Fiction that angered many!

Alert: Sensitive topic, readers' discretion advised!

The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)

The more you suppress something, the more people want of, e.g. the plunging of the cleavage! Once it is in the open, the more people will shy away but then some people would swear that something are better left to imagination so that the discovery would all be worth it!

Just like that, the curiosity in me wanted be to view and judge for myself the film banned in many countries including Malaysia and Singapore -The Last Temptation of Christ. 

The movie can be roughly divided to 2 parts - the first being His revelation of being the Son of God and the second (which is the one angered most believers) which is the purely fictitious part.

Jesus, a carpenter, is collaborating to make cross for the Romans much to the chagrin of the Jewish people including his friend, Judas. He has these pains and voices in his head that keep on coming and irritating him.  He tries fasting, whipping himself but in vain. He is convinced it is God talking to him. He is not interested but wants to be left like everybody else. He wants somebody else to be The One. He decides to goes a wandering to find peace but not before bidding farewell to his childhood friend who had feelings for him (and vice-versa), now a prostitute, Mary Magdalene.

After some soul searching about his fears and low self esteem, he is told to return to spread The Word of God. Along comes Judas to kill him but instead becomes his follower. Then He sees Mary Magdalene being stoned for working on Sabbath. He stops the mob with the all famous phrase (slightly altered), "he who had not sinned cast the first stone...".

Then he starts his preaches about love and the number of disciples grow bigger. They form the newest radicals who are out to challenge the practice of the people of the day and the rule of the Romans.
After his baptism and self discovery in the desert again, Jesus managed to control his temptations from Satan. On his return, he goes on a rampage of miracle of healing the blind and raising the death. He then goes for the jugular, to take over Jerusalem. After a failed attempt to take a temple, he confides in Judas to inform his whereabouts to the Romans as his calling called him to die on the cross. After the Last Supper, He is caught and is crucified. His followers run into hiding.

While dying on the cross, a little girl emerges to claim to be his guardian angel to release him from the cross. She leads him to a wedding procession where he is to be wed to Mary Magdalene. The consummation results in a pregnant Magdalene who unfortunately dies suddenly with the baby in situ. 

A devastated Jesus is coaxed by the guardian angel to marry (cohabitate) Lazarus' sisters, Mary and Martha and has many children with them. Jesus grows old feeling happy thinking that this is how one finds God, through family life and children. During one of the family outings, he overhears a preacher preaching about Jesus and resurrection. Jesus about everything but the preacher insists that that type of talk gives hope to the people.

Jesus grows old as Jerusalem is engulfed with raging fire. On his death bed his disciples drop in. They were infuriated with Him for being a coward running from the cross and the rest of them had to do the dirty job of fighting the Roman. They show Him that He had indeed fallen for Satan's temptation and the guardian angel was no guardian angel but a manifestation of Satan himself.
Jesus pleads to God for forgiveness for failing in his duty and pleaded for Him to be brought back to the cross. And He did...
I can understand the discomfort felt by the puritans. Putting artistic expressions aside, the story tellers were just testing the waters by humanizing the Son of God - making him appear delusional both auditory and visual in nature, feeling frustrated for this disturbing feeling, working for God's enemy (Romans) with the hope that He would be not chosen for God's job, depiction of him as a fire brand youth indulging in worldly activities, fearful of relationships with persons of the weaker sex and even seen kissing men in a few scenes.
From a purely artistic point of view, Daniel Dafoe gave a true life like image of what the modern world expects Jesus to look like even archaeologically he is said to have more Negroides features. Martin Scorsee, being the master director he is did not disappoint in this outing. 

Mauled by Man City

It is often said that the atmosphere of being in a football match is an experience to behold that can be only experienced by being there. The last and only time I was at a football match before was in a 1990 Malaysia Cup match between Selangor and Kelantan in Stadium Merdeka. In spite of being just an innocent bystander without supporting either side, I still appreciated the aura of cheer and passion in the air. And this was at a time when the rot had already set in the local football scene.
Sadly, there was no such feeling in yesterday's football game.To entertain a relative (a fellow Liverpool supporter) from Canada, we brought him to watch a friendly game between a young Malaysian team and a half spirited half strength 'still basking in their BPL glory' visiting holiday mood Manchester City team.
Surprisingly, the game started on time after breaking fast (as it was the holy month of Ramadhan) and maghrib prayers at 9.45pm after the usual mumbo jumbo of introduction of players to the officials who were sitting in the Chair of FAM since my school days all through the rot.
I thought that the visitors would be jet-lagged but instead our boys seem disorientated and seem contended just passing the ball within their half of the field. The urgency was not there. They were a few half hearted attempt on the opponent's half but our boys fail to note that high long passes just do not work when the opponents are towering over you! The first half of the game was lacklustre with a few glimmer of fancy moves from the visitors and we were trailing 0-1. Our loss of direction continued even we were down 0-3. I had seen the winning side practising passing game when they were buying time for the final whistle but when you down.
Frustratingly, our Malayan Tigers were all doing a 'Soh Chin Aun-Santokh Singh-Arumugam' passes (during the Merdeka Cup glory days to frustrate the losing Korean side) when we were about 15 minutes from game time and 0-3! People were getting bored. Even the annoying buzz of the vuvuzela or the thumping drum beats of the rebana ubi could keep the passion alive and many disappointed Malaysian fans started leaving the stadium. They, presumably did not want to waste their time at the exit later and must have thought they should do something more worthwhile like going to bed early for sahur the next morning or going to work fresh!

Just when we thought all were lost....

The humidity must have taken its toll on the City boys. Suddenly, through a short pass from a free kick, the Malaysia team cracked open the eggshell to a thunderous roar of the home team. The spectators showed their appreciations by singing and cheering as if the Malaysian team had attained victory.

The game ended tamely at 1-3 and everyone went home still wondering and reminiscing the good old days when we used to beat teams like South Korea and Japan.
Where are they and where are we....

Farewell Amachee...

1927-2012

After living a full life to a ripe age of 80 something, Amachee slumbered off to the land hereafter.
It is funny that when someone passes on, we only think of the good times and funny times that we spent together in their lifetime. Amachee was one of the few relatives who used to visit us when we were exiled in RRF. Her lighting trips up north from Seremban (106, Templer Road) will be unannounced. Hive of activities will ensue to make the house presentable and tea will be prepared in a jiffy. She would update Amma about the latest happening in the family circle - who died, who married who, latest scandal, etcetera. The tea is not complete if not with some accompaniment. That is when I would be summoned to the rescue to buy some biscuits or such from the shop downstairs.
On one particular visit, I had a crash course on dentures and food selection after buying a variant of Mung Bean Pastry  (tau sar piah) with gooey sticky paste. Only then did I know that Amchee had dentures and it would get stuck!
I remember Amachee to be one of the adults in my childhood who could actually swim. This I discovered during my trip to Port Dickson beach in the mid 70s with my sister. I still remember how she demonstrated her swimming skills dressed in a sarong tied over her chest and the air bubbling through the garment!
Amachee had been a vegetarian as far as I can remember. The irony of it is she found great pleasure in cooking sumptuous elaborate non-vegetarian meals to all who visit her home without even tasting it for salt or flavour - but it just turned out delicious and perfect, every time!
Missed all these long ago when she was taken ill and slowly progressed into her own world into another dimension. She slowly said her farewells and is now united with her long lost husband and with her Maker whom she had painstakingly worshipped through her various prayers and early morning trips to her favourite temple.
Amachee, Thank you for everything. You are the closest to a grandmother I ever had. May your soul attain eternal peace and reach Moksha.

Steel Orchid

The Lady 2011
In every lifetime will live amongst us icons who will only be appreciated after their demise. A lady still in flesh and blood who fits this icon in present life who is fondly referred to as the female Mandela and Steel Orchid is the 'The Lady' depicted in this film.
The movie does not offer anything more than what we already know about Aung San Suu Kyi and her quest for democracy for Burma. It explores more of the relationship between her and her husband as well as her two boys.

A family portrait, with Aung San Suu Kyi

(in white) as a toddler, taken in 1947

shortly before her father's assassination.

In 1947, her father is General Aung San is assassinated in Rangoon. Fast forward Suu Kyi returns home to see her stroke inflicted mother and is drawn into the politics of the day. One thing leads to another and she is under house arrest and the family (the husband and sons) are separated for years. It shows the passion and support exhibited by the family to fulfil 'The Lady's insatiable effort to continue her father's dream to pave democracy for the people of Burma. For this effort, she had to give up being with the sons during their growing years and even miss being with the love of her life in his dying days with prostatic cancer. The most touching part of the movie was she was conferred the Nobel Prize for Peace in absentia and how his elder son gave a speech followed by a symphony recital of Pacelbel's Canon in D.
Overall, Michelle Yeoh (our Malaysian ambassador in Hollywood) did a good job in term portraying a modern icon with her mannerism and giving speeches in Burmese (she learnt it) but somehow the film failed to make quite an everlasting impression to attain that high status in my collection of classic films.

Marathon Monks - Japan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaih%C5%8Dgy%C5%8D


Kaihōgyō
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Kaihōgyō (回峰行?) is a set of the ascetic physical endurance trainings for which the Japanese ‘marathon monks’ of Mt. Hiei are known. These Japanese monks are from theTendai school of Buddhism, a denomination brought to Japan by the monk Saichō in 806 from China.
Their quest is to serve Buddha through many duties but they are best known for their physical endurance in running, a form of extreme asceticism. The school is based north of Kyoto, at Mt. Hiei, which overlooks the ancient capital city.

The Monks and their quest for enlightenment
Part of Tendai Buddhism's teaching is that enlightenment can be attained in the current life. It is through the process of self denial that this can be achieved, and the Kaihōgyō is seen as the ultimate expression of this desire.
There are many serving priests at the temple on Mt. Hiei, but very few of them have completed the kaihōgyō. Many who have completed it come from outside of the Order.
The selection process for the kaihōgyō is after the first 100 days of running, the gyōja (trainee monk) will petition the senior monks to complete the remaining 900 days. In the first 100 days, withdrawal from the challenge is possible, but from day 101 onwards the monk is no longer allowed to withdraw; he must either complete the course or take his own life. The mountain has many unmarked graves from those who have failed in their quest, although none date from either the 20th or 21st century.

There are many parts to the kaihōgyō, but the main challenges can be broken down into the following sections:
Running

The ultimate achievement is the completion of the 1,000-day challenge, which would rank among the most demanding physical and mental challenges in the world. Only 46 men have completed the 1,000-day challenge since 1585. Of these, three people have completed the circuit twice, most recently Yūsai Sakai (酒井雄哉?, (1926–)), who first went from 1973 to 1980 and then, after a half year pause, went again, finishing his second round in 1987 at age 60.
The kaihōgyō takes seven years to complete, as the monks must undergo other Buddhist training in meditation and calligraphy, and perform general duties within the temple.

The training is divided into 100-day sections as follows:

Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5	Year6	Year 7
30 (40) km per day for 100 days	30 (40) km per day for 100 days	30 (40) km per day for 100 days	30 (40) km per day for 200 days	30 (40) km per day for 200 days	60 km per day for 100 days	84 km per day for 100 days, followed by 30 (40) km per day for 100 days

(The numbers in parentheses indicate the distance of the Imuro Valley course which is slightly longer.)

The running is punctuated in the middle of the term by the Katsuragawa retreat which takes 4 days. Although not required all modern initiates have been known to add the missing days due to this retreat onto the end of their course, thereby completing the full 1000 day term.

Doiri or "Entering the Temple"
During the fifth year of the challenge, the running is punctuated by what many consider the most daunting phase of the process. The trainee Monk must go for 9 days (216 hours) without food, water, or rest of any kind. He sits in the Temple and prays constantly. Two monks accompany him, one on either side, to ensure he does not fall asleep. At 2am every night he must get up to fetch sacrificial water from the well, around 200m away, as an offering for Fudō Myōō.

Author John Stevens, in his book, The Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei describes the running style which dates back over a thousand years. 'Eyes focused about 100 feet ahead while moving in a steady rhythm, keeping the head level, the shoulders relaxed, the back straight, and the nose aligned with the navel.'

A masala thriller in psychedelic colours!

Athey Kangal (Those same eyes,1967; Tamil)

1967 was still in the era of the golden years of the silver screen. This time around Eastman colour film came to be introduced into the Tamil cinema, introducing more psychedelic vibrancy to the already gaudy colours synonymous with Indian culture and dressing. It was Tamil cinema's time to exhibit their pretty and suave actor in dizzying shades of pink, turquoise, beige and orange. Even the grass appeared greener than life. This flick shows only the filthy rich Indians in European clothes dressed to the nines in all frames. The ties are narrow, so are the pants and the ladies salwar, which look more like running compression garments!

The mansion they reside in befits the abode of royalty, complete with a very tall ceiling and Gothic structures. The large black and white tiles, like a giant checkers board which was in vogue these days, is seen here. The strategic placement of lights seems to accentuate the scare component of this Tamil 'whodunnit' thriller. Unfortunately, in their zest to give the audience their monies worth and satisfy all quarters, the thriller component failed miserably.

It starts with an unorthodox fashion of showing a silhouette of a man hanging from the ceiling and his wife screaming to high heavens. The wife is strangled, but she avoids death as her assailant escaped after the commotion she raised. The deceased two brothers Kamalanathan (Asokan) and Vimalanathan (Ramdas), the family doctor (Balaji), the butler, a family friend who was a traditional healer and a police inspector, come to the scene. The route of entrance and escape is determined. A smoking cigar is retrieved from the window. Soon after that, the deceased's niece Susila (the pretty Kanchana) reaches the house with her college friends.

After that, it becomes draggy and torturous to watch. The mystery plot thickens when the widow who becomes psychologically disturbed is killed.

Susila befriends Baskaran (our Malaysian input, Ravichandran), a singer and his friend Caesar (Nagesh, who acts as an Anglo-Indian lady for a reasonable length of the movie to qualify for a rented house reserved for married couples only!).

Soon everybody appears to be a suspect - symbolically holding a smoking gun. Kamalanathan acts funny, soon to be found to have a clandestine affair, and both brothers are at loggerheads for the inheritance. Finally, Vimalanathan is killed, and Susila keeps getting death threats on the phone.

After all the singing, dancing, comedy by Nagesh et al., Baskaran identifies the murderer by convincing every remaining man in the household to cover their faces exposing only the eyes - as everyone is all too familiar with the eyes of the murderer. But, to their surprise, they found the traditional healer had those same eyes.

After the usual swashbuckling, he confessed that he was the illegitimate son of the Kamalanathan's father. He was out for revenge as the eldest brother (who died in the starting scene) had burnt his mother alive when she had demanded her rights as the lady of the house.

As I am a sucker for a good murder story ala Agatha Christie, I remember being fascinated with it during RRF days. Some comical moments were scene when you see Susila and her friend perform community service like cleaning the dirt road and painting the walls in the best of their silk saree, bangles and jewellery! And there were a lot of electric guitars, go-go, twisting, yodelling and even can-can dancing (ala Moulin Rouge) going on. All the songs in the film are classics and sound soothing to the ears.

Sample of songs:
Boom Boom Mattukaran
Kannukku Theriyadha
Oh Ho Ethanai Azhagu
Vaa Arugil Vaa
Pombala Oruthi
Ennenna Vo
Can Can Song
Chinna Penn Oruthi Sirikkiraal (this song only appeared in the Telugu version)

Trivia for you...

Kanchana 1967
(ex-Indian Airline air hostess)

The heroine of this movie, the vivacious, talented 150 films starred Kanchana, who used to rule the screen in Tamil, Malayalam, Telegu, Kannada and Hindi, had an ugly legal battle with her family. As a result, she had renounced worldly life and had immersed herself in salvation and prayers.

Banned P Ramlee film

P Ramlee's movies are labelled as national treasures, but unfortunately, it does not belong to the National Archives but are under Shaw Organization's possession due to its owners' foresight. Some of the prints are even missing.

I know of two of his movies banned by RTM or Censors for topics not suitable for national integration. One is 'Gelora' which dwelt with an adult topic, and the other is "Minta Nombor Ekor' for depicting gambling!

Recently managed to view 'Minta Nombor Ekor' on YouTube. 'Gelora' still remains elusive! Only a few clips of the show can be seen on Youtube. Here, here, here.

Minta Nombor Ekor

Kisah dua orang sahabat, Ramlee dan Raden yang menyewa di sebuah bilik. Mereka ingin cepat menjadi kaya dan selalu bermain judi 'tiga nombor ekor'. Berbagai cara dilakukan oleh mereka semata-mata untuk mendapatkan nombor yang paling bertuah. Mereka berdua juga mencintai gadis yang sama bernama Safiah yang bekerja di kedai nombor ekor itu.