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
