Film Review
From our own lenses
Ola Bola
Tengku Jehan
The back story of the movie could not get any better. A true story of how Malaysian football team managed to reach one of the world’s biggest sport event, Olympic 1980. Not entirely famous with the acting skills of their main actors, the movie revolves on how teamwork, unity amongst the players, and the struggle of trying to make the whole nation proud. Using those elements, it is enough to make the audiences realized how important it is for us to love our country and to come together despite our differences. Never run from the main theme, unity for the country, Ola Bola got all the criterias that a proud-of-your-country movie should have.
Values: Racial unity, teamwork, patriotism, family.
Laskar Pelangi
Hannan Mahmud
Laskar Pelangi can make you cried, laughed and inspired at the same time. It is truly a magical and uplifting story. The movie tells you what it means to have hope and never give up. Inspired by a true story, Laskar Pelangi speaks to the audience who wishes to seek adventure and keep their dreams high. This is a story of our lives. Millions of children are out there without enough food, shelter, clothes let alone education. Seeing all 10 ‘Laskar Pelangi’ went through harsh life with tears and joy without remorse, it teaches us to count our blessings rather than to envy of people above us. Not just the storyline, the genuine acting by the kids and teachers in the movie made the movie almost near-perfect.
Values: Education, family, haarsdship, life lessons.
Freedom Writers
Tengku Jehan
A simple straightforward story, but very effectively portraying how one woman and education can change the life of even the most troubled teenagers out there, and that’s what you get with Freedom Writers. A true story about a white teacher trying to make a difference in a room crammed with black, Lation and Asian hich school freshmen, the story of Ms. Gruwell certainly a must watch for any teacher-to-be out there. The best part about the movie is not just the focus on how Ms. Gruwell handled the students, but we also got to listen to the teenagers, their stories throughout the story. Inspiring, is the most perfect word to describe the movie, and we can’t express how important it is for this movie to be watched by not just educators, but all teenagers out there.
Values: Racial Unity, education, English, friendship, family, love, hardship
Gridiron Gang
Jeanette Casoulis + Metacritic
Gridiron Gang is a sports-as-rehab movie that wants to have its lawlessness and cure it too. Seething with violence — domestic, street and institutional — the movie jumps from heartwarming to murderous without ever convincing us that all these guys need is a coach who cares. Gridiron Gang tells the gritty and powerfully emotional story of juvenile detention camp probation officer Sean Porter, who, along with another officer, Malcolm Moore, turns a group of hardcore teenage felons into a high school football team in four weeks. Confronted with gang rivalries and bitter hatred between his teammates, Porter teaches some hard lessons (and learns a few himself) as the kids gain a sense of self-respect and responsibility.
Value: Unity, Juvenile, self-esteem, teamwork, second-chance, family, friendship
12 Years A Slave
Hannan Mahmud
A true story about Solomon Northup, whose freedom and dignity were stolen by two men. From being a well-educated violin player to a slave, this movie portrays the grim reality of slavery in a way that has never been done before. To watch this movie, is to experience a level of despair and misery that can be overwhelming. The meaning of freedom, injustice and the place of woman in society were some of the values the director, Steve McQueen was able to project through 12 Years of Slave. Despite being deceived, kidnapped, abused and deprived of identity, Solomon never gives up hope in pursuing freedom. His heartbreaking journey will surely uplifts the audience that faith and hope can endure and triumph.
Values: Freedom, Injustice, Place of Woman in Society, Slavery
Les Miserables
Hannan Mahmud
Adapted from Victor’s Hugo classic 1862 novel, the movie cum musical shares the story of Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), a man imprisoned for nineteen years for stealing a loaf of bread and then trying to escape imprisonment. Valjean struggles to transform himself from a thief into an honest man and to stay a step ahead of Javert, French police officer. Love and compassion showed by Valjean towards his adopted daughter kept him going in desperate times. In Les Miserables, people commit despicable acts against the poor and weak which still happen now. It explores the turning point in French History, the nature of change in society, explaining the French Revolution.
Values: Love, Compassion, French Revolution.
The King's Speech
Hannan Mahmud
The Kings Speech tells the story of a man compelled to speak to the world with a stammer. It must be painful enough for one who stammers to speak to another person, yet just imagine the King of Britain, George VI have to go through it with a quarter of Earth’s population listening. The movie portrays perseverance, when the more the King practices the right way of speech, the more confident he becomes. Support is also shown in the movie, through the character of the King’s wife, who kept on giving unconditional support and faith towards his husband. If not for his wife’s support, he might have not become the King he was before.
Values : Perseverance, Support, Faith, Love
Invictus
Sukhdev Sandhu
Clint Eastwood’s Invictus tells you many things about Nelson Mandela. t tells you that he’s a great statesman, a generous-hearted visionary, healer of a wounded nation. Invictus (its title comes from a Victorian poem by WE Henley that helped to sustain Mandela during his 27 years in prison) is that rare beast: an American movie about rugby. It uses the 1995 World Cup final – in which the Springboks, widely assumed to stand a snowball’s chance in hell against the All Blacks and their unstoppable winger Jonah Lomu, created one of the greatest upsets in recent sporting history.
Value: Inspirational, leadership, patriotisme, national unity, teamwork
The Kite Runner
Roger Ebert
How long has it been since you saw a movie that succeeds as pure story? That doesn't depend on stars, effects or genres, but simply fascinates you with how it will turn out? Marc Forster's "The Kite Runner," based on a much-loved novel, is a movie like that. It superimposes human faces and a historical context on the tragic images of war from Afghanistan.
Value: Family, slavery, friendship, brotherhood, war
Gadoh
Tengku Jehan
Portraying the real-life situation in the Malaysian school-settings, Gadoh shows the racial tension in the country located deep in the national school in the country. With great acting and powerful scripts thrown by the actors, movie Gadoh was one of the controversial movie in the country, but delivers a great message to the audience.
Value: Unity, theatre, performing arts, racial integration, education
Tenggelamnya Kapal Van Der Wjick
Tengku Jehan + Hannan Mahmud
Another brilliant movie from the novel Tenggelamnya Kapal Van Der Wijck by Buya Hamka. It is a movie about two young man and woman from Padang, Indonesia, who fell in love but it is forbidden love due to the tradition. Zainuddin played by Herjunot Ali, was forced to leave the land and love of his life Hayati (Pevita Pearce). Hayati married a well-known and rich man despite her promise to Zainuddin. Heard the news, Zainuddin went to Batavia to seek for a new life. One of the great thing about the movie (or Hamka’s karya in general) is the language being used throughout the movie. Beautifully written and uttered by the actors, the three leads also did well in delivering their emotional through the screen.
Values: Love, hierarchy status, culture, poetry, religion.