Brothers
Love
Bunohan is a Malaysian drama
thriller and it is directed by Dain Iskander Said. The film manages to win
praise from audiences in Toronto International Film Festival for its' poetic
narration and beautiful cinematography. The film won 8 awards in 25th Malaysian
Film Festival.
The story is surrounding the life of
3 half-brothers who share the same father with different mother. Adil, a Muay
Thai fighter who falls into trouble after he flees from an illegal death match.
Bakar, a teacher who resides in Kuala Lumpur returns home to claim his father's
land. Ilham, a killer who hired to execute his own brother, Adil. 3 of them
come back to their hometown, Bunohan to uncover a string of dark secret and
family affair.
The theme explores the theme of dysfunctional
family relationships. Viewers would be confused to label this film as an action
film with all the fighting scenes in the trailer. However, those action scenes
are only a small part of the storyline. Director Dain Iskandar Said cleverly
explores the dark side mentality of human nature in an artistic and
philosophical approach, but not to lose the sense of realistic feel to the
movie. This forms a connection with viewers as the theme of family drama is
easily related to the audiences.
The essence of masculinity is
flowing thru the movie with intense fight scene and man-to-man family affair
and business. Female character is reduced to minimal as male characters take
the lead in the film Bunohan. The lack of woman’s existence in a family like
the presence of a mother figure creates a dysfunction family situation as the
brothers estrange from each other with their father. The movie explores
different stages of life focus on the role of a man. The father represents the
old generation with regretful past, Adil represents the youth with dream, Bakar
represents a family man who struggles in the city and Ilham represents a man
with twisted mind who challenge the society rule.
Adil, the youngest son who estranged
from the dysfunction family with only his father remains. He spotted to carry a
slightly long hair with razor shaved on the side. The punk hairstyle is his way
to express his angst and rebellion. Also, he is constantly wearing shorts as if
he is ready to pick up a fight. This shows he is a person with passion for Muay
Thai and aggressive in daily interaction. He has no choice but to hide in his
hometown as he runs away from a death match. In the scene where he visits his
home for the first time after he left many years ago, he opens a box with
photos and letters. This indicates no matter how bad a family tears apart, Adil
still loves his family from the bottom of his heart, especially for his mother.
In the sub sequential scene, Adil has a conflict with his father. It reviewed
his stepmother and elder brother had been constantly bullying him in the past.
Adil is disappointed of his father for not taking any action as he wishes. This
shows strong relationship of father and son, yet the painful experience have
lead Adil to turn away from his father. Even though Adil still cares for his
father, he could not forgive him. Father is an important role to a family as he
bears most responsibility to shape his family. It would become a social issue
if their children's well-being is neglected.
While Adil is having conversation
with his life saver, one of them quotes:" in darkness, there is
brightness." The background is a wooden house after sunset, lights from
light bulb creates contrast lighting effect on actors and building. Although
Adil owns a lot of debts to the fight arena promoter, yet he remains focus to
pay it back with another Muay Thai match. It reminds to audiences never give up
too early as there are always hope around the corner.
In
the final act, Adil is falling down on the arena as the poison tries to kill
him, scene changes its' pace to slow motion with shaky and spinning camera
ankle with silence in sound. This technique stimulates the similar nausea and
uncomforted feeling from Adil's psychical condition. It creates a moment before
climax scene as audiences are longing to discover what will happen next.
Bakar,
the middle child in the family and a high school teacher who married with wife
and kids. However, he comes back to Bunohan to persuade his father to sell the
land to contractor for resort construction. He always well-dressed and wears a
pair of glasses thru the film and it gives the impression of an educated
citizen image. However, he is the mastermind behind most of the evil plans. In
a traditional coffee shop, he will discuss his plan with the long haired
contractor. The setup of coffee shop is sending message of plain and simple is
the way of Bunohan as this town is a village far away from the city. The
unbalanced development in both different places create riff and
misunderstanding issue between city people and village people as it shows on
Bakar and his father. Their plan to sell
the land turns into vain as their father refuses to obey. The father then lit a
cigarette and blows smoke around himself while Bakar remains quiet. This shows
the father is annoyed and discomforted to this idea as Bakar is feared for his
father’s authority. At night time Bakar is having one-on-one conversation with
his father. The setup is a room separated by a wall with one room switch on
its’ light and the other one remains darkness. This shows both father and Bakar
have strong disagreement ina very contrast way. The wall symbolizes the emotion
barrier as they unable to having a normal conversation without getting into
quarrel.
As
Bakar is getting desperate, he pays money to Adil’s friend to kill Adil. A
scene with fishes dead in the pond and the house Adil’s friend stays at is
indicating he is a poor man who seeks for help. He lives with his sick mother
in a small wooden house with no other houses around that area. This shows the
isolation and desperation in a remote land as no one could reach for them. The
betrayal of Adil’s friend shows the ugly side of poverty in reality as good
people is forced to commit crime when they seduced with money in poor
condition. The gap between lower class and upper class people are getting wider
and more obvious, especially in a small village where job opportunities are
rare and places are under-development.
In
the final act, Bakar attempts to murder his father in a beach. Cloudy sky with
grey tone to suggest something bad might happen. Crime scene is placed far from
camera and cover in blanket with light comes from the lantern. This setting
suggests focal point in the middle while allows audiences to interact more with
the story as they would try to figure out what will happen next to Bakar and
the father.
The
character Bakar is a representation of our judgmental and prejudice society.
People tend to label another person from their first impression, hence the
mindset of dressing well equal educated good people. However, it is not the
same case with Bakar as he tries to kill his own father. Family members are
hurting each other when property is at stake. It shows how money could corrupt
a person’s soul as it outweighs its’ value over family bond in the
materialistic world we live.
Ilham,
the oldest son is a ruthless and gruesome killer who slits his victims’ throat
during assassination. Ilham firstly introduced to the scene when he kills his
target in the shower room. It shows he is well executed in decision making and
an experienced killer. For his second assassination, he kills the Chinese man
who shares important information in the bird shop. Although Chinese man spills
out the secret, Ilham still kills him. This scene shows Ilham is a cruel person
as nobody could escape from him even when they beg for their lives. After he
returns to Bunohan, he stays in a boat-like house. Boat is a symbol of freedom
and journey for Ilham who leaves the village long times ago. A refurbish boat
is a meaning of Ilham’s’ will to settle down in Bunohan so he could lives with
his brother, Adil, his next target. Later, Ilham is walking on a sandy beach to
visit his mother’s tomb. The bright sky landscape symbolize the good mood of
Ilham while the white sand represents the mother image in Ilham’s mind, a
graceful and mercy mother. It shows Ilham’s mother presence helps to calm his
nerve. Near the river, killer initiates the conversation with a bird to confess
his feeling as a killer. At night, he would dig the grave by himself at the
beach. The gray tone of each shot evokes the emotion of sadness, depression and
loneliness. He is finding his way to atone his sin as he feels disappointed for
himself when he faces his mother’s tomb. He wishes he could be someone else
besides a killer who kills innocent people as it would make his mother proud,
but he is not.
On
the beach, Ilham is hurted for attempts murder his half-brother, Adil. He
believes Adil is the reason of his mother’s tomb being destroyed. At night
after Ilham falls asleep, the old mini TV shows a bunch of random footages to
suggest his mind in a state of confusion and chaos. The montage alike sequence
allows audiences have a glimpse of the past of Ilham.
In
the final act, Ilham tries to beg for Adil’s life to be spared. Unfortunately,
the fight arena promoter’s bestman disagree and kill for not obey the order.
Cloudy sky with dark night gives a touch of goth and devilish essence. Ilham is
lying on the beach by himself as sea waves hit on his body. Perhaps this is the
result he wants as he decides to protect his little brother till his last
breath and a way of payback to lost soul he harms in the past. Ilham is by far
the most interesting character as he demonstrates the evil of society. He
choose the wrong path in his life after he neglected by his father who married
3 women. This fuels his hatred even more as his mother is dying alone. This
shows the importance of human interaction on daily basis as no one should left
behind. The generation gap in family
creates a serious problem if it doesn’t solve with communication.
For
the father, he is a man who cherishes traditional culture and artwork. In the
movie, he sews the Malay kite and plays with shadow puppets most of the time.
In the crime scene, he is covered with cloth to entertain himself with shadow
puppet at night. It is his passion to protect his culture. Also, Malay culture
music in Muay Thai fight match in Bunohan is another highlight of the movie.
The fast rhythm and high tempo music effect brings out the intensity of the
fighting scene. The film shows appreciation to Malay culture and heritage to
enlighten people more about the local art scene.
The
movie is definitely worth to watch as the scenic shots of tropical jungle,
sandy beach and crystal clear ponds would seduce the audiences’ mind to plan a
trip to Kelantan for its’ breathtaking scenery.
Reference
Chew,
J. (2012, March 7). Review: Bunohan. Retrieved from
Chong,
C. (2012, December 3). Movie Review: Bunoohan (Return to Murder). Retrieved
from
Orlok666.
(2012, May 22). A Return to The Roots. Retrieved from
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