Reflection Essay

 

Yasmin Ahmad’s films have been said to be controversial to the Malaysian audiences due to the issues that she tackles such as religion and racial discrimination. Her films have been highly scrutinized by the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS) with strict censorship. The two main themes that will be discussed is Ahmad’s portrayal of a 1Malaysia whereby the films portray every race and the strict censorship that has hindered the audience to a full on experience of her films. The 1Malaysia model whereby the films feature all the races in Malaysia and did not exclude anyone (Rosnan and Aziz. 2012, Shariff, Sualman and Adilrawan, 2013 & Latif, Mahmud and Salman, 2013).

 

The majority of Ahmad’s films were set in Ipoh with the main reason that she felt that Ipoh was the most neutral state in Malaysia in terms of racial discrimination. It seems that filming in a neutral state would allow Ahmad greater freedom in exploring the characters and story to the greatest length that could have been stretched. Racial issues such as discrimination is still present in Malaysia even today. One example would be the Bumiputra laws where ethnic Malays are given priority over Chinese or Indians in terms of owning land (CITE). Furthermore, scholarships are also given mostly to Malays. This issue was also mentioned in Sepet during the conversation between Kak Yam and Orked’s mother.

 

Rao (2013) mentioned that censorship is an important tool to uphold moral standing and avoiding controversial issues such as sex or racial discrimination which may lead to social unrest in Malaysia. Taking into account that Malaysia is indeed a multi-cultural country, FINAS’s strict supervision and censorship of Ahmad’s films are justified to an extent. However, Ahmad was able to tackle controversial issues with the use of humor. Being a Singaporean and watching Ahmad’s films in Singapore (where the censorship issues are less strict) I was able to watch the films without the editing made by FINAS.  This meant that my experience to the movies were slightly higher then the audiences in Malaysia. I thought the parts that were cut out due to censorship rights were important parts of the film that to me seemed innocent. It gave Ahmad’s films more depth and the actors to explore greater into their characters. The films felt real as though I was watching from outside.

 

An example of such scenes would be the bathing scene in Rabun whereby two actors who were not married but were acting as husband and wife were seen taking a shower together, fully clothed. This scene was cut out for the Malaysian audiences as it was said to be “haram” as they actors were not in real life married. Secondly, in Sepet, I remember watching in at the PictureHouse and there was this scene where Orked’s parents were playfully dancing and chasing each other around the house when the father’s clothes fell (meaning that he became naked). This scene was also taken out for Malaysian audiences as they felt that it was violating the modesty of the audiences by exposing them to the idea of sex. Being a Singaporean Malay, I found this odd. I loved that scene because it felt real to me. It portrayed the comfort and ease that a married couple would have in real life. This scene also showed us that Orked’s father maybe the disciplinary figure in the house but he also had fun and was not uptight all the time. This hit home for me as my father is so similar to Orked’s father. Rao (2013) also mentioned that FINAS had low tolerance for nudity, sex, strong language, graphic violence or religious sentiments.

 

Ahmad has successfully tackled such issues with the use of humor to lessen the impact of the serious issues and at times to mock it. Her background has shown that she does not approve the discrimination of other races. During her years when she was studying, she was offered a scholarship to study overseas however she turned it down as she felt that it was unfair for her friends who were not Malays and did better than her who were not given any offers.  She has also tackled the issues of interracial marriage and the challenges that they pose. Being in an interracial marriage herself, she would understand the struggles better than anyone else.

 

Many of her personal experiences had help to shape the themes and messages in her films. In Rabun, the intimacy shown in the movie was unintentional. Ahmad was making this film for her parents as a tribute to their relationship and her deep respect for them both as individuals and as a couple. In Sepet, the relationship that bloomed between a Chinese boy and a Malay girl was inspired by her own experiences of marrying out of her race and the difficulties that they faced such as the approval of the family and scrutiny from the society. However, the racial issues did not faze the individual’s families such as Jason and Orked’s mother. This is true in Malaysia as there are many multi-racial families. Hence most of Ahmad’s movies can be seen to be national films with a double-occupancy cinema whereby it was the Malays versus “the others” (Lundberg, 2014). Creating, writing and filming her movies based on her experiences have made her believe that films should be told in anthropological way whereby we observe and take note of certain behaviors in society and try to find reasons for such patterns.

 

Ahmad's films were straightforward. This can be seen by both the mis-en-scene and the montage of all her films. Ahmad’s filming skills are simple and straight to the point. Throughout the three movies, panorama shots were used to portray the natural landscape of Malaysia to be vast and bustling with life. In Rabun, the journey to and fro from the city house to the kampong (village) house was shown through panorama shots of the busy and bustling highways in Malaysia. This is an exact dipiction to portray the dexterity of Malaysia in terms of land and that they were all connected together by one road.

 

Rabun

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sepet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cultural landscape on the otherhand were showcase mainly through the language used in the films as well as the traditional costumes. Malay is the national language of Malaysia but Ahmad's films were mainly in english with a mix of Malay and Hokkien. Even the Chinese in Malaysia were shown to be fluent in Malay which is true to majority of Chinese Malaysians. In Rabun (2003) and Sepet (2004), Orked as well as Mak Inom were able to verse in Hokkien as well thus promoting further the idea of a 1Malaysia. In terms of traditional costumes, this was most seen in Sepet whereby Orked, her mother and Kak Yam were mostly in traditional wear (baju jurung). Jason's mother who is a baba (mixed of Malay and Chinese heritage) was also seen wearing a kebaya in all her scenes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mis-en-scene

 

The colours throughout the films were warm. The colours used during the flashbacks (especially so in Sepet, 2004) were warmer to portray a vintage feel to them. The sound and music also showed the cross-culture that all the races in the films had. For exxample, in Rabun (2003), the arrival of the Chinese contractor was always coupled with a loud Hokkien song. Furthermore, there was an Indian man who could speak fluent Hokkien and regarded a Chinese man to be his "brother".  In Sepet (2004), Jason was seen dancing to a Malay song despite being Chinese and Orked, her mother and Kak Yam prefered Chinese dramas as well as Siam songs. In Muallaf, the cross-culture was seen through symbols such as the scene whereby Brian who is a Catholic picks up the Quran which is the Holy book of Islam.

 

 

Montage

 

The camera angles used in Ahmad's films had attempted to break the fourth wall in certain parts of the films. There were attempts to break the fourth wall in Rabun, in the scene whereby we are exposed to Pak Atan's failing eyesight when the scene was shown blurry to portray his poor eyesight. This gave firsthand experience to the view that Pak Atan had which explained his dependency on his wife to be his eyes. The fourth wall was also attempted in the scenes whereby a voice over was put to Mak Inom when she was having a conversation with Yem's mother about his incompetency and betrayal. In Sepet, the camera angles were vital in the flashback scenes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The colour change here is also seen as the present is seen to be more vibrant then the past. Thus Ahmad had successfully used both the mis-en-scene and the montage to get the right effect to show a flashback.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was obvious to the audiences that this was a flashback and this was the story that Jason would later tell Orked about him falling in love (or having a crush) on a malay girl back in school when he was younger and that he felt that he had met Orked in a previous life and that they were meant to be together as it was their "yungfeng" (fate).

 

In Muallaf, the cinematography was done in a straightforward manner as well. For example, in the scene shown below, Rohani was being beaten by her father and little snippets of this was shown. At every point in Muallaf when a violent act was about to be carried out, Ahmad chose to blank out the scene with a pure white background for a few seconds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The scenes here were followed with a few seconds of a blank white background to somehow shelter the eyes of the audiences so that they do not see the violence. It also leads to an amguity to what actually happened to Rohani. The abuse from her father who is of a high social standing (Datuk) was "hidden" from the world. This resembles the social standing of such people in Malaysian Society. The bad deeds that are done by such highly respected people in Malaysia was to be protected and is protected by the society hence only the good deeds are seen and focused on. This is a highly controversial issue in Malaysia with the known fact that people of high standing can also be badly behaved however it is not seen in the public eye so as to protect their modesty. 

 

Despite choosing a cast that were mostly new to the acting scene, Ahmad's choices in terms of actors were appropriate to her films. Her films largely featured the Amani sisters, with Sharifah Amani being the main leading actress and her sisters being her "past" selves or even her on screen sisters. Despite being new to the acting scene, the actors in Ahmad's films were able to portray their characters well. In Rabun, as an audience, it felt as though the actors were indeed married. Their banter as well as their chemistry on screen were undeniable. In Sepet, the emotions that were shown in the acting of Orked and Jason as well as Orked's parents felt so warm and sincere. We are able to follow Sharifah Amani's development in terms of her acting career just through assessing the films she made with Ahmad. The epitome of her career is probably her portrayal of Rohani in Muallaf, a loving and protective sister who was abused by their father and loses her sister in the end but full embraces forgiveness and thus attains peace. 

 

Amani's acting was partly so moving as her co-star was her sister in real life hence the sister bond was already present before the filming. The pain of oing through a traumatic event together (even on a film) was so real and believable. The emotions felt so real; the fear, the hurt and ultimately her forgiving the bad things that have happened to her due to the bad people in her life. Hence the acting overall in Ahmad's films were relatively well done. For an independant film, Ahmad's films were simply done and the cinematography itself was not as spectacular as the horror films of Malaysia. However, her films tackled real life issues such as marriage, racial discrimination, abuse, religion, forgiveness and much more. Her films were a joy to watch.

 

 

 

Evaluation

Ahmad's films were highly said to be promoting the idea of 1Malaysia (Muthalib, 2004, Al-Amin, 2008 and Sim, 2013). Research has shown that the film industry in Malaysia are lacking in movies that foster the idea of a 1Malaysia as it is considered to be more of a sensitive issue and that the most important aspect of the a film that would be successful had to have high levels of entertainment. (Shariff, Sualman and Adilrawan, 2013). As compared to films such as Ahmad’s, horror films are more sort after due to the entertainment value. Films that are targeted at encouraging unity and inculcating important values are less successful due to the low levels of entertainment. (Shariff, Sualman and Adilrawan, 2013). Films can be seen as cultural products which are vital in the preservation of culture (Rosnan & Aziz, 2012) hence it is important that more films in Malaysia promote good values as well as fostering unity between the races by showing the harmony that real Malaysians actually do experience. Instead of focusing mainly on the "dominant" race. 

 

Looking deeper into Ahmad's films, we are able to point out certain hidden and obvious messages. One hidden message that I felt Ahmad was trying to portray was the modernization that the Malays in Malaysia are currently facing which at times are in conflict with the practices of their ancestors. One such example would be portrayed by Orked's clothing. In the first half of the movie, Orked who was seen to be a traditional malay girl brought up with traditional malay values is shown through the clothes that she wore. However, in the second part, she was seen to be wearing western clothes despite hanging around with so called Malay people. I thought this was a representation of colonialism in Malaysia whereby western influences were apparent in people who were traditional and supposedly more close minded. This example is further proven by Orked's friend who fancied Leonardo Dicaprio and made fun of her for prefering a Chinese actor. This shows that it was more acceptable to be more welcoming to white people as compared to another race. This was also a hint of the racial discrimination that is still present in Malaysia. It also portrays the society's view on interracial marriages. 

 

Other obvious messages were that of forgiveness. This is seen in all three movies. In Rabun, the last scene shows Pak Atan and Mak Inom forgiving Yem for cheating them of their money. In Sepet, Orked calls Jason to tell him about her feelings and that she accepts him back after the pregnancy of another woman. In Muallaf, the overarching theme was forgiveness and this was the biggest take away from the movie. This was seen in the scene whereby Brian goes home to visit his mother after holding a grudge against her due to his anger from when he was a child. He was holding a grudge as his mother did not protect him when he was a child and henceforth was beaten and sent away to Catholic school by his father.

 

Independant films have slightly more freedom as compared to films that are sponsored by the government to promote Malaysia. This is seen especially in Ahmad's films as despite the strict censorship, she was still able to tell her story. Her stories were also entertaining mainly due to the humor that was put in throughout the films. However, the films could be improved further if there were veteran actors who would take up small supporting roles as some of the acting by the older cast were not as well done as the main cast. For example, Jason's friend, Keong, was not well played. Furthermore, addressing cultural issues may lead to certain audience members to be uncomfortable during certain scenes such as the bathing scenes or "sex" scenes.

 

On a whole, Ahmad's films are an interesting representation of the films that are coming out of Malaysia. Despite the strict censorship issues, her films were still able to be distributed to Malaysian audiences hence there is a certain level of value. I strongly encourage everyone to watch her films and hope that you are equally moved as I was.

 

 

References

 

Ahmad, Y. (2003). Rabun. Malaysia: MHZ Film Production.

 

Ahmad, Y. (2004). Sepet. Malaysia: MHZ Film Production.

 

Ahmad, Y. (2008). Muallaf. Malaysia: MHZ Film Production. 

 

Al-Amin, F.A. (2008). Controversies Surrounding Malaysian Independent Female Director Yasmin Ahmad's first film, Sepet. 17th Biennial Conference of the Asian Studies Association of Australia

 

Amizah. W.M.W., Ibrahim, F., Ahmad, F., Mustaffa, N. & Mahbob, M.H. (2013). Putting Policemen as Censors in Cinemas: The History of Film Censors in Malaysia.  Journal of Asian Social Science, 9(6), pp.43-49

 

Latiff, R.A., Mahmud, W.A.W. & Salman, A. (2013). A Broadcasting History of Malaysia: Progress and Shifts. Journal of Asian Social Science, 9(6), pp.50-57

 

Lundberg, A. (2014). CN2205 Australia & Asia in Cinema, Lecture 1: Introduction to Cinema [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from: https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-1653055-dt-content-rid-1815618_1/courses/14-CN2205_CN3305-SIN-INT-SP53/CN2205%20Lecture%201%20Movie%20%26%20Place%20.pdf

 

Muthalib, H. (2004) Mata Rabun tapi Hati Celik: An Appreciation of Yasmin Ahmad's Rabun. Jurnal Skrin Malaysia, pp. 78-84

 

Rao, A. (2013). Film Censorship and it's Relevance in Modern Malaysia. Journal of Arts, Science & Commerce, 4(1), pp.43-50

 

Rosnan, H. & Aziz, Z.D.A. (2012). Film Business in Malaysia: Challenges and Opportunities. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 12(2), pp.198-202

 

Sim, G. (2013). Yasmin Ahmad's "Orked" Trilogy. Journal of Digital Publishing, 62(3), pp.48-53

 

Shariff, S.Z.M, Sualman, I & Adilrawan, E.D. (2013). Fostering Unity among Malaysians: A Case Study on the Local Film Industry. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 10(3), pp.110-120