Merantau: An overdue review

Before I begin my review, let me just say that there's only 4 things wrong with this movie: 1. Renaming it Merantau Warrior for the Malaysian market. 2. It's an Ong-Bak rip-off. 3. Casting Christine Hakim just to give the movie credibility. 4. It's not a Hollywood movie.

After hearing so much rave from silat friends in Malaysia regarding Merantau, I finally relented and watched it, not without a lot of doubt. The first thing that cheesed me off was the fact that they chose to add the word "Warrior" to the title for the Malaysian market, adding absolutely nothing.

That, and the fact that it follows hot on the heels of movies like Ong-Bak and Tom Yum Goong made me think that Gareth Evans (writer, editor and director) was trying to cash in on a bankable genre. Bad enough the storyline is cliched beyond repair: Yuda (played by Iko Uwais) arrives in Jakarta from Sumatera to find work as a silat instructor, but winds up saving a young girl from prostitution and her little brother from begging on the streets. He gets on the bad side of two human traffickers, who decide that not only do they want the girl back, but Yuda's head on a platter.

When I saw Christine Hakim as Yuda's mother, my eyes rolled: A big name star just to keep the crowd interested. Deja vu Puteri Gunung Ledang. All of this prodded me to try and make the best of the rest of my day.

Then it happened.

A tingling at the back of my head (a little like my Silat Sense that tells me it's time to lose weight and start training again) told me: Stay. There's something different about this. So I stayed. And I watched. And I loved it to bits.

It's impossible to review this movie and tell you why I loved it without giving it all away. So, Gareth my friend, I apologise profusely, but the world has got to know what a gem you've produced here.

My biggest peeve about silat movies is how the choreography would always seem to be a taekwondo bout (no offence to my TKD brothers) with some totally irrelevant bunga thrown in. Local tv series and movies make it seem every hero and bad guy was a state champion or at least a pattern junkie. They'd stand there and get hit, and then proceed to hit the guy back, and then do a kembangan. (What the hell?)

However, Iko, a first time actor and exponent in Silat Tiga Berantai, kicks ass in Tapak 3, 4 and 5. And believe me, a silat fan would know the difference. His entering and countering are fluid to perfection, making it more plausible that the bad guys can't hit him. He's not there when they try to connect.

The locks are believable and the multi-level groundfighting truly showcases the variability and agility of silat. It made me so proud, I almost started talking to him on the screen (Look out! Sweep him! Break him! There! There! He's open!)

Iko also keeps the acrobatics to a minimum, and stays grounded most of the time, which adds more realism to the fights. Although the official media states that Iko utilises the Harimau style of silat in the fight scenes, you'll notice that choreographer Edwel Datuk Rajo Gampo Alam has interwoven breathtaking fighting scenes at all ranges and levels and with a mixture of other silat styles and some freestyle melded in.

Understandably, this is not a drama. It's a martial arts film, and that's what everyone should expect. However, Iko's lack of acting skills is supported well by the rest of the cast, especially Sisca Jessica, who plays Astri, the spitfire we all want to save, and her spunky young brother, Adit, played by Yusuf Aulia.

But because it's not a drama, Gareth and his amazingly capable cinematographer Matt Flannery allow Iko and the stunt men to do their jobs: Fight. The camera never gets in the way of the combat scenes, in fact, it follows Iko most of the time like a third person shooter, and you see the bad guys at the same time he does, which tends to jar the heart here and there.

Matt's previous cinematic experience also packages the film nicely with beautiful scenes of the Sumateran countryside and the seedier rows of Jakarta.

Kudos also goes to the stuntmen, whom I believe are the real heroes of any martial arts film. It's their job to make the hero look good. And these guys get poled, fall off buildings in full camera view, get slammed into the side of shipping containers and what not. You guys are the best.

So yes, there are fight scenes galore and if you asked me to pick, I'd say all of them. But if you forced me to pick, I'll say it's the penultimate elevator fight scene between Iko and Yayan Ruhian, who plays, Eric, a disillusioned silat fighter-turned thug-for-hire.

They meet early on in the film, which sets the irony for Yuda, who is forced to fight his silat brother to save the chick. His last words to Eric before refusing to kill him: "I will never become what you have become" sums up the whole idea of Merantau, becoming a man of your choosing.

Of course, the fight at the docks above the shipping containers where Yuda despatches untrained dock workers from a height is fun to watch, especially since you can see he means more business than before. Yuda started off the movie being very compassionate, using locks, throws and strikes to disable opponents. But as the movie progresses and he becomes more frustrated, he realises that more is needed to stop the bad guys, and he starts breaking limbs.

Gareth's store of movie blood is virtually emptied in the final fight between Yuda and the two human traffickers, Ratger (played by a maniacal but funny Mads Koudal) and Luc (the cool wushu man Laurent Lohan Busson).

Now, as the movie came to a close, I fully expected Gareth to pull a Hollywood. With a movie that could garner so much attention in South East Asia, who wouldn't want to do a Merantau 2? But he didn't, and that's what prompted me to write this review.

Yuda manages to kill Luc (by accident) and Ratger (on purpose), but not before being dealt a fatal blow himself. Yes, Yuda dies. But different from other heroes, Yuda makes a final sacrifice, and his dying words to Astri remind us that there is always hope, and that yes, you can go home, even if it is someone else's.

Don't expect a romance. You'll be disappointed. Watch Merantau if you want good fight scenes. Expect nothing more and you will be surprised by how much more you'll get.

4/5 stars.

Review: Human Weapon - Silat, Martial Art of Malaysia

"Silat: The Martial Art of Malaysia" started off well enough with a view of the 50th Malaysian National Independence Day parade. Hosts Jason Chambers and Bill Duff sauntered over to a Silat Seni Gayong demonstration, seemingly held in commemoration of the day.

There, they are issued a challenge by the Gayong master in attendance, guru Malik, to study several styles throughout Malaysia, and return to face six of his best fighters. Now, this is obviously set up, since the whole premise of the Human Weapon series is to train in various styles and eventually meet up with the first style they feature for a challenge match.

Among those they would train with were: Silat Seni Gayong, Silat Lian Padukan, Silat Melayu Keris Lok 9 and Silat Harimau.

The problem is, there was no one here who thought that this was a good idea. The moment word got out, I started receiving calls, SMSs and emails from friends and strangers who demanded to know, who these arrogant Westerners were, and where they could be found. What the camera never recorded, was how many people actually offered themselves, thinking it was a real challenge to silat as a whole.

Needless to say, I told them honestly, I didn’t know. Although I was originally part of the project, but scheduling problems forced me to sit it out. What a mistake that was.

The whole episode did a good job of introducing different silat styles to the public. However, almost immediately after the show aired in America, forums buzzed with the inanity of the weak showing of Malaysian silat. That, and the fact that Jeff Davidson switched off the television before the episode ended filled me with curiousity. What the hell happened? I intended to find out.

So, after a kind blog fan posted the download links, I spent the next 3 days downloading the episode and lo and behold, not only did I see the corn, I tasted it as well. Because, if the American martial arts community pooh-poohed it, then the Malaysians are definitely not going to be happy, especially those who were interviewed.

For a cable channel calling itself History, there’s a lot of research that they missed and it’s obvious they were careless in quite a few facts. Below are some of the more glaring errors I managed to catch:

"We’ve travelled to the island nation of Malaysia"
Malaysia is not an island nation. It’s made up of a peninsula extending from the south of Thailand and half of the Borneo island.

"Nearly 1 out of every 5 Malaysians is schooled in silat"
Untrue. This would only be true if you said 1 out of every 5 Melayu.

"Seni Gayong is taught to all 9 million members of the Royal Malaysian Police Force and military"
Firstly, Gayong is taught to the Police as Silat Polis, a combination of Gayong, Judo, Aikido and Karate. Secondly, the military has no silat syllabus, only Taekwondo has only ever been an official insertion. The official method is still only called TTS, Tempur Tanpa Senjata (Weaponless Combat). Thirdly, 9 million members means that every third person in Malaysia is in the civil service. Fourthly, this figure contradicts the 1 in 5 statement in no. 2.

"We climbed into a traditional Malay boat and headed to Putrajaya"
There’s no way you can take a boat from Kuala Lumpur to Putrajaya. Literally, there is no water route.

Caption: "Shamsul Balim"
Correction: Guru Sheikh Shamsul Bahrin S.M. Salim.

"And Filipino eskrimadors lent aspects of their weapons work and empty hand forms to silat"
Not an offensive statement, just that it’s the first time I’ve heard it, and is yet to be proven.

Caption: "Yazid Abdul Ran"
Correction: Yazid Abdul Rani.

"But in 1969, this cultural melting pot reached a boiling point. Malay and Chinese rioters fought one another in the streets of Kuala Lumpur with bladed weapons, farmtools and silat. In the end, these riots left some 6,000 people homeless and claimed over 200 lives. In the aftermath, both sides incorporated what they’ve learned from the other into a hybrid style that infused Chinese Wing Chun techniques into traditional silat. It’s called Lian Padukan."
Anyone who even casually browses the Lian Padukan website will know that this is untrue. Lian Padukan was formed long before 1969, when Pak Mat Kedidi studied Buah Pukul from guru Cu Aman and integrated it with Silat and Tomoi. The absorption of the Chinese element itself happened in 1897, when the founder of Buah Pukul, Awang Daik studied it from Syed Abdul Rahman al-Yunani.

"Together, they formed just the move that Bill and I were looking for, the Polick Haimau"
I have confirmation from guru Yazid that there's no such thing as a Polick Haimau. Polick here refers to ‘Polek’, but I can’t figure out where they got Haimau from.

"Is this the type of silat that the people used to defend themselves at this port when they were invaded?," asks Jason and guru Azlan Ghanie answers, "Sama ada dia berpenyakit ataupun tidak berpenyakit" (Whether he is diseased or not) and his student-cum-interpreter replies, "Yes it is" (By the way, guru Azlan speaks excellent English)
It is obvious that the three scenes were spliced together, just to get a reply from guru Azlan, irrespective of what he really said. I guess the editors hoped Americans would know no better.

"Coupled with the silat skills of the Malay warriors, the keris helped Melaka fend off the better equipped, more heavily-armed Portuguese soldiers for more than 40 days"
Not necessarily untrue, but the statement could be misleading. Melaka actually had a good amount of cannons defending its city and was not wanting in warriors. However, it has been agreed in many circles that bad management and infighting caused the Melaka empire to fall, not the lack of firepower.

There are dozens more that I could go on and on about, but I’ll stop here before I start boring you to death. My only worry is, if this happened to silat, how much credibility do the other episodes have?

My rating? I give it a 4 ½ out of 10.

Read MadMike's review here.

'Orang Minyak' Suffers A Remake! (my title, not the newspaper's)

ORANG MINYAK
By SHARIFAH ARFAH

This film is a weird mix of mythology, martial arts, comedy and horror (obvious or otherwise). But I did find myself enjoying the dialogue and scenes now and then.

Originally making its screen appearance in Sumpah Orang Minyak (1956), which starred P. Ramlee, the Orang Minyak (or oily man) is similar only in the usage of the being as the main character. Orang Minyak is about silat student Malek (Fauzi Nawawi), who becomes jealous of fellow student and friend Munir (Fizz Fairuz) after the latter is declared the star student. In a fit of rage, Malek kills the silat master.

The Devil takes advantage of the incident by inciting Malek into doing more evil, appointing Malek an orang minyak and telling Malek to worship him and to rape 21 virgins in order to gain unlimited power.

This modern take has several suggestive scenes, the most obvious being the orang minyak’s task of defiling the virgins. The orang minyak’s method of deflowering a female in this film is overt, though still within censorship limits. Sharifah Sofea plays buxom lecturer Dian, who expectedly becomes Munir’s love interest. In a final meeting before a large duel, Malek tells Munir of his intention to make Dian his next victim.

Eventually, when one of the orang minyak’s victims eventually gives birth to a bayi minyak (oily baby), the fate of Kampung Tualang Tiga is sealed indefinitely.

Replete with technical goofs, the film appears blurred in some scenes, and Malek’s black outfit suddenly turns grey in a flashback scene. One also finds that a well-lit house is pitch-black from outside. The villagers are ill-cast, with mother and daughter looking almost the same age. Perhaps it is a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth. Well, there were two directors at the helm.

Nadzrin's Note: The Orang Minyak phenomena, like the suburb serial killer, happen in kampungs and high superstition areas. The Orang Minyak is also often blamed for panty raids in local universities. To my knowledge, only one of them was ever a pesilat of high ranking and is now leading a local silat organisation (seriously).