Saturday 31 August 2013

Review of Tanda Putera by Dennis Chua

I have not yet watched the much talked about movie Tanda Putera.

Even if I had watched it, I don't think I should be the one to review it as I could be judged as a politically bias person due to my support for Barisan Nasional.

The person whose review of the controversial movie should be considered by Malaysians must be totally neutral.


And for that, none other than NST senior writer Mr Dennis Chua should fit the bill.  Those who know Dennis will agree with me that he totally doesn't have any partisan political inclination whatsoever and is a most sincere and honest person. If you want to know more details on why I came to that conclusion about Dennis, please ask any of the NST journalists that you could come across (including those who support Pakatan). I'm quite sure they know why and will agree with me.

Here is Dennis' review of Tanda Putera which was published by NST two days ago,


Cinema: From a page in history



TO say that this is Shuhaimi’s most challenging film would be an understatement, as it is her labour of love to two of our greatest leaders.

Second Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein and second Deputy Prime Minister Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman saved the country from the political violence of 1969 and reunited the people with their vision, foresight, disciplinarian ways and teamwork.
Unfortunately, they were working against the clock. Both men were dying of serious illnesses: Dr Ismail of a heart ailment and Abdul Razak, of leukaemia. They were treated in secret by a mutual doctor friend, Dr Stewart McPherson.
Abdul Razak kept his illness from his loved ones and the country, so that everybody could focus on bringing the country forward with the New Economic Policy (NEP) that he and Dr Ismail had formulated.
Shuhaimi shot Tanda Putera in 10 months in 2011 (20 per cent in Britain), and picked the right actors for the roles — Abdul Razak (Rusdi) and Dr Ismail (Zizan).
Rusdi, who gave a memorable performance in Waris Jari Hantu and 1957: Hati Malaya, captured the essence of Abdul Razak’s indomitable spirit and looks every bit like the Father Of Development.
The same goes for Zizan, who also played Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in Tun Mahathir The Musical (2010). He learnt how to mouth a pipe and play golf with his left hand.
Shuhaimi and co-producer Kavita have, as in Hati Malaya, stayed clear from documentary style narratives and managed to bring much heart into Abdul Razak’s and Dr Ismail’s last years.
Most of the film shows how they impacted the lives of the people and how they juggled work and their family.
Fictitious characters Kara (Kavita), Allan (Yun), Aman (Riezman), Maimon (Kuza), Musa (Zaefrul), Zarah (Ika), Zaman (Ahya) and Johan (Zoey) humanise the challenges of the period.
A dose of trivia is slotted in various scenes, and the best is where Abdul Razak and Dr Ismail discuss the name of the national airline. At a dinner, Abdul Razak tells Dr Ismail that he has completed his “laughter quota”, a reference to the doctor’s serious demeanour.
Tanda Putera’s link to Hati Malaya is most evident with the presence of Kamarul as Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra. The Kelantan-born actor, who received good reviews in the 2007 film, is more subdued, but does a star turn when he tells some Western journalists to “go to hell” for misreporting in 1969.
Another star turn is Hasnul as Tun Hussein Onn. He holds his own when he tearfully announces the death of Abdul Razak.
Faezah and Linda add the required gentle touch as Abdul Razak’s wife Tun Rahah Mohd Noah and Dr Ismail’s wife Toh Puan Norashikin Mohd Seth respectively. Besides looking the part, they give their characters a balance of strength and emotion, especially when they learn the sad truths about their husbands health.
The list of supporting characters is the who’s who of Malaysian leaders and their families. They include Nazril (Dr Mahathir), Norman (Tun Hanif Omar), Shorthose (McPherson), Sahee (Datuk Seri Najib Razak), Razif (Ahmad Johari Razak), Ismaizal (Tawfik Ismail), Fizz (Tan Sri Arshad Ayub), Khir (Tan Sri Abdul Rahman Hashim), Ngasrizal (Datuk Seri Harun Idris), Razali (Tan Sri Ahmad Razali Mohd Ali), Chelsia (Puan Sri Catherine Tan), Nas-T (Najib Abdul Rahman) and Aidil (Tan Sri Senu Abdul Rahman).
Of the fictitious characters, Ahya stands out as school teacher Zaman who becomes Abdul Razak’s assistant. He is spotted by the leader while serving in his Felda village, and it is through him that we learn of Abdul Razak’s eye for detail, generosity, opposition to superstition, and penchant for punctuality and tidiness.
Kavita, Alan, Ika and Zoey nicely capture the climate of fear in 1969. In their pivotal scene together, they brave angry mobs hammering on Kara’s car as she ferries her students, Zarah and Johan, home.
While there are violent scenes of the riots, they are kept to a minimum to serve as backdrop to the turbulent period. The shootings of top officers and a terror attack on the National Monument aided by CGI are shocking, too.
Shuhaimi added wonderful CGI effects in the style of Forrest Gump, where the actors images are superimposed and blended into real footage of historical events.
Nevertheless, there are two glaring production mistakes in the logo of one political party and the Malaysian coat of arms.
Still, this film ought to be on every citizen’s “must watch” list for its historical significance. To date, it remains a strong contender for the top prize at the next Malaysian Film Festival.


Read more: Cinema: From a page in history - Holiday - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/life-times/holiday/cinema-from-a-page-in-history-1.345361#ixzz2dWeVmi5G

46 comments:

  1. Dennis Chua tu kakitangan NST, boss NST adalah UMNO, jadi mana neutral ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Star tu bawah MCA. MCA bawah BN. Kenapa The Star is Pakatan-friendly?

      Delete
    2. Anon 03:15 - Are you sure sure MCA bawah BN? Officially yes, but, in reality the chinese will only be with the malays when they have something to gain. Now that PR can "bagi makan" why bother with BN any more?

      Delete
  2. Looking for Zizan31 August 2013 at 16:01

    I must admit I spent a lot of time watching out for Zizan. I was impressed. This guy is a lot more talented than I thought. He is not just a comedian but also a serious political actor. And he got two simultaneous screening in KL Zombi too.

    Could he be that Tun Razak. No, Zizan is too dark and thin. Maybe it was Ismail who was known to be a chain pipe smoker with thin haggard face.
    So I waited and waited...hehe I thought he must be wearing pretty good makeup. I left a bit disappointed that KL Zombi guy is not in this movie.
    But he could be in another political movie. Just like Lincoln the Vampire Slayer!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bro,

      Zizan Nin..bukan Zizan Mael Lambong

      Delete
    2. Haha! Zizan mael lambong katanye!

      Delete
  3. hi annie, why u post lim kiat sial photos in your blog ? It should be Tun Razak or Tun Ismail, after all Tanda Putera is about them, very the sinister you annie.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. lim kit sial ... i like that
      dia memang sial
      dan 40+ tahun menyalak macam anjing salak bukit. bukit tak runtuh pun

      Delete
    2. menyalak macam anjing tak apa, asalkan tak songlap wang rakyat macam geng UMNO sudah-lah.
      Sharizat dah rebat RM250 juta wang lembu, yg anon 18:58 apasal diam macam anjing, pergilah menyalak kat UMNO, berani ??

      Delete
    3. Jilat la bontot dap cam babi

      Delete
    4. 20:50
      lu buta ke, pekak ke, memang baghal ?
      lim kit sial salak kerajaan sebab menteri kerajaan kelepet berjuta-juta aku tak cakap aku bangkang. kalau pembangkang menyalak tiap-tiap hari pasal ni pun aku suka

      aku tak berkenan lim kit sial ni punya perangai tak makan di ajar, dia ajak cina, india benci Melayu, hina Melayu. lu ada ingat melayu baru ah ? dalam.Parlimen dia cakap tu. tak sial ?

      lu 20:50 memang sial
      lu faham tak apa rakyat Malaysia nak hari ini ?
      menteri-menteri sampah ni nyahkan dari ada kaitan langsung dengan kerajaan. kalau ada jumpa admissible evidemce, charge them
      yang nak disabit kesalahan ni menteri dan bekas menteri dan dia orang bukan bodoh
      kalau salah charge, bahana besar

      gua tengok kalau ikut cara tak berfikir 20:50 cepat Malaysia ni jadi Mesir
      ini ke biawak-biawak macam 20:50 ni nak ?

      kalau lim kit sial ni betul-betul multiracial dap dah lama dapat sokongan orang Melayu. tapi dia ada 40 tahun, dia tak berubah sikit pun
      bukan susah nak dapat sokongan orang Melayu

      kawan 20:50 aku cakap jamgan ye
      laki sharizat memang tengah asap tuduhan
      lu tak tengok berita ? hari ni pun ada
      lu duduk dalam hutan mana ?

      lu tengok video bendera sang saka ?
      ini semua mula dari kit siang. dia galak orang jadi kurang ajar

      Delete
  4. Lain kali jgn guna flag lambang roket tapi gambar Tongkang.
    Tak ada kena mengena kalau guna Tongkang Action Party (TAP) instead.
    Nama tukar jadi Lum Kut Malam or Lum Gian Egg.

    Kena la jaga hati sikit, kalau pedas makan cili sendiri rasa lantak la mereka.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. anon 18:03 sudah kena belacan ke ? tulis yg bukan-bukan.

      Delete
    2. Another cibai

      Delete
    3. ko tu yang dah minum Todi anon 20:45! why so butthurt meh..

      Delete
    4. Anon 20:45
      See, not using real names pun, yang tergigit cili api saja akan rasa pedas.

      So movie producers next time please take note..

      As for the language spoken by all of them is foreign (where majority of the locals here who watch your movies cannot understand at all) next time get;

      some ducks to help with the quacking sounds (male voices) and hens' clucking sounds (female voices) to replace the sounds that come out of their mouth when they speak (must have subs in Bahasa Kebangsaan or English).

      Solve all problems.

      Delete
    5. Another film about KJ's house being burgled by masked intruders and they were caught in no time at all whilst thousands other burglaries were never resolved.

      Delete
    6. Thousands other burglaries were never resolved because those victims think they are cleverer than the Inspector of Police, all police are BODOH so they got back what they wanted. Like that also cannot think?

      Delete
    7. Anon 22:13. Don't make stupid comments, and please write properly so that others can make sense of your lack of intelligence.

      Delete
    8. Anon 23:11 -
      You think you are so intelligent? Then how come your house got burgled..

      Use your head next time and think of ways to secure your house properly.

      Delete
    9. Whose house got burgled?

      Delete
  5. Saw the movie yesterday with my whole family. I don't know why the Dapsters & Firsters takut sangat. Clearly the Communists yang menjadi dalang. So unless this is a case of siapa makan cili terasa pedas then tolong chill sikit lah & watch it to understand & learn from history. The movie turned out to be quite sad as the focus is on the huge sacrifices made by our dear Tuns. Semuga Allah SWT mencucuri rahmatnya ke atas kedua-dua TUN kita. It should be made compulsory for our current leaders from both divides as this is the kind of spirit kita nak tengok from our leaders.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. kak sharifah, sorry to hear that you are very much confused betwwen history and fiction movie.

      Delete
    2. are you high anon 20:43? aren't you tired to counter attack 3 comments back to back? red bean army sucks! this is a historical movie.. fictions are those like Star Wars, X-men, etc you dumb!

      Delete
    3. Aiseh ini budak anon 20:43 tak kenal TUN HAJI ABDUL RAZAK & TUN DR ISMAIL.
      of all TUNs, these two are undeniably the most gracious. Tun Mahathir will tell you the same

      budak ni main games aje kerjanya sampai sejarah pun dia kata fiction
      kesian dia sekolah tapi tak kenal huruf

      Delete
    4. Someone should make a film about love story between TUN ABDULLAH and TUN JEAN.

      Delete
    5. Suhaimi baba should direct a film about how Altantuya got C4-ed in Malaysia jungle, a love and action pack story, a non-fiction movie, sure goes box-office. If possible, get Annie to star as Altantuya.

      Delete
    6. Annie is too blubber,too short and too old to cast as Altantuya, maybe she can act as Rosmah !

      Delete
  6. Ada jer cibai ni..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ye betol.. cibai tu berada di mana2..!

      Delete
  7. MALAY MAIL review of Tanda Putera by Erna Mahyuni

    KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 1 — For Merdeka, I watched Shuhaimi Baba’s docu-drama “Tanda Putera”. Fourteen other people were in the cinema at GSC Paradigm Mall in Petaling Jaya at 11.30am.

    The heart of “Tanda Putera” is the friendship of the late Tun Abdul Razak Hussein and Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, played by Rusdi Ramli and Zizan Nin respectively.

    The biggest travesty about Shuhaimi’s script is that it paints two of our greatest statesmen as pompous idiots who do not trust their wives.

    See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/a-review-of-tanda-putera-a-film-that-takes-liberties-with-the-truth



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unlike Dennis Chua who is an apolitical writer, who mostly writes about non-political stuff, Erna Mahyuni is a pro-Pakatan columnist whose writings are full of hatred towards Barisan Nasional since her days with Malaysian Insider. Just Google to read her other rantings.

      Delete
    2. makcik annie, are you saying that only you can decide who is apolitical and who is not ? give me a break !

      Delete
    3. Anon 12:20,
      Google Dennis Chua and read his articles. Then google Erna Mahyuni and compare Dennis' with those written by her. If you have a bit of brain then you could judge for yourself who between the two writers is apolitical.

      Delete
    4. Annie,

      Jangan layan si cibai Anon sekor ni. I think this Anon is a female and she is being paid by DAP to attack any pro- BN blogs including yours. Eventhough sometimes she uses Malay words in her comments, she is definitely 100% cHINAbeng.

      Delete
    5. Erna Mahyuni rambled rather than reviewed. Has she ever directed or produced a film before? Her whole load of garbage review is just that. Garbage. She even went to the point of criticising every single actor in the film like as if she knew more about acting than acting itself. Yup, her political rambling of Tanda Putera is pathetic and bankrupt of ideas.

      Delete
    6. The Malay Foundation2 September 2013 at 20:32

      Really wonder why Pakatan members like Erni Mahyuna bothers about how UMNO leaders are portrayed hehe..
      Nothing to do with them.

      Tanda Putera is really heart warming in its potrayal of UMNO two Presidents as they worked to build Malaysia into what it is today. What you see today Felda, UDA, MARA, ASB etc all was done in that very short period of time. The foundation of the Malay states was formed by these two.

      It was undone by anti Malay UMNO President but that is what we are all grappling now.

      Forget pakatan writers in Malay Mail, it is infested by indian estet workers sons.

      Delete
  8. don't you layan this cibai Annie! buang masa je..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. annie only layan balak, unless she is lesbian.

      Delete
    2. ko baca jugak kenapa? bodoh.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous here,there and everywhere.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Good movie and great applause to Shuhaimi Baba and all the actors. This is one of the best historical movie. Do not comment if you didnt watch the movie. Im sure once you watch the movie you will understand more about our PM and Malaysia. Great job!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. sorry. this movie sucks. the acting sucks. the story sucks. everything about it sucks. you like it eh? then you suck.

      Delete
  11. I haven't watched Tanda Putera, but I am already sad knowing that we are fighting with each other over a movie. C'mon guys, we can do better than that... Why not channel our energy to work together & help those in needs.

    ReplyDelete
  12. fighting because of a movie? such kids~ haha

    ReplyDelete
  13. To Anon 16.57.....it would appear that your vocabulary is very limited. Thus, it would be extremely difficult to believe that you had understood what the movie is all about.

    ReplyDelete