(image from www.search.com)I have recently had my hands on something good. Something great. No it’s not what you think it is. I have gotten my hand on the other ‘good thing’ since I was 10. But that’s another story altogether.
On the usual midnight excursion to find food recently, I have bought a copy of The Passion of the Christ. This little place in Hartamas has been selling not-so-legal-DVDs for quite sometimes. It’s really hard to find this DVD since the whole banning issue and such. Don’t get me wrong. I do frequent places like Speedy and Borders for my DVD fix, but it’s just so hard to find what you really want to watch at those places. The censorship and limited number of allowed movies have seriously decreased amount of available things to watch.
TV you said? Don’t make me get into that. TV has lost its charmed since I stepped into that exclusive boarding school. The only thing I look forward to are news and Oprah Winfrey and the occasional dose of FashionTV. But other than that I have to say TV is so 1995 (pre boarding school).
So back to The Passion of The Christ. The film revolves around the moment when Jesus Christ, played by Jim Caviezel, is Captured at the Garden of Gethsemane to the Crucifixion at Golgotha and ends with the Resurrection. Set in its original language (presumably) Aramaic, Hebrew and Latin, the producer, director and screenwriter Mel Gibson and Benedict Fitgerald have managed to capture not only the suffering but also the very essence of Christianity and the PASSION. The subtitle is scarce; some dialogues/speeches are not translated (later revealed to be on purpose by the director). But with the linear narrative and occasional reminiscent of the life the before he is betrayed by his apostle, Judas Iscariot and captured by the regional guards, it is pretty easy to figure things out.
And no, contrary to popular fear, I do not embrace Christianity after watching that. Instead I ‘mengucap’ a few times at the sight and Jesus Christ being flogged. See, no harm done.
Biographical films like Capote, Monster and Frida are quite popular. The viewers are more inclined to know and experience the life of these people through more senses than just one (eye, by reading stories in books). By listening to the words spoken by the almost true to life characters, we can ‘live’ their lives, their ups and downs and be apart of their world.
Have fictional characters lost its charm? I would have to say no since people do watch great movies like Bee Season, Legally Blonde and Star Wars. But we’ll talk about that later. Ait?
I watched Monster a few years back. The lead roles, played by Christina Ricci and Charlize Theron, blew me away. The transformation of voice and body language by Theron was so realistic that at moments I totally forgot that I was looking that the gorgeous Charlize Theron.
The movie Monster presented me with another dimension of life. The rawness of the film captured my attention. No emotion was spared, no beautification needed. Everything was imperfect that it became so perfect.
Some people do not have the luxury of going to movies to catch the latest flicks or spend 10 ringgit on ‘not so legal’ DVDs or 50-70 ringgit on legal DVDs. These people have no choice but to tuned in to local TVs and if they are lucky, Satellite TVs (which we will get to later as well).
Local TV stations have showed nothing but the struggle of the Malays with their so much inheritance and the-return-of-the-not-so-prodigal-sons/daughters/grandkids, and the husbands that has nothing on his mind but the maids/secretaries. That or the mind numbing pseudo ‘reality’ programs.
The Malays have come along way since the independence and still we dwell on trivial things that do not at all reflect on the way the Malays are living. We do not have good movies shown weekly for these unfortunate people and the weekly dramas are their only window to the real world. Housewives who have nothing to do but take care of the kids, the unemployed and the plain lazy who spend days and days in front of the TV.
Back to the Malays and their obsessions with ‘harta peninggalan mak bapak’ and the struggle to manage the multimillion dollar firms. Or the not so prodigal son who requests that the father , a muslim be buried in his suits and ties instead of the usual white sheet. Come on. Be realistic.
Every time I try to watch these dramas, I find it very difficult for me to connect or identify with it.
I have friends who come from various backgrounds. From the ultra rich, to the not so rich and not once have I heard anybody talks about managing the father’s firm, or fighting with brothers and sisters to inherit the money and all.
I have also friends who have been staying in the States/London/Berlin for years and years, some even their entire lives, and are better Muslims than some of us. And by God they do know about KLCC and KLIA (Yusri, read this)
Are we portraying the real life? Or just the life that we wanted to be in, sort of like a dream life.
Enough with the power struggle and the cliché take on religious matter already. Let’s concentrate more on the hardship of everyday life. The fact that we do not have that much money to spend on things like books and movies, since most are spent on the extorting price of petrol (which apparently will never decrease despite the $54 per barrel price tag) and books. What about a struggling artist? But not too mushy and he must not live in rambled near torn down shacks because believe it or not, these people have proper houses with the occasional lack of TVs.
Or the everyday commute to work and the adventure that one encounters. The traffic jam, the radio stations that play nothing but good/crappy music and maybe the occasional glances at the drivers next to you. There, a perfect story that I can truly relate to.
Or the lives of our former Prime Minister maybe? And no, Jallaluddin Hassan may not play the lead role. You too, Erra Fazira.
Despite all that I do still love to watch some of the malay movies made in the 80’s and 90’s like:
1. Dewi Cinta
2. Selubung
3. Layar Lara
And many more.
I think we have to wake up and smell the coffee already. Look at the way people are living. Examine their characters and maybe get to know their stories. I’m sure everybody has a story to tell.
On the usual midnight excursion to find food recently, I have bought a copy of The Passion of the Christ. This little place in Hartamas has been selling not-so-legal-DVDs for quite sometimes. It’s really hard to find this DVD since the whole banning issue and such. Don’t get me wrong. I do frequent places like Speedy and Borders for my DVD fix, but it’s just so hard to find what you really want to watch at those places. The censorship and limited number of allowed movies have seriously decreased amount of available things to watch.
TV you said? Don’t make me get into that. TV has lost its charmed since I stepped into that exclusive boarding school. The only thing I look forward to are news and Oprah Winfrey and the occasional dose of FashionTV. But other than that I have to say TV is so 1995 (pre boarding school).
So back to The Passion of The Christ. The film revolves around the moment when Jesus Christ, played by Jim Caviezel, is Captured at the Garden of Gethsemane to the Crucifixion at Golgotha and ends with the Resurrection. Set in its original language (presumably) Aramaic, Hebrew and Latin, the producer, director and screenwriter Mel Gibson and Benedict Fitgerald have managed to capture not only the suffering but also the very essence of Christianity and the PASSION. The subtitle is scarce; some dialogues/speeches are not translated (later revealed to be on purpose by the director). But with the linear narrative and occasional reminiscent of the life the before he is betrayed by his apostle, Judas Iscariot and captured by the regional guards, it is pretty easy to figure things out.
And no, contrary to popular fear, I do not embrace Christianity after watching that. Instead I ‘mengucap’ a few times at the sight and Jesus Christ being flogged. See, no harm done.
Biographical films like Capote, Monster and Frida are quite popular. The viewers are more inclined to know and experience the life of these people through more senses than just one (eye, by reading stories in books). By listening to the words spoken by the almost true to life characters, we can ‘live’ their lives, their ups and downs and be apart of their world.
Have fictional characters lost its charm? I would have to say no since people do watch great movies like Bee Season, Legally Blonde and Star Wars. But we’ll talk about that later. Ait?
I watched Monster a few years back. The lead roles, played by Christina Ricci and Charlize Theron, blew me away. The transformation of voice and body language by Theron was so realistic that at moments I totally forgot that I was looking that the gorgeous Charlize Theron.
The movie Monster presented me with another dimension of life. The rawness of the film captured my attention. No emotion was spared, no beautification needed. Everything was imperfect that it became so perfect.
Some people do not have the luxury of going to movies to catch the latest flicks or spend 10 ringgit on ‘not so legal’ DVDs or 50-70 ringgit on legal DVDs. These people have no choice but to tuned in to local TVs and if they are lucky, Satellite TVs (which we will get to later as well).
Local TV stations have showed nothing but the struggle of the Malays with their so much inheritance and the-return-of-the-not-so-prodigal-sons/daughters/grandkids, and the husbands that has nothing on his mind but the maids/secretaries. That or the mind numbing pseudo ‘reality’ programs.
The Malays have come along way since the independence and still we dwell on trivial things that do not at all reflect on the way the Malays are living. We do not have good movies shown weekly for these unfortunate people and the weekly dramas are their only window to the real world. Housewives who have nothing to do but take care of the kids, the unemployed and the plain lazy who spend days and days in front of the TV.
Back to the Malays and their obsessions with ‘harta peninggalan mak bapak’ and the struggle to manage the multimillion dollar firms. Or the not so prodigal son who requests that the father , a muslim be buried in his suits and ties instead of the usual white sheet. Come on. Be realistic.
Every time I try to watch these dramas, I find it very difficult for me to connect or identify with it.
I have friends who come from various backgrounds. From the ultra rich, to the not so rich and not once have I heard anybody talks about managing the father’s firm, or fighting with brothers and sisters to inherit the money and all.
I have also friends who have been staying in the States/London/Berlin for years and years, some even their entire lives, and are better Muslims than some of us. And by God they do know about KLCC and KLIA (Yusri, read this)
Are we portraying the real life? Or just the life that we wanted to be in, sort of like a dream life.
Enough with the power struggle and the cliché take on religious matter already. Let’s concentrate more on the hardship of everyday life. The fact that we do not have that much money to spend on things like books and movies, since most are spent on the extorting price of petrol (which apparently will never decrease despite the $54 per barrel price tag) and books. What about a struggling artist? But not too mushy and he must not live in rambled near torn down shacks because believe it or not, these people have proper houses with the occasional lack of TVs.
Or the everyday commute to work and the adventure that one encounters. The traffic jam, the radio stations that play nothing but good/crappy music and maybe the occasional glances at the drivers next to you. There, a perfect story that I can truly relate to.
Or the lives of our former Prime Minister maybe? And no, Jallaluddin Hassan may not play the lead role. You too, Erra Fazira.
Despite all that I do still love to watch some of the malay movies made in the 80’s and 90’s like:
1. Dewi Cinta
2. Selubung
3. Layar Lara
And many more.
I think we have to wake up and smell the coffee already. Look at the way people are living. Examine their characters and maybe get to know their stories. I’m sure everybody has a story to tell.
No comments:
Post a Comment