Tanda Putera

I went to see the Malay movie Tanda Putera by Datin Paduka Shuhaimi Baba the night of 4 Sep. There was so much controversy that the movie was only released for public viewing on 29 August, more than a year late.  So that made me curious, hence I must see it to verify what the fuss was all about.

It was a ‘tear jerker’ actually.  The acting was superb by the guys who played Tun Razak and Tun Dr Ismail and also the ladies that played Toh Puan Rahah and Toh Puan Nor Ashikin.  The emotions displayed in the scenes when Tun Razak was suffering his advanced leukemia was so real that even I had to wipe my eyes several times.  The movie also managed to show Tun Razak’s caring persona when in London before falling really sick, he went shopping for gifts for all his staff at the PMO and his loved ones. And Tun Razak was a caring person not only to those close to him but more so to the people and the country that he led.
Regarding the main characters, the lady who played Toh Puan Rahah had so much likeness to her; likewise the guy who played Dr Mahathir could be recognised straight away. Good casting.  The gangster CT boss’ acting was also good and believable.  He was despicable, and that meant good acting in my book.  But for the other personalities respective likeness to Hussein Onn, IGP Haniff Omar, Sardon Jubir, Harun Idris, Tunku Abd Rahman or Najib ; there were no likeness at all. And their acting efforts were also stiff at best.
On the issue of May 13 that DAP Lim Guan Eng got so riled up about, well…there were scenes of the riots with the DAP logo/posters quite prominently displayed. For those who have read the NOC report the atrocities depicted only confirm what they’d visualise from the report; but for those that have not read the report it’d appear to them as just another demo, similar to the Arab Spring demos on TV and also our own Bersih nonsense. Really it’s no big deal to worry about; it’s just a visualisation of a page of our history; unless of course you wish to dispute the historical facts. Saying that it'd incite racial tension is a load of BS.  

BTW, a good write-up on May 13 can be found here by blogger Jebat Must Die.