Understanding on the films by U Wei Haji Saari

SYNOPSIS

Kaki Bakar (1995)

Kakang, who always proud with his Javanese heritage is trying to settle down with his family in Malaysia. As a father, he tries to bring up the children with Javanese spirit, traditional values and beliefs especially toward Kusuma, his youngest son. Realizing the social inequalities that caused him to be exploited by the rich, Kakang counteracts by torching the property of those who slights him. Kusuma, who understands the Javanese spirit and wills of his father, sometimes feels proud of him, at the same time also feeling feared and ashamed by his action. Different wills and thinking in between father and son has causes more trouble to erupt between them. However, Kusuma always respects his father as a brave and responsible Javanese who has contributed to their country and family.

Jogho (1997)

Mamat, who has failed as a Kelantan politician moves to Patani, South Thailand with his family. Many people called him as “Jogho” because he is famous with his skills as a bull trainer. He started his new life with family by involving in the bull fighting. The conflict in the film begins with the murder of Lazim, a leader of the small village and also best friend of Mamat. He takes up the responsibility of finding the murderer as he thinks that revenge is vital for a Malay man’s honor. However, Mamat’s son, Jusoh who has been sent to Kelantan for studies in religion school disagrees with Mamat’s decision. Jusoh believes in law practicing and also think that bull fighting is an act of cruelty towards animals. Due to revenge, the cycle of violence among the Malays continue until Mamat is held responsible for the death of Isa and is arrested by the Thailand police officers. While being led away by them, Mamat who is strong in Malay nationalism cries out, “The Patani Malays will live on!” 

FILM REVIEW

Through Kaki Bakar and Jogho, we can see that U Wei’s films usually revolve around the theme of Malays rural community. The setting of his films is always set as Malay Kampung, where he always talks about the Malays identity, adat and traditions, Malays social inequality, gender role which male is portrayed as hyper masculine in rural society, Malays culture, religious, as well as the portrayal of contemporary Malays identity. In Kaki Bakar, Kakang keeps on reminding Kusuma not to forgetting his own roots and identity. Same to Jogho, Mamat always believes that the minority Patani Muslim community will continue to live with their Malays identity although they are under Thailand ruling.

Besides that, the tradition lifestyle and culture of the rural Malays society is always well-established in U Wei’s films. The Malays depend on plantation and even rearing animals to get their daily incomes. In Jogho, Mamat earns his income through winning the bet from bull fighting gambles. Gender role also is emphasized through U Wei’s authorship. In rural Malays community, male role is always portrayed as hyper masculine over the female. Male always been highlighted as narrow-minded, egocentric, self-righteous and brutal men. In such community, females are not allowed to voice out their strong opinion or even handle important responsibility. In Jogho, Mamat’s wife and daughter have to support him without any words even though he gambles all their saving for daily life in bull fighting. Mamat’s egoism is shown through his proud of people calling him the champion or “Jogho”. Same to Kaki Bakar, the hyper masculinity role of Kakang is shown when he yelled at his daughter when asking them to move the things in the truck. The daughters and wife always portrayed as weaker role who only cook and clean the house, wash clothes and serving him for meals. However, the males are respected for their bravery and power in fighting for their own justice and honor. Kakang went to see Tok Empat just to fight for a justice for himself over his landowner.  

Other than that, in U Wei’s films, he tends to put Malays society into a discussion, for example the social inequalities. The exploitation of middle class over lower class society is a great highlight in Kaki Bakar. Kakang is a poor Muslim who struggles so hard to earn for a living is exploited by the landowner, who is very rich and modern. Kakang is seen as weak Malay who waits for subsidies. Same in Jogho, the minority Muslim community in Patani is struggling to survive under Thailand controls over.

Also, U Wei likes to emphasize the element of Muslim religious through his film characters. Jusoh is shown as a songkok-wearing youth who studies in Islamic school. He even advised his father that revenge and killing is a sin and it’s forbidden. In Kaki Bakar, Kakang always leads his family prayer and teaches Kusuma the correct pronunciations of the prayer.

In term of mise-en-scene and shot, U Wei likes to use slow dolly tracking shots in revealing the scenes. This technique is commonly used by him in introducing the characters one by one and environments in the scene. He also always uses panning shot in indicating the changes of situation or mood. For example, the camera slowly pans from a shot where everyone is sad about the death of Lazim in Jogho, and the camera continues to pan and tilt up to the sky. It also used as an end for that particular scene. This style is considered as U Wei’s authorship by signature as he uses this style of shots in almost every of his films. Besides, the color of his film seems to be like slightly yellowish and warm in color. He might use the color to show the passion and spirit of Malays in the film.

Other than that, U Wei also likes to use haunting and eerie soundtracks as the background sound. He also likes to insert the sound of Malays prayers in between some scene in his films. It helps in creating a tense environment and sense of suspicious among the audience in the scene.

In term of editing skills, we might see some jump cuts in between the scene in U Wei’s film. However in my opinion, I think that certain part of the jump cuts were purposely been insert to anchor the attention of the audience towards some hidden meaning which the author wanted to tell through the shot compositions. For example, there is a jump cut before and after a scene where Jati is talking to Aral, Mamat’s bull. From the dialogue, we can see the intention of the shot is to tell the Malays male to be brave as in their original identity.

In overall, we can see there are improvements on U Wei’s film authorship as it goes from Kaki Bakar (1995) to Jogho (1997). The theme used is more cleared and stable. Besides, the shot styles used in Jogho also seem to be like more stable and mature. For example, the lighting used in Jogho is more cleared and suitable as compared to Kaki Bakar. There are certain shots in Kaki Bakar where the characters cannot be seen clearly due to the bad lighting. Also, the dialogues of the characters are well-established which seem to be more understandable in conveying the author’s messages. Not forgetting also, the shot style of dolly tracking used in Jogho also is well-controlled and tracked quite smoothly. It makes the overall footages look smoothly and professionally.

REFERENCES

Arfah, S. (2004, April 17). Understanding U-Wei . Retrieved December 2, 2011, from

     http://www.sinemamalaysia.com.my/main/clippingnews/Understanding_UWei__1415

Cheng, K. G. (2011, December 5). Art, Entertainment and Politics. Retrieved December   3, 2011, from http://www.criticine.com/feature_article.php?id=20

Kaki Bakar 2001 DVDRip XviD-arYzs. (2009, August 1). Retrieved December 3, 2011, from http://rapidsharefilemmelayuretro.blogspot.com/2009/08/kaki-bakar-2001-dvdrip-xvid-aryzs.html

Kamarul. (2006, October 16). Jogho=Juara. Retrieved December 1, 2011, from

     http://kamarul.wordpress.com/2006/10/16/joghojuara/

Muthalib, H. A. (2007, February 17). OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW [THE LITTLE CINEMA OF MALAYSIA]. Retrieved December 3, 2011, from http://groups.yahoo.com/group/filemkita/message/3010

Teik, K. B. (2012). Strangers Within the (Imagined) Community. In A Study of Modern     

Malay Identity in U-Wei Hj Shaari's Jogho and Sabri Zain's Face Off by Khoo Gaik

Cheng. Retrieved December 3, 2011, from

http://www.sabrizain.org/reformasi/review9.htm

Wee, B. (n.d.). Cinema Scope. In  Brandon Wee answers Pierre Rissient’s "Letter on Malaysian Cinema." Retrieved December 3, 2011, from http://www.cinema-scope.com/cs31/ col_wee_letter.html 

Wennie Sim     09UJB04854

"Abang", by Dato’ Haji Rahim Razali in 1981

SYNOPSIS

“Abang”, the title of this film is referring to the main character, Fuad Din who is the eldest son in the family. Fuad had been missing in the past 10 years without informing his family anything about his sudden departure to other place. Unexpectedly, H.M. Din, Fuad’s father has received a telegram from London saying that Fuad is coming back to the country, Malaysia as soon as possible after his 10 years of missing. The news about Fuad’s home coming is too sudden and it has created different reactions from his family members. His parent and youngest sister are shocked with the news but, they are very happy and can’t wait to meet with Fuad. However, Farid and Faizal, Fuad’s brothers are so scared and worried about his home coming. Farid is so worried that Fuad will claims back all his properties and company he had left in the past 10 years, which Farid is managing well currently. Faizal, who has married with Mona, is worried because Mona is actually Fuad’s ex-fiancée. With the sudden left of Fuad, Faizal has decided to marry Mona because she was pregnant with Fuad’s son. When Fuad is back from London, he faced several conflicts with his family members but he solved all the problems calmly. He tries to give advice and leads them to the right path as an eldest brother. However, none of them know that Fuad actually went missing to London in the past 10 years was for medication purpose. Fuad is suffering from Leukemia which he has realized earlier. He comes back to homeland just to meet with his dearest family for the last time and enjoys everything he miss in the homeland such as childhood games “Tarik Upih”, rafting and local foods. By the time his family members regret about their mistake and realized about Fuad’s sickness, it has been too late as Fuad has died peacefully in his old village.

FILM REVIEW

“Abang” was directed by Dato’ Haji Rahim Razali in 1981, acted by himself as the main character, Fuad, and Noor Kumalasari as Mona. The genre of this film is considered as melodrama as there are some insertions of music in between the drama. Also, it has a characterized plot appeals to heighten emotions of the audiences (AMC Networks, 2011). In my opinion, I think that “Abang” is a brave and extraordinary Malay film which is quite loose from the bond of conventional Malay film. Instead of focusing on conventional thought of the Malays, this film actually shows more realistic about Malays society in the story and treatment. It relates to Malays who had succeeded in the business but then began to succumb to greed, and how this greed and status of life will affect the Malay family institution as the title of the film is “Abang”.

Malaysia is considered as a structural society where the children are taught about the importance of age and family hierarchy. Those younger always have to respect and address proper titles to their elders (Malaysia Culture, 2011). In the film, we can see that Fuad is the eldest in the family and always addressed as “Abang” by his siblings. However, with the modernization and wealth that covers around the corporate world, his brother, Farid is showed as a Malay who only respects the family hierarchy by calling Fuad as “Abang” but not in term of action. He tends to go against his eldest brother to secure his position in the company and family. As shown in the film, Farid didn’t respect Fuad as eldest brother when he secretly sold the land without Fuad’s permission. Besides, through the effective dialogue, we know that director want to emphasize about family hierarchy in this film where a scene, Farid questioned about the different between the eldest and youngest to Fuad. “Is it the younger don’t have right to correct and critic the eldest?” “Yes, you can. But with respectful and proper manner when you want to correct the eldest.” Fuad replied in the film.

On the other hand, “Abang” also revolves around the issue of Malays who have lost their own identity. However, they are comfortable with their current identity, in which their own culture and belief has been mixed with others, which leads to hybridization. Through the costume and lifestyle in the film, it shows cultural hybrid in Malay cinema. The costume and make up of those characters seem to be like more westernized. They are wearing shirt, coat, blouse, and pants instead of “sarong” and “baju kurung”. Besides, Malays in the film is shown as having more open minded and western lifestyle through alcoholic drinks and pubs. For example, Fuad always wears shirt and pant while Farid is shown through drinking vodka in the film.

Language hybrids also exist in “Abang” where there is mixture of English and Malay language in the dialogue. In the 80’s, through over-sea education, Malaysian society is getting exposure to English language. Hence, Malay cinema is slowly adapting the English language into the dialogue as what can be seen in this film. They are mixing some of the English words into a Malay dialogue. For example, “You”, “I”, “Okay” and even whole sentence of English such as “Good night my little princess” are used in the film.

Although there is hybridization in Malays cinema, but still we can’t say that Malays are losing their own identity and lost in between. As in the film, Fuad scolded Farid infidel for forgetting his own roots and beliefs. It shows that Fuad is still Malay who respects his own root and origin as a Muslim but having western cultures as in lifestyle. Fuad has been to London for 10 years and adapted over-sea western culture. It’s a need for life adaptation to be westernization. Unlike Farid, who has been covered by status and wealth has gone too far away from his Malay root and lost his identity. Fuad is comfortable with his hybrid culture but yet never lost from his roots.

Other than some criticism on the editing skills, everything is perfect on “Abang”. There is just some confusion revoked from the arrangement of the shot. We can see some repetition of shots when Fuad meets Mona at the house. It makes the audience confuse between flashback and current. But in fact, I would say that is just a mistake in editing and reused of shots as there is no flashback during that scene.

In overall, “Abang” is a great film is addressing the Malays culture in term of hybridism. It did a great job on telling the realistic of Malays culture as compared to other Malays film which are more conventional.  It also makes a clearance about hybridization in Malays cinema and also originality and identity of Malays in the society.  

REFERENCES

infidel. (2011). Retrieved November 25, 2011, from Dictionary. com website: 

       http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/infidel 

Malaysia. (2011). Retrieved November 25, 2011, from Culture of Malaysia Forum website:

      http://www.everyculture.com/Ja-Ma/Malaysia.html 

Melodrama Films . (2011). Retrieved November 25, 2011, from AMC Network website: 

      http://www.filmsite.org/melodramafilms.html 

Muthalib, H. A. (2008). The Little Cinema of Malaysia. Retrieved October 25, 2011, 

      from Kinema website: http://www.kinema.uwaterloo.ca/article.php?id=31&feature 

Sabja. (2011). Arah Filem Melayu.. Retrieved November 25, 2011, from 

      http://sabja.protajdid.com/?p=136

Wennie Sim    09UJB04854

“Selubung”-A Malaysian Film In The 90’s

SYNOPSIS

Mastura and E.J, both are good friend studying abroad in Perth, Australia. E.J is a top student who receives scholarship from the university in pursuing her course. However, Mastura has failed to convince E.J in continuing her studies when E.J has decided to marry Brother Musa, an Islamic fundamentalist who led the religious extremist group. Brother Musa always preaches Muslim to separate them from those western cultures which they think are immoral and going against their Islamic beliefs. Due to different interpretation of Islam, the friendship between Mastura and E.J has changed after E.J became the 2^nd wife of Brother Musa. She is forbidden from mixing with Mastura and her friends by Brother Musa and his mentally deranged first wife, Hani. After Mastura has finished her studies in Perth, she returns to Malaysia and decided to join voluntary work to help the society. Mastura’s good intention is supported by Halim, who has experience in voluntary work and serves as a volunteer doctor in the Lebanese refugees’ camp. Halim encourages Mastura to join Rescaid, a voluntary organization which helps children refugees from Palentine. Rescaid is headed by Dr. Sardar, a strong and courage Palestinian woman who very commits in Rescaid activities. Along with Rescaid activities and her work, Mastura falls in love with Kamal, her company’s Managing Director. At first, Mastura is disappointed because Kamal has married. However, the relationship between Mastura and Kamal recovers after he gets a divorce. Later, Mastura managed to convince E.J, who has returns to Malaysia and Kamal to join Rescaid. Rescaid’s activities are successful and well supported by the Malaysian. However, it has offended some parties. A sudden bombing at the Rescaid office has seriously injures Mastura. But, this tragedy never breaks Mastura’s determination in helping the children from Palentine. She is back to join the Rescaid team after she has recovered from coma.   

REVIEWS

“Selubung” is an extraordinary Malaysian film directed by a London-educated woman, Shuhaimi Baba in the year of 1992. “Selubung” refers to a piece of cloth, worn exclusively by women intended to cover the face or part of the body. In a religious context, it often signified a woman’s self-respect and social status (Sherif Abdel Azim, 1995).

In my opinion, I would say that the style of this film is quite international and westernized with its use of English language in the dialogue, even among the Malays themselves. Also, it shows how the Malays are sent to over-sea for western education. It indicates the acceptance of westernization among the Malays in the 90’s. The status of a Malay female in the society also has been emphasized in the film. It is showed through the characteristic of Mastura and Dr. Sardar in the film, where both of them are showed as independent and liberal Islamic women who handle important projects in Rescaid. To evoke a controversy in Islamic point of view, the director brings in the characters of Brother Musa and Hani, who are very conservative and Islamic fundamentalism. They disagreed with the westernization on the Muslim in term of appearance and behavior, as what Hani claimed happens on Mastura’s friend, Zek. However, other than just highlighting the identity of Malays, this film also focus on the humanity spirits by the Malays through their concern in the international issue. As mentioned in this film, they are concerned about the war in Middle East and joined Rescaid to help those Palestine refugees.

In this film, I personally like the character development and characteristics carried out by the main character, Mastura. In the film, Mastura is introduced as a Malay woman who studies abroad in Perth with her friends, speaking English mixing Malay with other friends and her appearance, is slightly westernized because she is not wearing Baju Kurung or even veiled. It shows that Mastura is a liberal Islamic woman, who is able to accept the western culture but yet not going against their Islamic beliefs. It is proved when Mastura visits E.J at the night before she marries Brother Musa. Mastura still respects her own religion and belief by wearing Baju Kurung and putting on a veil when she visits E.J. Also, Mastura is described as a Malay woman who concerns and cares so much about her friendship. She tries to advise E.J not to marry Brother Musa and continues her study instead as she thinks that it is important for E.J to graduate from her course. In the middle of the film, it shows that Mastura is trying to escape from seeing E.J when she is back in Malaysia. Mastura is actually feeling disappointed toward their friendship but however, due to E.J’s health condition, she chooses to forgive E.J about her past with Brother Musa.

Along the film, we can see that the character of Mastura is growing into a more mature stage as she learns on how to forgive E.J as well as building her own career and management skills in Rescaid organization. In overall, the character of Mastura is portrayed as the second portrayal of femininity in Malay films, where Mastura is shown as an independent Malay woman, modernity, strong-minded and is well-educated. She is able to fuse the Islamic and western culture without compromising the border line of Islamic culture and beliefs. She is successful in her career and well-doing in Rescaid activities. Most importantly, she is very determined and always insisted with her own decision. This is shown through her determination in helping those Palestinian refugees even after she has injured in the bombing at Rescaid office. This is the reason why I like this character in this film. She symbolizes the equality of gender in the 90’s and represents female as a strong and independent character in this film.

However, I dislike the overall film structure in Selubung. In this film, I think that the director tends to use the 3 Act Structure in building up the overall storyline. But, the structure used seems like quite weak because it is hardly supported by the scenes and flow of storyline in this film. In the beginning, the director has a good establishing scene, where it shows the scenery of beach, with an old man singing along with the Malay tradition instrument and 3 little kids are sitting besides. It also inserts a superimpose showing “Terengganu, 1969”. It has introduces where the main character, Mastura and her best friend, E.J comes from. Next, it jumps to a visual showing the landscape of a new place, with a superimpose showing Perth. Also, with the aid of a radio announcer, the audiences now are informed that there is a difference in culture in between 2 places. In Terengganu, it shows the tradition while in Perth, it is the western culture. All the characters are also being well introduced. It is showed through a scene, where Mastura, E.J and all their friends are watching a TV in a classroom in Perth. Through their conversation and clothing, we can see that there is some westernization in culture among the Malays in Perth.

Along the film, the main issue which the director might want to highlight is mentioned, where the Palestinian children and women are suffering of the war in Lebanon. However, the way this issue is brought out in the film is quite confusing. At first, it shows the mosque in Sydney is burned down and this case did grab the attention of Halim and Mastura. It later shows how Halim and Mastura join Rescaid organization. The issue about Palestinian refugees is not well developed in the story. The director only inserts few shot showing the war environment and refugees camp in Lebanon. Also, through the VO of Halim explaining about the Palestinian camp situation to Mastura in a letter. This is where I think the confrontation part of this film is quite weak. It can’t really emphasizes and highlight the seriousness of the war in Lebanon and how importance it is to help those Palestinian refugees. The overall progression of Rescaid’s activities also is not being well explained in the film. It makes the audiences feel like there is some jump cut in between the story which causes confusion among them. However, the relationship between Mastura and Kamal is well developed along the story from how they meet until they face an issue where Kamal is actually married.

During the climax, it shows the bombing at Rescaid office by an unknown figure which causes a serious injury on Mastura. The incident is only been explained through a letter read out by Mastura before the incident happen. The issue about this letter sent out by the offended party to Dr. Sardar should be developed more to create a tight and anxious feeling among the audience toward the risky activities done by Rescaid just for the sake to rescue those Palestinian. Instead of anxiety, the mood given to audience during climax is rather flat and normal. When it comes to the last act in the structure, the resolution shown in the story is quite sudden and simple. The story just ends with a successful charity concert done by Rescaid and they managed to rescue those Palestinian children back to Malaysia with the helps from Tan Sri, whose Kamal contacted in the office. Through this, it indicates that the determination of Rescaid is never been broken by the threatening attempt by the offended party. They continue their Rescaid activities even though they have been warned through the bombing incident. It also ends the story with Mastura unexpected recovering from coma with the help of butterfly myth believed in tradition. The ending seem to be like quite rush and sudden toward the audience. The overall structure in this film would be great and clear if some part of the storyline could be developed into more details and dramatically.

Other than that, there are 2 parts in the film, which I would like to highlight as I think that’s the parts I liked the most. In the beginning of the film, the director wants to bring out a great controversy about Islamic status in Perth, Australia. It is showed through the scene where an unknown figure is pouring a liquid form onto the plat or board-liked that hangs on the wall with Islamic Jawi words written on it, also on the book rack where Islamic religion related books are placed, a book with the title “Truth” as well. The figure then sprays on the wall with red color, “Arabs Go Home”. Later, he opens a lighter and burns down the whole place with all the Islamic books. It is reported in the next day newspaper that the mosque was burned down following by the unrest in Middle East. From here, we can see how the western actually places Islamic status in their mind set. They actually dislike the Muslim and ask them to go back to their country through the words sprayed on the wall. Besides, the western also tries to warn them through the burning down of the mosque. It symbolizes a threat given by the western to the Muslim. This part is great as it clearly shows to which extend the conflict between the western and the Muslim in Perth.

On the other hand, the second part of the film which I want to highlight is actually the opposite of the part one that I have mentioned. In the second part, we can see how the Islamic extremist group actually dislikes and assuming the western culture is a sin and evil toward the Muslim. In the film, when Mastura is trying to convince E.J to continue her study, she is actually being forbidden from mixing and talks to Mastura and her friends. Besides, Hani also strongly advises Mastura to stay away from Zek, a Malaysian student counselor whom Hani called as ‘Satan’. Hani thinks that Zek is sinful because she is unveiled and always mixes around with guys. In the film, Zek is portrayed as a Malay female who accepts westernization in culture, but is strongly rejected and hate by the Islamic extremist like Brother Musa and Hani. They totally rejecting the western culture as they think that it is evil and for those who involves in it, they are unable to go to the heaven. But toward Mastura and Zek, they are fine with the acceptance of western culture in term of appearance, gender equality and etc as long as they do not go beyond their Islamic border line. They think that Islamic and western culture could be standing parallel. From here, it shows a great contradiction between 2 different interpretations of Islamic among the Muslim. This part is great by showing the different point of view of Muslim toward Islamic and westernization in the 90’s.

And lastly, it is about the film mise-en-scene and mise-en-shot. Basically in my view, the overall mise-en-scene is quite good in this film. In term of actors’ behavior and movement, the acting by the main and supporting characters are all quite good. Their expressions and gestures given into the scene are well fitted into the storyline. It helps in creating emotional impacts among the audience. For example, Hani’s expression is great in the film in showing herself as a deranged wife. However, her acting never goes beyond the realism which sometimes people called as “over-acting”. Besides, the setting for the film is also well-prepared. All the location used in the film is nice and suitable with the storyline. The props used in the location also did create a sense of realism which helps in actors’ performance in the scene. Taking an example from the film, the setting for a scene which showing the war environment, where everyone is struggling to find a place to hide while Halim is trying to help those injured. The props used and arranged in the scene was just so real and it did helps in getting all the actors mental and emotion into the ‘real war scene’. Also, the costumes and make-up done on the actors also matched with the scenes in the film. The make-up done on actors was referring to the suitability with scene. E.J is wearing a ‘kain sarung’ with pale make-up when she is showed as sick in the scene.  However, the lighting in this film is quite yellowish and dark. Some scene’s lighting is quite dark until we can really see the actors’ performance. For example when Kamal is talking to Pintu at the door, we can’t really see Kamal figure because the scene is quite dark.

Mise-en-shot includes the camera movement and position, pace of editing, shot scale and duration of shots. In this film, the overall camera movement and position is quite good. We hardly see a shaky shot in the film. The same goes to shot scale as well. Every shot in the film is taken with a suitable angle that matches with the storyline. Even though all the shots are quite normal shot as in film, but it managed to cover all the perspectives needed in this film. However, I think that there should be some improvement in the editing skills. In the film, we can see that there are so many jump cuts in between. Some shots which are showing the conversation between characters, however it later jumps into the war scene in Lebanon. Also, there is a shot where Mastura is talking to E.J but half way, the shot is cut and continue with other scene. The flow and smoothness of editing in a film should be taken into consideration. Or else, it will affect the overall emotional impacts of the film toward the audience.

In a nutshell, Selubung is quite an extraordinary type of Malay film which is worth for us to watch. For those who want to know more about the Islamic culture and how the acceptance of westernization in the 90’s, this film would be a great suggestion.

REFERENCES

Azim, S. A. (n.d.). IslamiCity  [THE VEIL]. Retrieved November 13, 2011, from

     http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/w_islam/veil.htm

Cheng, K. G. (n.d.). Representations of the Modern Malay Woman of the 1990's. In 

     Reclaiming Adat: Contemporary Malaysian film and literature (pp. 125-156). Retrieve from http://books.google.com.my/booksid=FlFAaNHlIg0C&pg=PA141&lpg=PA141&dq=rescaid&source=bl&ots=hEoQAhfL9&sig=qHEOvA7bhJnY7kpnoXdQX9ltJEA&hl=en&ei=SPq9ToWIBZHtrQe664DLAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

Film Structure. (2011, August 7). Retrieved November 13, 2011, from Cyber                 College website:   http://www.cybercollege.com/frtv/frtv012.htm

Heide, W. V. D. (2002). Malaysian Cinema. MALAYSIAN CINEMA, ASIAN FILM,        218.

Selubung / 1992. (1999-2003). Retrieved November 12, 2011, from Filem Malaysia        website:

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Wennie Sim   09UJB04854