That hand wave gesture remained with Orked. Like the message, Mukhsin left on the kite. No one knows what is written or it's meaning. But we all see what it made Orked do (along with the inclusion of that magical 1959’s French tune) And he hung his clothes upon the tree, like the legend of the virgin at the lake which they visited earlier.
The feeling of someone leaving you is different back then compared to now. Mukhsin left Orked with her having no means to reconnect. Today, saying goodbye means nothing when he is reachable after that through the convenience of the Internet social media. The future generations soon might not understand that feeling of missing someone. That might be the reason why our new poetry lacks soul lately.
The yellow beetle road tax sticker says it is 1994. It is also when the third brake light is made compulsory. The character Hussein uses the public phone to call his grandmother, to talk to his troubled mother who has disowned him. You have to really listen to know who is Hussien and Mak Senah to Mukhsin. Once you know, you will appreciate the fabric and color of society that Yasmin Ahmad has integrated into this masterpiece.
The inclusion of the 1959’s French song ‘Ne me quitte pas’ (Don’t leave me) is saying that despite we all living in a different upbringing, culture, and religion, the language of love portrayed on the screen is universal and can be understood by all, reaching deep, straight to our soul.
A picture says a thousand words. Show don’t tell.
The peak of my experience is the scene at the paddy field. All of them. The paddy field is where dreams and everything magical happens.
The scene where Orked and Mukhsin fly the newspaper kite there. And a couple looking nearby teaching them how to do it properly.
The couple can’t be anyone else other than the older Orked and Ah Loong from Sepet. (That little Chinese boy who likes to look at Orked is him, shown at the beginning the middle, and at the end).
And they knew how to fly the kites. Also, I think is the allegory of being one with fate and living with your destined partner. Older Orked even told Mukhsin not to cycle too fast. Or in Malay terms ‘kayuh perlahan-lahan’ which means take his relationship with Orked slowly. But Mukhsin did the total opposite, which leads to Orked distancing herself.
And that other Mukhsin scene at the paddy field. Which is used as the poster. Ahh…how it is asking whether that kind of love is possible anymore. And the feeling of missing someone. Like how Orked says it in the end.
“I never saw him again after that day. But he never really left me somehow.”
It might also be a way Yasmin Ahmad says that it is all a dream one can have. And this film is just a daydream. A fiction. How else to say that is so other than having the whole crew breaking the fourth wall? (The hand wave gesture is also there)
That is the magic of Yasmin Ahmad, isn’t it? The colors of society are depicted through screenplays and characters. Show, don’t tell. With the background of the rustic town life and post-colonialism, British quarters architecture. The tune of the day mimics the sound that nature makes. The harmony instead of the dissonance of it all. Even God and the Prophet asked us to be one with nature (and not to cycle too fast)…
This is only my second Yasmin Ahmad movie and watching it restored in 4k by The Japan Foundation and around the presence of her close companions like Pak Hassan Abd Muthalib and Linus Chung is an honor.
Like how Linus and I have the same take about Mukhsin. It is about nothing and also about everything. I now know why Orked’s school teacher likes to read her writings..
*plays Keroncong Hujan.mp3