gubra – love and faith in the face of adversity

Posted at March 31, 2006

Gubra poster

Sri Delima once wrote, “We (Malaysians) have become hypersensitive, getting offended at merest hint of criticism. We are fast losing a most precious gift: the ability to laugh at ourselves.”

She went on to say, “There was a time not too long ago when it seemed we could never laugh again. But soon the jokes went round — a little bitter but deeply healing. They helped us to see our weaknesses and to start afresh.”

I couldn’t get these lines out of my head after watching GUBRA. If Sri Delima could have observed this in the 70s, by gawd nothing much has changed since. It’s scary and most discouraging, don’t you think? Sure, we have slapstick in forms of SENARIO but until SEPET, it felt like the things we want to talk about the most were unable to see the light of the day — in the Malaysia movie scene anyway. What do you mean, felt like? Okay… you know what I mean ;)

In regards to Sri Delima’s observations, I felt that SEPET was a good healing start as any, and GUBRA took it further. Both stories are bold (for our regressive standards), the subtle swipes in the dialogues all too familiar, the unspoken words acknowledged. In Yasmin Ahmad’s movies, we celebrate our diversity and hope that our cultural differences make us stronger as a community, and maybe in the not so far future, as a nation. If more SEPETs and GUBRAs are made and allowed (not to mention allowed to be made for it is not cheap to make a movie — where are the promised loans?!?!?), no doubt we’d heal faster.

When you watch GUBRA, you can’t help thinking of SEPET. You can’t help comparing the two movies and so I’m giving it to you like that. The difference between SEPET and GUBRA is that SEPET mainly tells one story while GUBRA has two stories — one of the continuation of Orked’s life and the other of a lower class kampung style with the family of a Muslim cleric and his neighbours who were prostitutes. Yasmin did a clever job going back and forth the two stories as if it was the most natural thing in the world; it was like LOTR: The Two Towers — though the two storylines in GUBRA were not exactly connected, the struggles, hurt, pain, love and faith both sides felt were all too human, despite their different lives and being on the opposite sides of the economic scale.

And while SEPET is a little more lighthearted, GUBRA is a tad more serious and heavy with plenty of emotional hurdles not unfamiliar to a lot of Malaysians.

And if you do not want to read spoilers, feel free to skip the next few paragraphs and proceed to the one after the photo with Harith Iskander in it.

GUBRA cast

First of all, Jason died in SEPET. So sad. I know the last couple minutes of the movie left many people puzzled and going WTF; in GUBRA it was made absolutely sure that Jason did die in the motorbike accident so the story could continue as it was. Trust me, I spent 2 years wondering what the hell was with that last scene.

The movie opens with Mas (Norkhiriah) lovingly preparing bread and butter with kaya for her Muslim cleric husband (Nam Ron). Their affectionate interplay was amusing to see, though I doubt some conservative types would agree with the cleric’s behavior. On his way to ‘officiate’ the Subuh prayers, he meets his neighbours Temah (Rozie Rashid) and Kiah (Juliana Ibrahim) returning from their illegal night operation. But there was no disdain on the cleric’s side, only warm and playful jibes were exchanged. This the same cleric who patted a lame dog (I expect dissent from certain parties).

On the other side of town, Orked (Sharifah Amani) having returned from England, had married Arif (Adlin Aman Ramlie). Their chemistry is enjoyable to see, and the change of feelings when she discovered Arif’s infidelity only goes to show their superb acting ability. I realised something about Adlin — he can be as versatile as he wants to, but when it comes to moments of uncertainty, he has this habit of standing in a slouching manner with his hand on his hips, looking quite lost (in a very unnatural way). This I noticed in Puteri Gunung Ledang the movie; and that was why I thought he was crap in it. In PGL the musical however, he shone like a star. In GUBRA, he was a bit of both. Go figure.

Anyway before we see Arif cheating on Orked, we see Orked’s family in upheaval for her father (Harith Iskander) had collapsed, leaving her mother (Ida Nerina) devastated and unable to control her emotions. Kak Yam (Adibah Noor) took charge of the situation until they were in the hospital — you have to really appreciate Adibah Noor’s fabulous timing for comedy especially in her delivery of lines (”By the time your ambulance arrives, my child would be in Primary One.”)

In the hospital Orked unexpectedly meets Alan (Alan Lee), Jason’s elder brother. His father had been warded for a slight ‘accident’ and needless to say, you see the return of the Cantonese-speaking father (Thor Kah Hoong) and the Malay pasar-speaking mother (Tan Mei Ling). Orked and Alan becomes fast friends, though I felt that Jason’s chemistry with Orked in SEPET was easier to watch than Alan’s a bit ‘kaku’ performance with Orked in GUBRA. It was not very believable that Alan’s character had a 6 year old dotter too. But the pecs were nice :D

Orked’s story continues with how she coped with her husband’s infidelity. Meanwhile Temah discovered that she was HIV-positive, which made her resolve to be a better Muslim and eventually leave the flesh trade. Kiah, bound to being brutally used until she had enough money to return to her own village met with a tragic ending, thanks to Ki (Khir Rahman), who was either a gambler or a drug addict, I wasn’t sure.

/end revealing synopsis.

Suanie with Harith Iskandar

The storylines of GUBRA are quite simple and can be found in a lot of everyday lives. The script has a whole lot of mixed languages like how Malaysians are prone to converse — i.e. two or more languages in one sentence delivered flawlessly by the actors without so much as batting an eyelid. The stellar performances of Sharifah Amani, Adlin Aman Ramlie, Rozie Rashid, Norkhiriah, Tan Mei Ling, Juliana Ibrahim, Ida Nerina, Harith Iskander, Adibah Noor and (I never thought I’d say this, thanks to M! The Opera) Khir Rahman who portrayed humanity at its best and worst gave GUBRA certain emotionally-charged moments that are hard to forget. It makes you proud that this is a movie with real Malaysian content (Erna says that it is not really a Malaysian movie because the ‘Lain-lain’ races were not highlighted at all) and in an idealistic world we are not afraid to acknowledge our shortcomings. Welcome them with open arms, heal with patches of good ol’ cloth ‘plaster’ (band aid).

In our ideal world, GUBRA escapes the National Censorship Board without so much as a scratch. Luckily in real life it did, so maybe idealism is something good to hold on to.

Yasmin Ahmad

Yasmin Ahmad is a superb, optimistic and much honest story teller. You HAVE HAVE HAVE HAVE HAVE HAVE HAVE HAVE to watch GUBRA, feel free to make up your own mind about the movie but you HAVE HAVE HAVE HAVE to watch it in the first place.

GUBRA opens in Malaysian cinemas on the 6th of April. Must watch. Must watch. Must watch. Must watch. Must watch. My review is a bit n00b but I don’t care. Must watch GUBRA must watch GUBRA must watch GUBRA must watch GUBRA must watch GUBRA must watch GUBRA. Oh yah, when the credits roll, stay for a bit to see something wtf. If you do not want to see something wtf, you can leave. I don’t care either way, just go see go see go see go see go see go see go see go see!

Essential links:
Sepet (2004) on IMDB.
Gubra (2006) on IMDB.
Yasmin Ahmad’s blog

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