Abang (1981)

Synopsis
Abang (1981), by Rahim Razali is a film regarding the homecoming of Faud Din, who the eldest son in the family. Faud had been missing for 10 years without informing his beloved family members regarding the reason. One day, Datuk Din, father of Faud received a telegraph regarding the sudden return of Faud. There are a lot of emotions and feelings on his family members regarding the homecoming of Faud. Some get excited, while some are worried and afraid. When Faud returned, he had told and educated a lot of things to his younger brothers and sister. He taught Faizal, his younger brother on the tactic in doing business. Other than that, he had also taught his youngest brother, Farid the way to behave himself well and to possess a good attitude. Moreover, he had also told his younger sister to think wisely about her future plan. No one in the family knows about Faud was actually undergo the Leukaemia treatment in London for the past 10 years, until Doctor Raslan, who is Faud’s personal doctor told them regarding the news. When Faud’s family members about to seek for the forgiveness from Faud, however it was too late because Faud had already passed away in the village.

We can clearly see various types of hybridity in this film. The hybridity that we can observe are including racial and ethnic hybrids, language hybrids, cultural hybrids and gender hybrids.

Racial & Ethnic Hybrids
We can clearly notice the racial hybrid in Din Enterprise Sdn. Bhd., which is the family business of Fuad in the beginning of the film. There are workers with different races work in the company. Other than that, we can also see people from different races were invited to attend the homecoming party for Fuad. Furthermore, audiences from different races and ethnicity are supporting Dila when she is performing and singing on stage. Although Abang is a Malay film, however the director, Rahim Razali uses multiracial casts in some parts of his film to show the multiracial country of Malaysia. By doing so, Rahim Razali was trying to reform the perception of the audiences that Malay Cinema is no longer the Cinema of Denial. Cinema of Denial is where the Malays are denying about the existence of other races in the society, such as Chinese and Indian in their films. That has led to a stage where they are refused to include actors from other races into their films. However, Rahim Razali had included actors from other races in the film to create some kind of harmony and peaceful society.

Language Hybrids
There is a hybridity in term of the language used in the film. Characters in the film often blend the Malay language with English language. For example, when Fuad and Faizal are quarrelling with each other in Penang when Faizal asked Fuad regarding the reason why he left home ten years ago. This implies that the society at that time is modern in terms of their thinking and doing because most of the citizens in the city, such as Kuala Lumpur are highly educated and can speak English fluently.

Cultural Hybrids
We can clearly notice the cultural hybridity in this film in terms of the characters’ thinking and behaviours. This is because of the cultural imperialism by the western countries. In the beginning of the film, when Dila is driving the car at the racing track, there are billboards showing the advertisements of Coca-cola, F&N Sarsi and Anchor beer. This implies that Malaysian are already been influenced by the western cultures. Besides, this also shows that they are getting modern in terms of their thinking and behaviour because of the hybridity of their local cultures and the western cultures. For example, Diaman is barbequing the crabs instead of using the Malay traditional way to “panggang” it when Fuad is talking with Faizal in Penang. Other than that, Farid, the youngest brother of Fuad is consuming alcoholic drinks during Fuad homecoming party. As we know, alcoholic drinks are originated from the western countries. Thus, we can say that they are being influenced by the western culture. Besides, muslims are not suppose to consume alcoholic drinks because it is against the Islamic context. When a person undergoes the hybridity of different cultures, they do not really care about who and what they are. They are just comfortable with the things that they are doing and they do not even get confuse with themselves and their identity.

Gender Hybrids
We can clearly see the gender hybrids on the character of Dila. In the society at the time, females are supposingly to stay at home and taking care of their family members. However, Dila is a singer, where she has her own career. Besides, she is also a car racing driver. Moreover, she is a modern yet traditional female where she is modern in terms of her outlook and her doing (car racing driver), but traditional in terms of her thinking. The reason why she is traditional in terms of her thinking is because she likes local arts and cultures. Her ambition is to build a long house and invites all the local artists and musicians to stay at there to produce their products, such as art paintings and music.

REFERENCE
Utusan online. (2008). Menoleh filem dekad 80-an. Retrieved November 29, 2011, from http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2008&dt=1012&pub=UtusanMalaysia&sec=Hiburan&pg=hi_34.htm

SinemaMalaysia. (n.d.). Abang. Retrieved November 29, 2011, from http://www.sinemamalaysia.com.my/film/info/?id=Abang_235

SELUBUNG (1992)

Selubung (1993) by Shuhaimi Baba is a film about the life and determination of a modern Muslim female, Mastura. Mastura, is also known as Mas in the movie, is a best friend to E.J and Halim. Three of them pursue their studies in Perth, Australia. In the final year of their studies, E.J decided to get married to Brother Musa, a religious extremist, because she is so attached to her religion, Islam. Mas had persuaded E.J for not getting married to Brother Musa, but failed. After their graduation, Halim became a volunteer in helping the Middle East Muslim in Lebanon. As for Mas, she returned to Malaysia and worked in an engineering research firm. At the same time, she joined Rescaid as well in helping the Muslim children in Middle East country. Mas met Dr. Sardar, the leader of Rescaid Malaysia. As the story goes along, Mas fall in love with Kamal, the head of the research firm that she works in. They had gone through love, romance and even “truth revealing” moments when Mas had found out Kamal is actually married. The story reached its climax part when Mas unfortunately involved in an explosion incident. That incident has caused her to experience a coma while there is a Rescaid charity concert is actually going on. Nevertheless, due to the determination and strong-minded of Mas, she finally awake from the coma and continue in supporting the Rescaid organization.

According to Van der Heide (2002), Selubung is the story of a woman returning to Malaysia to rediscover herself in her culture through an attachment to a man and a reconnection to her childhood. The woman referred by Van der Heide in the film is the main character, Mastura. As we can see in the film, Mastura is modern Muslim female who is not into her own religion, which is Islam. We can clearly observe it from her appearance, attitude and behavior, and the way she talks. She often wears denim jeans in the film. From this aspect, we know that she is heavily influenced by the western culture as she had ever studied in Perth, Australia. Besides, she is independent and brave in term of her attitude and behavior. This is not in line with the attitude and behavior of a traditional woman in Malaysia. Mastura stay calm and has the courage to negotiate and talk to Kamal when Kamal knocks her car. She talks in a rude and impolite manner. This has break through the norm of a traditional female character in Malaysia. Furthermore, the way Mastura talks show that she is a high educated person who is heavily influenced by the western cultures. She uses mixture of Malay and English language in her daily conversation in office or Rescaid organization. Moreover, she talks with confidence shows that she is an independent woman who is brave enough to pursue for things that she wants or wishing for, regardless of her doings or her love one.

Other than Mastura, another portrayal of strong-minded woman is Dr. Sardar , the leader of Rescaid in Malaysia. Dr. Sardar used to work at the refugees camp in Lebanon. Unfortunately, the camp was attacked by the enemy soldiers and even worst, they killed all her family and friends. From this aspect, we can see that Dr. Sardar is an independent and strong-minded woman who works in Rescaid organization in Malaysia to help those in need in Middle East country even her family and friends have been scarified when the war attacked. Furthermore, she is a brave woman because she wishes to join the army force in the war. However, “woman is not allowed to join the army force” she claimed to Vincent, her assistant. From this aspect, we can see that she has the courage in protecting the country that she lives in. In addition, she has the spirit of not afraid of dying in fighting with enemies and to protect her own motherland.

In contrast, E.J, who is the best friend of Mastura, is a traditional woman who wears a proper shirt which obeys the rule and regulation in Islamic study. She wears Malay’s traditional shirt, Baju Kurung, or long sleeve shirt and long pants in every scene that she appeared in the film. Other than that, she wears Tudung to work or whenever she met a male character in the film. According to Khoo (2006), Selubung (1992) reveal the film’s strong proclivity towards secularism while showcasing an example of the dakwah movement. E.J has faith in Allah, but is too over, which has caused her to get married to Brother Musa, a religious extremist, and becoming his second wife in a polygamous marriage. E.J is forced to stop her study during her last year in university because she claimed that “Isteri yang derhaka adalah isteri yang lebih tinggi perlajaran daripada suaminya”.

The editing of Selubung is kind of complicated. This is because of the flashback scenes are inter-slot in between with the actual and on-going story line. It gives people a feeling of complexity in term of the story and confuses the viewers. For example, when Mastura is quarrelling with Kamal and Lin at Rescaid Malaysia about the reason why Mastura refuses to pay a visit to E.J. In this scene, a flashback scene of Hani, the first wife of Brother Musa murdered the baby of E.J is slotted in between. The murdered scene then connects to the scene where Mastura is paying visit to E.J in Terengganu.

REFERENCES

Khoo. G. C. (2006). Reclaiming Adat: Contemporary Malaysian Film and Literature. Singapore: Singapore University Press

Van der Heide. W. (2002). Malaysian Cinema, Asian Film: Border Crossings and National Cultures. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press