Heartfelt tribute to loving parents

'Rabun', a critically acclaimed film written and directed by Yasmin Ahmad, will be screened today to raise funds for MERCY Malaysia. Yasmin tells JACKSON TEO the essence of the movie. 

COMMERCIALS by Petronas to commemorate National Day celebrations are well-known for their touching take on community sentiments.  

This year's ad, for example, began with the scene of two young boys, a Chinese and an Indian, talking about their Malay friend, who was being circumcised. The Indian boy innocently asked whether the foreskin would be given back to the Malay chap. It then fast-forwards into the present, with the two boys, now grown up, lamenting about how teenagers these days share the same fashion and have mobile phones but yet they do not communicate with one another. 

The honest and realistic portrayal of our community in these commercials does strike a chord in most people's hearts. In this case, the innocence of yesteryear and the frank depiction of today's teenagers as portrayed in the advertisement ring a bell for most Malaysians.  

Yasmin Ahmad, an executive creative director at Leo Burnett, figures prominently behind those commercials, and she has exploited her interest in the community to write and direct a full-length movie called Rabun. First shown in Kelab Seni Filem three months ago, the film has since been chosen for the Singapore International Film Festival, and has been nominated for the Cinemaya Asian Film Festival in New Delhi. 

Yasmin: 'The two main characters in 'Rabun' are reflections of my parents.'

At 45, (“and still HOT!” as she describes herself), Yasmin is a lady who talks with substance. She did not start her career in advertising, but despite that, she has worked her way to become one of the more recognised creative people in the industry and has won a number of awards that include the London International, One Shows and also a Gold for Best Film Director at the Malaysian Video Awards. 

She says she spent nine miserable years of schooling in England until she completed a Bachelor's degree in Arts at the University of Newcastle in 1982. Her first job was at a bank, which lasted all of two weeks. She then joined the marketing department of a computer company. During that time, she says, she also moonlighted by night as “an infamously rude blues pianist” at a club called Scandals. 

She moved on to copywriting at Ogilvy & Mathers (O&M), spending eight years here before she joined Leo Burnett Kuala Lumpur as joint creative director at the age of 34.  

When Yasmin addressed an industry audience at the Cannes International Advertising Festival last year, she was the first Malaysian to do so. Yet, with these achievements under her belt, she remains humble and always minds the advice her mother gave her before she started working: “Never fear those who are above you, and never look down on those below you.” 

Yasmin is also very candid – she has a penchant for cracking the most ridiculous jokes and will swear or burst out in laughter in the middle of a packed restaurant without minding about what other people thought. 

Her film, in a way, is very much a reflection of her colourful character. It is frank, unapologetic, and daring – and it is based on the life of her parents, whom she describes as wacky and energetic.  

In a nutshell, Rabun (which means losing one's eyesight) is the story of Pak Atan and Mak Inom, a retired couple in their 60s, who are getting tired of city life. Mak Inom, having inherited her late father's house in the village, jumps at the chance for them to live in the country again. Things seemed rosy for a while for the eccentric and openly affectionate couple.  

The fresh air, lush greenery, and kind country folks all seemed very welcoming for the couple, who had worked for years in the city. But before long, events take an unexpected turn, forcing Pak Atan and Mak Inom to reassess their perception of both the country and the city. 

As the film shows how the couple  

deals with a relative who cheats them, and their love for each other, the plot is intertwined with some very Malaysian issues such as the difference in lifestyle between the Malay community in the kampungs and those in the city. 

Yasmin says her inspiration for the movie came from the unconventional way her parents lived. “The two main characters in the movie, Pak Atan and Mak Inom, are reflections of my parents, who have been married for close to 47 years now,” she says. 

In the movie, there are scenes of Pak Atan and Mak Inom enjoying romantic moments – from showering together in the bathroom, to cavorting around in the living room. All are artfully done to depict the underlying sexual tones but without going into graphic details. “And the scenes are all based on the things that they have actually done,” says Yasmin.  

For instance, Mak Inom is depicted as a fiery driver who overtakes anything that is in her way, from sport cars to police cars. “My mother is exactly like that in real life!” Yasmin insists. “Once, she was speeding away on the highway, and overtook a police car. And she wasn't even wearing her seatbelt. When the police eventually caught up, stopped her and asked 'Kenapa tak pakai seatbelt (Why aren't you wearing a seatbelt)', she promptly replied, 'My breast hurt lah kalau pakai seatbelt!' The policeman was so shy that he just let my mother go.” 

She says when she first thought of making the film, she had wanted to do it as a gift to her parents. Now, though, she feels like Rabun is actually her parents’ gift to her. “Without them, I wouldn’t have had the inspiration to make Rabun.” 

“I am lucky that I have parents who are not like any other I know in my country. They are openly affectionate, and they tease and play with each other like children. That's why I felt Rabun was a story worth telling. To me, it was about something interesting that happened to two interesting people. I'd like to think that the end result is a film worth watching.”  

Rabun took a quick seven days to film. Considering that it can take up to seven days just to film a 30-second TV commercial, that process seemed impressively fast.  

“It’s not that I’m quick, it’s just that they take a long time,” Yasmin quips.  

LOVING COUPLE: A romantic scene showing Pak Atan lovingly cleaning his wife's (Mak Inom's) feet.

The filming took place “in and out of Kuala Lumpur,” with some scenes being shot in Subang and the kampung locations in Kuala Pilah.  

One of Yasmin’s most memorable moments while filming Rabun is when they were doing a scene of Pak Atan’s character being cleaned and cared for by his wife after he fell down and injured himself in the middle of the night. As Mak Inom wipes away the dirt from Pak Atan’s wounds, she serenades him and then she starts to cry.  

“It was so sweet and I was crying too because they reminded me so much of my parents. The whole production crew was there and when I turned around, I was surprised to see some of them crying too!”  

“I wish everyone who watches Rabun reacts to it primarily as a person, and not as a film-maker or a film critic. Art, as Hitchcock once said, is emotions. Although Rabun may not qualify as art, I hope it arouses some emotions in people, especially concerning the simple joy of having someone to love in our lives,” she adds. 

Rabun will be screened today at the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka theatre to raise funds for Malaysian Medical Relief Society (MERCY Malaysia), an organisation that she became involved with after being introduced by her sister to its president, Dr Jemilah Mahmood. “My sister's baby was delivered by her (Dr Jemilah) and we just hit it off immediately and became really good friends,” says Yasmin. 

Since then, she says, Mercy Malaysia has been close to her heart and she has tried her best to lend her support whenever she can. She has great respect for the men and women volunteers at Mercy and thinks that they are ordinary people who happen to be wonderful and caring human beings. 

A medical volunteer relief organisation, Mercy was established in June 1999 and provides medical and humanitarian services at home and abroad. They have sent five missions to Kosova, and one mission each to earthquake-torn Turkey and Gujerat in India. Two missions were sent to Cambodia for relief purposes while four were sent to Maluku in Indonesia to provide much-needed medical aid to the victims and displaced people during ethnic conflicts there.  

 

The show will be screened at 3pm and 8.30pm. Admission is by donation of RM10 (minimum) to Mercy Malaysia at the door.