Movie Review: RISE: INI KALILAH.
By : Fa Ti Ma
You know when you go to the mamaks hoping to have some good nasi kandar? That was me going to watch this film. Unfortunately, instead of a good plate of rice with fried chicken, kobis goreng kunyit, telur masin and gulai ikan, I ended up having plain white rice – and the rice wasn’t even cooked well.
THE DIRECTORS:
Rise: Ini Kalilah was directed by three people – a Chinese, a Malay and an Indian (1Malaysia lah konon). Each took some 20 days for shooting (and ultimately producing this film in 100 days). I suppose that explains why the film had no consistency. Each director seem to have different style and level of skills. I suppose the film were divided into three and the three directors were sent off to complete it before the three parts were woven together.
PLOT.
So it’s almost the time everyone been waiting for, time for the 14th GE. The films shows the surface of the lives of 6 main characters and their journey towards the historical winning.
THE CHARACTERS:
- An Indian girl who is a teacher; attends PACA meetings; is in love with a Chinese boy; refuses her father’s selection for an arranged marriage ; is upset over the government’s rejection to fund the school she works at; and constantly argues with her father whom she doesn’t get along with.
- A Chinese guy who works in a food store in Singapore; has a bad temper; is in love with an Indian girl; is looked down by his sibling for being unable to stick to a job and progress; comes home to vote and decides not to return to Singapore for work.
- A Malay girl who works in a cafe in London; she is unhappy with her current job ; her sister whom she has issues with is going to get married and attending the wedding in Malaysia would mean she has to reject a new job offer, one she was hoping to get; she didn’t register as a voter; her Malaysian friend convinces her to bring her ballot paper home; the friend posts a video about it and other Malaysians living in London start sending their ballot papers hoping she would deliver them too.
- An Indian guy who is expecting his first child; he is caught up in an illegal foreign worker sindicket; as he tries to withdraw from it, wanting to start a new chapter, he is threatened and gets his office raided by the authorities; he agrees to become a mule for the sindicket to deliver fake votes.
- A police officer who is struggling with financial matters; his car needs to be sent to the workshop; his dad is in the hospital waiting for his leg to be removed due to diabetes; his kids wanna go Genting Highland; his wife uses an old phone which cant operate without being connected to the charger (and refuses to get a new one because they can’t afford it); he later agrees to accept wang sapu and takes his family for a big makan at a tomyam place.
- A kelam-kabut hyper-patriotic Malaysian journalist who fetches a foreign journalist from the airport; the British journalist is super irritated cos he had to skip his holiday with friends to cover the story; they work together to cover a story about a sindicket bringing in illegal workers to Malaysia and in the midst of it, she makes him fall for ‘awesome’ Malaysia (someone pass me the bucket please).
THE SCRIPT:
- The script reminds me of a cheesy Petronas advertisement, except Petronas advertisements are not that cheesy and only last 5 minutes or less.
- The script was written in a hurry, very cheesy, very cringy, very superficial, and no depth. It’s as if the writers were trying very hard to create a heart warming piece which would be loved by all Malaysians.
- But to be fair, This film does have its heart warming moment, like in the ending when you see the closing credit and you start to tear up feeling oh so happy that the film is finally over.
THE ACTING:
- Generally speaking, the acting was flat. Yes, a few of them did shine a little but with a super cheesy- trying too hard kinda script, it was really annoying to watch the actors on screen.
- Though no one deserved the title best actor in this movie, I do believe that the dude playing the foreign journalist (Mark O’dea) deserves to be given an award for the worst actor. Good God, someone please ban him from appearing in any other films please for the sake of our entertainment industry.
- But if I have to pick one best actor from this movie, it would be Jalaluddin Hassan who made a 15 second appearance (even Tony Eusoff despite looking dashing as always gave an over the top acting).
THE SCENES I REMEMBER THE MOST:
- It’s been three days since I watched the movie, and I am trying very hard to recollect every scenes – that’s the problem with this bad movies you know, they are easily forgotten.
- The only three scenes I can remember clearly are (1) the scene with the song Sejahtera Malaysia (I had to catch my breath a few times listening to it) (2) the scene at the end with Tun Mahathir taking his oath (tried very hard not to cry because the film did not deserve my tears) (3) and the last scene with the Malaysian journalist and the foreign journalist hugging on top of a hill overseeing istana Negara (because it was the most irritating scene ever, I mean EVER, I mean E-V-E-R).
WHAT I DISLIKED.
- Too many characters.
- The story was too superficial.
THE LITTLE THINGS I FOUND IRRITATING.
- The Chinese dude’s brother in Singapore was wearing a glass too small for his face. Question: Was it a prop or did he really fancy wearing small glasses like some people who fancy wearing tiny underwears that gets stuck in your bum bum?
- The police officer was wearing his clip on name tag on one side and the sewed in name tag on the other side was blurred. Question – why not just pin the name tag over on the sewed in one if you wanna cover it?
- The police officer was wearing a cap with a badge which looks like it was made by a 10 year old which has the word ‘POLIS’ (hand) written on it. In some parts of the film, the word ‘POLIS’ was blurred. Question – Hello, is this a primary school project or is this a movie for us to remember our historical achievement? And if the word POLIS isn’t allowed, why write it? Did someone forget to do their research?
- The police officer’s wife in one scene irons her husband’s police uniform and leaves the iron flat on the kain batik covering the iron board without switching it off and goes on to have a conversation with her husband. Question: Hello tuan direktor, tidur ka?
- The Indian pregnant lady in the hospital who was about to deliver had her baby bump up to her chest. Question: Wtf? Someone needs to go back to Bio class.
- Sangheeta Krishnasamy who played the PACA volunteer had full make up on all scenes she appeared in. Question: Is this movie sponsored by Avon or something
- Apart from that, I really disliked the shaky cameras, similar angles and bad framing. Seriously, it really comes off as a cincai film produced in a short time.
CONCLUSION:
This movie produced by WebTVAsia, is one of the worst movies produced ever. I personally feel this film should be banned because this is not how we want our future generation to remember this historical event. This film should never have been made. Yes, we should support local films. But this film doesn’t deserve to be supported.
I rate this film 1/10.
Don’t waste your money. Go watch Bukit Kepong on You Tube instead. – TTKM-
(The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of TTKM- Editor)
Movie trailer:
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