Disclaimer: This review is from my perspective as a viewer with little or no knowledge of films and how they are made. What is written is entirely how I feel about the movie from my personal view as a movie fan and not a film critique. Also, note my limited English vocabulary in describing things and the absence of film-making terms and jargons. My take on the movie and its understanding are also probably based on the life that I went through as a person, as I think films touch these elements most of the time in terms of story. I hereby apologize for any error in touching those matters. Also, I have a very short-term memory so the review might miss talking about some parts
A FRESH LOOK
This is a short animated film traced from real frames is something fresh and unique in story telling. I really love the colors and the frame by frame transitions close to what we see in LOVING VINCENT. It gives a feeling of nostalgia and a dedication towards the production. Tracing frame by frame is not an easy feat and it is the fruit of love from the students of the school itself. Some shots of the production is shown in this OST video for the short film.
FILM AS A TOOL
It tells about the story of HANA who lives in a rural village in Borneo and have to take a long journey to school through the tropical jungle. They are poor but it only adds to HANA's will to put more efforts into the fight as she prepares to sit for UPSR soon.
Her mother sells kuehs and the father is ill and on the wheelchairs. This does not deter her spirit to study harder even having to assist her mother in making and selling kuehs
It reminds me of the movie GUANG which shows similar struggle and promotes courage in accomplishing your goals despite all the obstacles. This kind of theme is very lacking in our local scene. Movies have the role to uplift a spirit of a nation and it should be used effectively for that.
We can take lesson from the Japanese. Even after the defeat during the WWII and two atom bombs dropped, they rise and crafted their through anime and movies to uplift the morale and spirit of the nation to rebuild - and look at where they are now. We have been free of any major setback in our country history should have done better, especially now where we need to move forward to another level as an independent nation.
Or maybe we are just gotten too comfortable.
You can watch the full short film here http://www.25fpm.com/hana-movie-page-18.aspx?fbclid=IwAR3bdyV_YkpD9hxjxQgCGvYwYzgiaK-OhJLFieKXlnzOlRGWZCLpv1PxfjY
