Muallaf – A review.

Last week, my friend (fellow Yasmin Ahmad fan) and I went to watch Muallaf, the second Yasmin film that was released posthumously.

Before sharing my thoughts on the movie itself, let me relate something rather amusing that happened at the cinema. I was in the tickets queue and when my turn came up, I asked for two tickets for Muallaf. The girl at the ticket counter looked at me surprised, as if I had just asked her to take her top off.

“Muallaf?” she reconfirmed.

“Ya, Muallaf“, I replied, slightly confused with her reactions. Did I not pronounce it right?

She looked visibly impressed, then requested reconfirmation, “Sure ya, Muallaf? Filem Melayu, tau..”

“Yaaa, saya tahu, Muallaf“, I replied.

Then she smiled at me and said,” Bagus eh, filem ni best.”

Gosh, was she impressed that I, a Chinese dude was paying money to watch a Malay movie? For one, it isn’t a Malay movie, it’s a MALAYSIAN movie. Secondly, it also isn’t any ordinary Malay/Malaysian movie, it’s an award-winning film by one of Malaysia’s most misunderstood filmmakers. Thirdly, even if I was a Chinese dude with a penchant for Malay language movies, did she have to make such a big deal out of it? By the way, I  wasn’t the only non-Malay in the cinema that day.

So what is Muallaf about? Go google it or check out the synopsis at IMDB Movies Database. In a nutshell, the film is about two runaway sisters Rohani and Rohana (played by Sharifah Amani and Sharifah Aleysha) and Rohana’s teacher Brian (Brian Yap) and how their unlikely relationship, through the medium of religion, helped them confront past and present issues.

I found this film to be rather different from her other movies. To me it seems as if she adopted a different style in directing this movie, and the most glaring feature is the subtlety of her message. Compared to Talentime, there is no emotional roller-coaster to be had here. Instead, thanks to the religious undertones of the movie, hysterics are largely absent from the movie (bar one moving scene that explained the reason behind the sisters’ running away from home). There is no apparent climax to the movie, and its conclusion is open ended.

That said, I am unsure if the movie’s flow was intentional or the result of harsh censorship.

One common critique of her work is that she tends to get rather preachy at times. There is a certain truth to that remark, given the way she includes not-so-little scenes as a  social commentary. Some of these scenes I found so cringe-worthy (as I blogged on Talentime the other day). Strangely and rather thankfully, there weren’t many of such moments in Muallaf. Most of the nuances in the movie were executed so nicely, with little contrivance present.

Compared to her other movies where it is not hard to spot the overacting/inexperienced cast member, most of the cast of this film did very well. Well, the girl who was Ana’s opponent in TaeKwonDo class might be an exception. Still, she’s young and the comic relief she provided in the scene where she defended her mom from her abusive dad makes up for her acting.

In a nutshell, the good acting and flow of story makes this an easy movie to like. The movie tackles issues like spirituality, religious sensitivity, alcoholism, child abuse, sexual fantasies and my favourite issue, hypocrisy. One notable scene was when the Dato’ (played by Datuk Rahim Razali), who was having a beer, was reluctant to shake the hand of private investigator (Ho Yu Hang) who had been petting his toy dog.

That said, the calm flow of this story makes me yearn for the emotional impact and attachment to the likeable characters like in Talentime. Perhaps therein lies the beauty of Muallaf – the calm undertones of  the movie reflecting the feelings of a person when he/she is one with God.

This movie dealt with so many issues at hand and had such a beautiful message to convey- the importance of finding God and loving others. It is sad that despite all this some people are only able to find fault with Sharifah Amani’s shaven head.

Do go and see the movie for yourselves while it is still showing.