the plethora of portals available to us, we still have the inertia to go the extra mile. These two extraordinary figures risked their time and life to acquire and disseminate the wealth of knowledge to generations after them. Holding on to compasses in their hands, faiths in their heart as well as the stars above their heads as markers, they ventured into unknown territories. Come what may!

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Potpourri of life

Yi Yi - A One and A Two (Taiwan, 2000)
Written, Directed: Edward Yang.

Perhaps deep inside, we are all voyeurs. We like to observe people, seeing what they do behind the privacy of their doors. In the new pigeon holes that city dwellers run their hectic lives on the outside, they seem to be boxed in exclusivity. Conversely, with their clear glass exterior seemingly guarding their private spaces, to an inquisitive eye, all their dealing are bare open. Perusing through the landscape, we realise that everyone carries their own stories. What we see, as an outsider, maybe half-truths, skewed perspective, jaundiced or judgemental. We do not know the real predicament or turmoil that he is going through, but surely to a thinking person, it could be educational as we pave our own paths in the journey of life.

This Made-in-Taiwan movie tells the story of an extended family who lives in an exclusive high-rise apartment in Taipei. A 40-something couple with their two school going children (a teenage girl and a pre-pubescent boy) all have their internal issues to handle. Central to all these people is the maternal grandmother who is bedridden comatose with a stroke. The father, a software engineer, has to ask the burning question if life would have been different if he had pursued the love of his life. The mother, with her ill mother in the house living her remaining days, goes through an existential crisis. The teenage daughter is caught in a love triangle, and the son is bullied in school. Amidst all these, there are the father's brother, his demanding gravid new bride and the foul-mouthed old flame; the constantly squabbling neighbours with the adulterous wife and many characters to make us realise that life is a potpourri of fragrances. After some time, our senses get too numbed with the scent that we forget that it exists. We see the garden but fail to smell the flowers.

Even if we had decided to plant a different set of flora, the ensuing outcome would surely be uniquely different but aromatic, nevertheless. What if it were left to go wild, would it be sweet smelling too?

https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

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Life... shades of greyness...

Roma (Mexican, Spanish; 2018)
Written, Produced and Directed by Alfonso Cuarón.

At first impulse, it looked like it was going to be draggy long-paused 'arty' movie. Set in the tumultuous times of the early 1970s Mexico, the story is shown in black and white against a background akin to a neorealist style with long takes and long pauses.

It looks like a reminder that history has a bad habit of repeating itself. If now, we have a citizen elected President peaceful ejected by his own in Venezuela, maybe soon to be replaced by a US back figurehead, in the late 60s and 70s Mexico, the situation was about the same. In Mexico, however, the US supported President was hated by his people. The opposing peasants and university students were labelled as communists and were systematically killed by the ruling government. 

The family who eats together stays together.

This film, however, has nothing to do with political injustice or revenge of the bygone era.

The story starts telling about the life of a maid, Cleo, an indigenous woman, who works in the middle-class household in the small town of Roma in Mexico. 

In the first quarter, in a slow build up, it dawns upon us that everything is not right between the man and woman of the family. Antonio, a doctor, the husband, is leaving the wife, Sofia, and their four kids for his mistress. Cleo gets pregnant after being introduced to her fellow worker's relative.

What builds up slowly eventually morphs into a fountain of genius in storytelling and cinematography.       

                                                                                                                           

In the second half of the movie, the storyteller tells us how Sofia, Cleo and the kids build an everlasting relationship that lasts a lifetime. Cleo loses her child, in the midst of the chaos that is happening in the country and the household. In spite of all the adversities, the family comes out strong with Cleo becoming like a second mother to the children. 4.8/5

In one frame, poetically, much is told about marriage - which is nothing than just a declaration of private intentions. On the left is a happy couple celebrating their wedding with much pomp and splendour. What waits in their future, nobody knows. In the centre, just below the pincer of the giant crab statue, is Cleo, an indigenous housemaid who had an unwanted pregnancy from casual contact with a  date who refuse to take responsibly. In the end, as if like Nature making what seems like the best decision for her, Cleo delivers a stillborn. She never wanted the baby anyway. Then on the right is Sofia with her four children. Her marriage ended when her husband walked out on her, for another lady. Sofia and Cleo end up bringing up the four kids. Is the storyteller telling us that you do not need a man to bring up a family? It was semi-autobiography about his childhood anyway. That is a reality.

There are biological differences between the genders. Everyone is fitted to perform specific biological duties. Each gender should complement the other; not compete with the other.

[N.B. Is it a coincidence that a film with Mexico in the plot and an indigenous Mexican actor in lead role is nominated for 10 Academy Awards at a time when the government services have shut down in anticipation of building a wall against the caravans at the Mexican border? It is the highest foreign with the most top nomination since 2000's 'Hidden Dragon Crouching Tiger']


https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

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In hindsight...

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

Some will say, "Get over it already!". Others would say, "Put your past behind, there is so much more to look forward to life." Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag (and smile, smile, smile). Perhaps it is the guilt of doing or omitting to do certain things brings shame to the living. Certain unsavoury or inappropriate jokes preceding the event send shivers down the spine every time the deceased's memory resurfaces. Our secret wish maybe, "if only I could re-live that moment!" Sadly, it is just in our dreams can we author our narratives. In an alternative realm, we can re-live every day on a daily basis.

Frances McDormand, whom we saw giving a sterling performance as a straight-thinking pregnant police officer in chilling cold Minnesota in the black comedy 'Fargo' and won an award for that, is seen here in the lead-belt white state of Missouri. She assumes the role of a grieving mother whose teenage daughter was brutally raped and murdered. The events preceding her mishap probably hurt her more. Bringing up two rebellious teenagers as a single parent is no easy task, especially when her abusive estranged husband is very much in the same town with a pretty young thing. When her deceased daughter left her home, the mother and daughter had a tiff when the girl insisted on going for a night-out unaccompanied.

The local police never managed to solve the case. To keep the heat on the law to continue the investigations, the mother rented three billboards at the edge of town to personally attack the police chief on his inefficiency. To be fair, the head had really tried and was inflicted with terminal cancer.

The rest of the story brings out the police brutality, racism, bullying, town politics as well as painting another picture at the other end of the seemingly insensitive police chief. Interesting enough to win many accolades under its belt.

https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson

We all deserve the leaders we get?

Jagat (Trilingual Malaysian; 2015)


History has taught us again and again that the fate of a tribe/community/race is so dependent on the foresightedness of its leaders. Many civilisations soared to great heights or conversely disappeared into obscurity due to lack of direction, all because of the presence of a capable or weak leader respectively.

A leader is the one who foresees any untoward incidents that may come the way of his flock so as that he can pave a safe path. His mission is to serve his kind to ensure their continuity as a formidable group. For this task, the leader is accorded certain privileges which the society can withdraw at any juncture they feel apt. When the followers continue to follow blindly to the tricks of the sycophantic leaders and play doormat to their demands without batting an eyelid but wallowing their misfortune in fate, they truly deserve the leaders they get. Instead of the politicians working towards the well-being of the plebeians, looks like the people are hoodwinked to ensure the reign of the leaders stays uninterrupted! Whose fault is it, anyway?

The first thing I noticed when I caught this film aboard an Air Asia flight was the extremely picturesque shots of the landscapes around Malaysia. It was sometimes difficult to believe that those scenes were literally taken off our own backyards. The scene at the jetty, at a factory and even the open spaces, gave a luring view of the Malaysian outdoors.

The theme of the film is the story of any failed Malaysian Indian citizen who lost out in the rat race of development. The Indian diaspora which scaled the shores of most countries has done well. Indians in Fiji, South Africa, Mauritius, Surinam, Uganda, you name it, they control the economy. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the descendants of Indian migrant workers who were brought to the Malayan shores to toil the land. Sure, many have succeeded and have left their mark. The unsuccessful ones remain rudderless and bury their sorrows in the tombstones of their ancestors and the proof of their forefathers' sacrifice to the nation.

Aboy is a 12-year old boy who is at a crossroad. On the one hand, there is his hardworking father who works for a pittance to ensure his son gets a decent education. He does not want his son to repeat his same mistake, to immerse himself in drama and literary stuff that does nothing to pay the bills. He disciplines his son in the only way he knows to put him on the right track. Then there is Aboy's uncle, his father's brother who seems to be well to do without working too much, by indulging in gangsterism. Aboy's schooling system and teachers have no time to spur his hidden talent. Their emphasis is rote learning. With the adverse environment in school and the village he lives in, it is inevitable that Aboy is drawn to the dark side of society. Ironically, at the end of the movie, the uncle decides to leave the decadent life, but Aboy is initiated into it! History just repeats itself.

It is one of the few Malaysian Tamil movies that drew a sizeable multi-ethnic crowd to the cinemas and made quite an impact at the local film awards. It was even screened at the international level.

We make the system!

Visaranai (விசாரணை, Interogation, Tamil; 2016)
Screenplay and Direction: Vettrimaaran


Generally, I do not appreciate too much violence on the screen. This time around, it was different. It was no torture porn, but it was necessary to inflict the correct emotion to the viewers.
This is no showcase drama of Indian culture or positive virtues but is a story that can happen anywhere in the world. Maybe the setting would not be the dirty back alleys of India or the unkempt dark skinned underprivileged Tamil labourers; the narration is the same. That, everyone, works for the System, and the System decides what is right and who is correct.

It does not matter how high you are in the social strata, how educated or how influential you think you can be, the System decides. Hey, this sounds almost like organised religion; everyone is same in the eyes of God, God is watching you, (bad) things just happens!

No matter what people say about the division of powers between the legislative, executive and judiciary arms to ensure check and balance, in practice money dictates everything. There can never be a stronger motivator in life than money. As the Tamil proverb says, "even a corpse would open its mouth at the mention of money"!

The whole system in corrupt. Even though there are "a few good men" are present, their hands are tied. The dilemma for them is between doing the right thing for the sake of the elusive Truth versus losing your daily bread. No amount of daily prayers is going to bring that square meal for him and his dependents. The System is so intertwined with our lives that it becomes indispensable and irremovable. Damn if you don't and damn if you do! Fight the System, you just lose, become another statistic and the System's work on Earth will go on, business as usual!

Just like the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami which jolted the pirate activities for a whole year, we need a major reshuffle and overhaul in the System to put in order. History, however, has shown that status quo soon reverts afterwards. A year after the tsunami, pirate started rearing their ugly flags, and it is business as usual for them after a little hiccoughs in the System!

Visaranai is a gem which deservedly won accolades at the National level and had its premier screening at Venice Film Festival. It won the Amnesty International Award.

Four Tamil men (Pandi, Murugan, Afzal and Kumar) left the homes in Tamil Nadu after personal problems there. They found employment in a small Telugu speaking neighbourhood in Andhra Pradesh. Doing menial jobs, they live like vagabonds sleeping in the City Park.

One day, these four friends are picked by the Andhra Police, beaten up to a pulp to confess to a high-profile armed robbery at an officer's house. Everybody, including Pandi's employer, seems to be coaxing them to admit to a crime they know nothing. The junior police officers have to close the file as soon as possible as the pressure from the top. These unkempt homeless people from the lower class/caste seem easy targets. Pandi kind of becomes the de facto leader of the pack to deny charges. He blurts about the police brutality at his trial and is rescued by a Tamil Nadu police officer who happened to be there for another mission.

That moves the movie to the second part. The Tamil police officer, Muthuvel, is there to capture a go-between middle man, KK, who arranges deals for politicians. Obviously, KK is with the losing side, and he is witch-hunted by the police who acts as running dogs for the government of the day. The four friends go out of the way to help the Tamil policemen. They appear virtuous, unlike their Andhra counterparts. How wrong were they? Kumar, one of the four homeless guys, made it home, became an autorickshaw rider and lived to write his experience in Andhra Pradesh in a novel 'Lock-up' upon which this film is based. Kumar also made an appearance in Venice during the screening of this show. The others got embroiled in the police brutality all over again. They soon realised that even the white collared educated ones are not immune from the wheel of misfortune when it starts rolling.

The characters who portray the role of law-enforcement officers are varied. Living to the proof of Milgram's experiments and Hannah Arendt's 'Banality of Evil', some of them just want to finish their assigned jobs and keep their bosses happy. Some are happy just to pass the buck to the other and absolve himself of any wrongdoings. One interesting old-timer is so well versed in how to do the dirty job that he had become so philosophical about it! He says, "....every life on Earth is precious. They should not die for nothing; their death could be used to write off certain cases!" when someone mentions that they should be just killed off. Muthuvel, the good cop, also to bow to the System to save his skin and job.

At the end of the movie, you are left with a bad after-taste and a nihilistic perception of our human race and its future generations to come. The message is clear. Every system that our ancestors started which seems to have been created to set order to the society is the very system that is eating it up. The story depicted here is not an outcome of somebody's wild imagination but is indeed the reality on the ground. The last scene of the film sums it up. A good cop is killed by his own man. The media is manipulated to gain sympathy for the family, make a martyr out of the officer and start a public debate on the appalling working conditions of policemen. The poor and the outcast die a worthless death until a social activist takes up the course.


Some memorable dialogues, (Translated)

When you have money, you feel this quiet, inexplicable guilt...
All the religions in the world have taught us that money is evil.
Especially in a country like ours, where the majority are poverty stricken...
A rich man tends to look like a culprit.
Not just to the people, he feels that way about himself!
When that feeling becomes unbearable, he chooses to lose his money.
A man who doesn't feel guilty for his money, who respects the fruit of his labour...
Who doesn't feel ashamed, but understands that it's a token of appreciation...
will be rich.
One must never hide his wealth in guilt.
One must celebrate wealth!

Humans are the most responsible life form.
Just like every birth has a purpose, so should every death.
When a life departs, it leaves a void in this world.
That void can never be filled by another.
That death should have a significance.

It does not matter what people think

Bridge of Spies (2015)

There are truths, half truth, manufactured truths, lies bent to appear true. The problem is knowing the whole real truth is near, if not, impossible. Some truths are buried in the tombstones of time only to show a short cameo appearance before it is forgotten for good. Some never even see the living daylight. Some non-truths instead become gospel truths as they were uttered by victors and oft repeated!

One cannot be an idealist, doing only things which he considers the truth. As in most things in life, it is hidden in the shades of grey between white and black. We should do what we think is right. It does not matter what people think.

What is actually right, we may never know!

In this spiced up American movie,  set during the heights of the Cold War, James Donovan (Tom Hanks), an insurance negotiator is summoned by the Justice Department to defend a suspected Russian spy. The US wanted to appear to be holding a fair trial. At the outset, the lawmakers wanted to make it an open and shut case but unfortunately, it dragged on. The accused, Rudolf Abel, a pessimist, denies any involvement with espionage. The defence lawyer, Donovan, and the accused builds a relationship of mutual respect. As expected, the accused is proven guilty by the courts. Despite being ostracised by the general public for defending an enemy spy, Donovan labours on. When an American air pilot and a student is apprehended by the Russians, he acts as a negotiator on a secret mission to East Germany.

It is a jungle out there!

Dheepan (Bilingual; Yaalpaanam Tamil and French; 2015)

When refugees are given space to stay in a vicinity, it is not just physical space they need. They would need social and psychological support to carry on life. After all the push factors that drove them from their comfort zone, the devastations that they had endured, the love ones that they had lost, PTSD is a real problem which needs to be handled tactfully. They do not come alone. With them come the baggage of young ones who need to be paved for a future where they can fend for themselves. There are bound to be people who are non-conformists and natural fighter-cocks who would just  rebel without a cause. Bad apples are everywhere. Crime and social disharmony amongst themselves and with other communities may strain the policing duties.

Refugees and immigrants, who are usually in the prime of the lives, will have dreams and desires, be it for the future or for carnal gratifications. Hence, sexual and reproductive concerns need to be addressed. In other words, receiving refugees is not simply processing people, quarantining them and repatriating them to other shores. It is the whole package, sometimes to grave and from cradle...

This Palme d'Or (Highest award in Cannes festival) winner the plight of three Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who try to start life afresh in France, without much success. Dheepan is a Tamil Tiger freedom fighter who lost his wife and kids in the bombing. When an international relief team comes ashore in war-torn Sri Lanka, total strangers teamed up to pose as family members to qualify for repatriation. Yalini picks up a 9 year old orphan from the street to act as her daughter while she herself lies to be Dheepan's 'wife' to get a passport to freedom. Dheepan uses a dead man's passport as his new identity!

The 'family' soon realises that the residential complex that they are placed in is no different than the war-torn zone that they escaped. Dheepan works as a janitor in a complex that houses refugees from North Africa as well. Gangs terrorise and guns are used frequently. The vibes that the environment gave was anything but safe. The 'daughter' Illayal, learns to blend with her schoolmates with a little difficulty.

Meanwhile, Dheepan and Yalini starts developing feelings. Memories of their turmoils in their hometown keep rearing the ugly head. In the course of their duties, (Yalini works as a helper to a demented Algerian man whose son is a big time thug), they get embroilled in the crossfire of a territorial feud between gangs. Things turn ugly. It is reminiscent of the clash of LTTE and the Government forces once again! The war never left them.

It is a deeply engaging movie. Characters are not so two dimensional. Even the meanest of the people have their gentle sides. 

Laugh at ourselves, once in a while?

Lelaki Harapan Dunia (2014)
Written & Directed by: Low Seng Tat

It has a long time since satires were made in this country. There was a time, in retrospect, after watching all those P. Ramlee's movies, when most of us used to laugh at ourselves whilst admitting that we are not perfect. Somehow, our the years we have changed. Perhaps due to inferiority complexes or fear of losing out and be steamrolled into submission by the others, somewhere along the way, we tend to take offence at everything when others comment on our follies and shortcomings.

This movie is a brainchild of a product of our own Multimedia University and has a string of accolades to its belt. It, however, stirred the emotions of some writers who consider themselves the upholders of anything pertaining to Malayness! What more when the story was penned and directed by someone, not from the diaspora! Especially so, when this satirical offering not only re-created the aura and ambience of a Malay village but re-lived the dynamics of a typical kampong, the hierarchy, politics, the feudalistic mindset, the patriarchal environment and the herd mentality.

What it shows is only specific to a kampong but rather at human nature on the whole. It ridicules the corruption and their belief in black magic, the mystic and ghosts.

Pak Awang plans to present an old debilitated house as a wedding gift to his daughter. Apparently, this 'moving house' (angkat rumah) is an age-old Malay tradition of recycling old house. The whole villagers would collectively lift the house to a new location to be refurbished.

The villagers, albeit being wary on offending the spirits of the old house, reluctantly oblige.

At the same time, Hari Raya Korban is around the corner and a politician is there to donate a camel to the villagers for sacrificial reasons. We later learn that the price of the animal is hugely inflated, taking a swipe at the government! The children take a liking to the camel and even gives him a name. Learning that he would be sacrificed, the children let him loose. Someone's cows also go missing. A villager's daughter develops spontaneous bruising.

Somebody suggested that it could be due to disturbed spirits of the house that created all the misfortunes. A shaman was brought in who suggested that it could the work of the mythical 'orang minyak'!

To complicate matters, a Nigerian illegal immigrant finds refuge in the old house, oblivious to everyone except to an elderly villager who happens to be blind. Pak Awang gets angry with the villagers for abandoning his project. He seeks revenge by masquerading as the orang minyak himself! Knowing that the intruder would attack the female occupants, the men in the village decided collectively to cross dress! This gives the hint of homosexuality amongst the villagers.

Detractors of this movie express their dissatisfaction in the lack of female presence in the story, but the Malay world had always been a male dominated one, a patriarchal one, at least in public. They take offence at the depiction (or ridicule) of the practice of sacrifice during Korban, where the children question the need for sacrificial animal and the depiction of blood splatter to the curious villager onlookers who shield themselves with umbrellas who the actual slaughter happens.

On a personal note, I found the film quite refreshing quite different from the usual non-cerebral unfunny offerings with recycled stereotyped jokes that are churned out by most Malaysian filmmakers!