[Review] Tanda Putera Movie Rview

Hello my lovelies,

I did not plan to go to a movie when I went back to my home country, Malaysia. Neither am I a huge fan of Malay movies in general. Though the raves and the mixed reviews I was reading, burned my interest in the movie itself.

The release date of this movie being changed a few times made me even more interested in what was the fuss about this movie. Set to play on the eve of Malaysian Independence Day date, I went to watch it after the heat was cooled down.

Working Poster of Tanda Putera (Pic Cred: Wikipedia)

TANDA PUTERA is about the special bond of friendship between second Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak and his Deputy, Tun Dr Ismail who concealed and set aside their own health concerns to concentrate on the nation's recovery in the aftermath of the 13th May 1969 tragedy.
 Razak takes the bold step of establishing diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China to weaken the local communist influence, risking vilification by certain Western counterparts and Allies. His unqualified success with China where he is accorded a rousing and warm welcome galvanizes his subversive detractors into action.
 Razak's policies begin to bear fruit bringing hard-core poor, families like Zarah and Zaman's, out of poverty. And Razak becomes a symbol of their newfound hope. He tries hard to fight his illness, asking Doctors to let him return home to Malaysia. But Razak's struggle ends at a London clinic where he breathes his last, while Malaysians who are expecting his return, are caught unawares.

I was actually surprised to watch a Malay movie that is not based on the issue of love and infidelity and also wealth. Instead, it is based on historical depiction of one of the biggest tragedy Malaysian history. Although the incident or the story might seem a little bias and probably a tad bit fictionalized,

All I know about the May 13^th incident are those that I was thought in my upper secondary school and May 13^th just took up about a point in a chapter in our history class. Just for those who don’t know, on May 13^th, 1969, there was a sectarian violence between the Malaysian Malays and Chinese that started in Selangor.

History a side, was this story really that bad? Does it deserve all the raves or does it deserve the bashing that it received. For me the performance was not that bad, but there are a few points that I would like to point out.

Lets start with the not so good point of this movie so I would not make this review into a short story just for flailing over them. The first thing that caught my attention and annoyed me from the start till the end of the movie was the clothes worn by the make belief character of Zara, Zaman and the other supporting characters. There were a few scenes where the ladies clothes seemed too modern.

Rusdi Ramli as well as Zizan Nin were both very dynamic as an actor, yet in this movie they were as rigid as a weeping angel being told what to do. I do have a lot of respect for both actors especially Mr. Ramli for his excellence and experience in this industry. Yet although this was a little disappointing, I do think that this has a lot to do with the direction rather than his ability to act.

The female supporting actresses were very pretty but there were very little opportunity for them to actually shine and show their talent as an actor rather than just being shown for their beauty.

Other than that there was over looked details like proton saga and the tiny minute CCTV that could barely be seen, I do think that the movie was quite well indeed.

Datuk Suhaimi Baba took a huge risk at taking this even to make it into a movie. She also took a big risk at taking a lot of new and fresh faces to star in this film. Comparatively to Hati Malaya:1957, this movie is would look a little amateur-ish in my opinion and Hati Malaya:1957 was much better.

Not many directors would take the challenge to make such a movie. For people like me, who did take history in high school and knew very little about this events was very surprised to see what had actually happened according to this movie. And I thought this could not have happened. But when I asked my mother and father, they said although there are events that were manipulated like the scene when Tun was in London and the scenes when he was with his family (perhaps).

The make ups were amazing, and does make the actors suit their role better. Though the ladies might be a little bit over done to make them look too young that they does not look like the ministers wife instead they look more like their daughters.

In my opinion this movie was a good movie and should be watched by all Malaysian. Though there are still a lot of room for improvement. I would love to see more movies from this kind of genre by younger directors and with other point of view as well.

I would rate this movie a fair 3.5 out of 5 (3.5/5). There is nothing further to say, except I would love to watch more of this kind of movies.

Love and kisses,

GWRL