Muallaf

Rating: *** (out of 4)
Cast: Sharifah Amani, Sharifah Aleysha, Brian Yap
Director: Yasmin Ahmad
Language: In English, Malay with English subtitle



‘Muallaf’ from the late Yasmin Ahmad, who past away on July 2009, was actually made before her final film ‘Talentime’. It was not released until now due to its problem with the Malaysian censorship authorities. In any case, it is strangely fitting as a final release, because the film represents Yasmin’s voice, her belief, her views and her philosophy. This is true for all her other films as well, but never had it been as explicit as in ‘Muallaf’.

It tells the story of 2 Muslim sisters, Rohani (Sharifah Amani) and Rohana (Sharifah Aleysha), who ran away from their wealthy but abusive father, and reside in a vacant bungalow in Ipoh. Rohana has a peculiar habit of reciting some strange random numbers when confronted by others. Others were disturbed by that strange habit. What the numbers actually meant, I’ll not disclose in this review. Anyway, the sisters befriended Brian Goh (Brian Yap), a young teacher in a Catholic school, whom the sisters nicknamed ‘Mr. Miserable’, because he never smiled in class. It tuned out that all 3 of them are in a similar predicament; they were traumatized by mistreatment by their loved ones, their family. Brian, who was raised in a Christian family, had drifted away from his religious faith due to that. The sisters, however, were more positive and forgiving.

‘Muallaf’, as a film, certainly has depth. At its surface layer, it is touching as a human drama, about 3 traumatized souls who met and console each other. Yasmin’s films always give us characters that engage us. Watching it, we care for them. Sharifah Amani, in particular, shines as Rohani. She has come a long way. Her debut in ‘Sepet’ was a discovery, and she has progressed steadily ever since, growing in maturity and grace.

But ‘Muallaf’ is not just a human drama, it is much more ambitious than that. Yasmin wanted to make a statement about what religious faith is all about. I happened to read some articles about her personal life, and one of her friend recalled that he saw Yasmin weeping at one quiet corner of her office, while praying to God to forgive the soul who had hurt her. That was what got portrayed here in ‘Muallaf’, through the sisters Rohani and Rohana. I also happened to watch a TV interview with Yasmin’s mother, who recalled that Yasmin was such a loving child that she will immediately apologized to her mother if she happened to raise her voice a little bit against her mother. That was also what got portrayed here in the film, when Brian raised his voice while talking to his mother on the phone, Rohani who was besides him, asked him never to talk to his mother like that again.

It’s about compassion, it’s about forgiveness, and it’s about not taking your loved ones for granted. You can’t fault a noble theme like that, but as I judge a movie not based on its subject matter, but based on how effectively it presents its subject matter, I felt that while ‘Muallaf’ works commendably as a touching human drama, but in its more ambitious thematic preoccupation of social commentary, it is ok but not great. My little problem with it is that, it feels preachy. It is as if Yasmin was trying too hard to tell us her message. The cinema language is at its most powerful when it indirectly awakens viewers to its message, without explicitly telling them. Yasmin’s own ‘Gubra’, is one such film. In ‘Gubra’, it ends with scenes of people from different religions praying in their respective place of worship, and we realize that everyone is looking for God in their own ways. How powerful.

In ‘Muallaf’, the same message is told, but explicitly in words, told by the character Brother Anthony. The film also quotes direct words from the scriptures in a number of occasions, this is again explicit; and Rohani explicitly tells Brian not to raise his voice against his mother.

This is all noble indeed, but when you try too hard, it came across as preachy and it diminishes the power of the cinema language. ‘Muallaf’ is fairly good, but ‘Gubra’ remains the best Yasmin Ahmad film, in my opinion, followed closely by ‘Sepet.

* ‘Muallaf’ won the Best Asian-Middle Eastern Film Award (special mention) in the 2008 Tokyo International Film Festival