The movie was already in its 2nd week run, so I thought there shouldn't be many people catching it on a weekday morning. But I was wrong, for the cinema was quite full, right up to the centre rows, with a mixed crowd of young and old from all races. Guess all those awards Abang Adik garnered was a definite selling point.
The realism of the scenes is commendable. Especially the hustle and bustle of Pudu wet market in the early morning, of laborers pushing big trolleys, chopping chickens, the plight of people who live "under the radar" of so-called normal civilized society - immigrants, undocumented, disabled, transgenders. The portrayal of typical PPR flats, police raids on illegals, down to government bureaucracy in applying for identity cards were all so realistically done.
The lives of 2 men, simply named Abang, a deaf-mute and Adik, though they are actually unrelated, inter-twined with various characters flesh out the under-currents of social inequities and societal prejudices that are all too commonly known, yet hardly acknowledged and even less remedied. The story-line may be fiction, but the situations are very real and gut-wrenching; to know that such things are happening here and now in our midst.
That's only the obvious parts which were good. What's not so obvious and very good is the rich tapestry of circumstances which gelled together in 2 hours filled with all manner of emotions that tugged at the heart -frustration, comedy, anger, fear, pain, desperation, hopelessness and most of all for me personally, love. How not to cry.
The 2 brothers were perfect foils to each other. Abang, every bit the responsible, upright, hard-working elder brother. Adik the "wild" one, always getting into trouble, impulsive, fool-hardy kid-brother. Every family has both types. And like all families, when push comes to shove, the elder will stand up for the younger. That's what Abang does for Adik - he is always there for Adik; always meaning right to the end, even of life itself. After all they only have each other for family, aside from a kind-hearted transgender with a "mummy" heart.
One of the most memorable scenes I found especially touching, was the brothers dancing at her party. It flash-backed to when they were young, cracking cooked eggs on each other's foreheads, a ritual which spoke volumes of the special bond between them. So evocative was it when the younger Adik couldn't do it in the final parting scene, at Abang's last meal before his execution, I was sniffling like a baby.
There was no need for mushy words. There was so much love demonstrated in action in the simple things like Abang spending his hard-earned money to buy a scarf for his Myanmar girlfren and a shirt for Adik. The pathos hit hard when the scarf was never given for the intended; instead it just flew off carried by the wind, such an apt picture of Abang's life indeed gone with the wind. And Adik pensively mending the tear in the shirt his brother bought just for him. And photos of both taken for the purpose of applying for ICs clipped onto an old board in their run-down hole of a room.
Of course the climax was the heart-rending cry of Abang, in his last moments as a death-row prisoner, hand-signaling "I just want to be loved"...and the hopelessness in his final "I want to die." As much as we may feel the heaviness of Abang's sentence, actually the issue of who ultimately caused the death of Jia En, the young social worker is deliberately left open. We will never know. What we do know is Adik was the one who started the messy tragedy.
As I see it, Jia En's role is rather under-stated. Hers may be a side role, confined to conversations about helping the brothers get their identity cards. But really, she was the one who loved to the utmost, to the extent of losing her own life at the hands of those she sought to help. Of course she didn't need to; she was from a totally different (read privileged) background. Hers was a totally different world from these marginalized folks. Yet she refused to back down, even in the face of antagonism from the very ones she was determined to reach out to.
Which reminds me so much of how Jesus came down from heaven - a totally different world - to save mankind, to give us back our identity and a life of true freedom. But unlike the honorable lady in the movie, who died unintentionally, Jesus willingly gave up His own life, to die hung on a cross, to break the hold of sin and death that all humans are condemned to, whether we believe or not. Whether we reject or receive Him. The love of Christ was never conditional upon our response. Just as Jia En kept on reaching out to the brothers despite being warned of the dangers. It wasn't because she had nothing else better to do; she did it because of a great love.
So as much as the movie is about Abang and Adik, for me, it's also about this one character who was already killed off half-way through the movie. It begets the question why even bother to help such as these. But her efforts sown in love lived on right to the end and bore good fruit. For the one thing that triggered Adik's long-pended anger and violence was resolved. He finally sought out reconciliation with the human father who had abandoned him. I am so glad to remember our heavenly Father God has never abandoned any one of His beloved creation. Never has and never will. Instead He bothered enough to seek and save lost humanity through the redeeming work of Jesus Christ, so all can be reconciled to Him. As Jesus puts it "There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends" (John 15:13)
I caught another locally produced movie much in the same vein. This one was totally free of charge, and I didn't even have to step out of the house as it's available on Utube. Amazing that it's totally crowd-funded, and 100% Msian. The title itself Pendatang is provocative; as it's a known derogatory term, used on certain races, even to this day, which is to our own shame, even as we talk so much about unity.
"Love never fails..." 1 Cor 13:13
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