COMMENT There was some controversy surrounding recent movie 'Ola-Bola' which saw some Chinese complaining that the player that scored the final goal in the1980 Olympics soccer qualifying match - which the movie was based on - was a Chinese.
This differs from the movie's account which showed a Malay player scoring the winning goal. The movie made it clear in its opening credits that it was not a true-to-life documentary.
The abortive controversy aside, as cliched as it sounds, 'Ola-Bola' is a movie whose time has come.
The issue raised above perhaps showcases the discordant times we now live in and why we need such stories to remind us of why unity is important.
In any case, 'Ola-Bla' is the long-awaited bridge between movies popular with the public and one that satisfies the critics' aesthetics. As well as being a timely social commentary and rallying cry for unity amidst our current crisis.
In recent history, Malaysian movies are either critically acclaimed or highly successful at the box-office. Both mutually exclusive, with few in- betweens.
Films like 'Bunohan', 'Lelaki Harapan Dunia', 'Kinta', and 'Jagat' which got rave reviews, did not get the exposure and box-office collections that their acclaimed status called for.
Silver screen adaptations of Mat Rempit, forbidden love, gangsters, rape victims marrying their rapists, ghosts, and other more casual subject matters raked in more takings.
Movies like 'Police Evo' and 'The Journey', however, have managed to bridge the two groups in taking in respectable collections while being touted as more artistic offerings.
But in this case, it is as though both genres had decided to elope and then have a baby. And 'Ola-Bola' is that baby.
It is a success story that has eluded many Malaysian films since the glory days of Sir Run Run Shaw, P Ramlee, and the productions of the 70s and 80s prior to the 90s, and the industry's later slide into pretty faces and populist leanings.
From an industry standpoint, 'Ola-Bola' is being seen as a show of hope that Malaysian movie-making is not yet in its sunset but is heading for greater heights.
Apt social commentary
Beyond the scope of a maturing Malaysian movie industry, 'Ola-Bola' is also an apt social commentary of our times and a galvanising cry for unity that Malaysia sorely needs.
While the subject matter is football and its story loosely based on the travails of the 1980 Malaysian football team to win the regional qualifier for that year's Moscow Olympics, woven into the fabric are more serious and important tidings.
These touched on the brain-drain which continues to plague Malaysia as the talented leave to look for greener pastures overseas.
The situation is portrayed in the movie via the story of team captain Chow Kwok Keong who turns down a chance to play in the English Premier League as he is loyal to the Malaysian football team.
One of the pillars of the movie is his struggle with that decision and how it affected the people around him.
It was also the background behind the interplay between one of the characters - TV producer Marianne - researching the 1980s team and her boss who turned out to be the announcer who was on duty during the Olympic qualifier.
Her boss had similarly decided to forgo an offer from the BBC to continue serving in his own country.
Marianne herself, in the beginning of the movie, was about to migrate and accept an offer overseas before her eventual decision to stay after finding out about the story of the 1980 Malaysian Olympic football team.
Changing-room speech
And more than just the struggle for pride and glory, the movie calls for unity amidst adversity, a message woven into the very scenes of the movie itself.
As some may have noticed, the beginning seemed draggy, with stutters in the scenes and choppy dialogue with slightly off word choices.
Some may say these are oversights, though they can also be seen as vehicles to show the discordant atmosphere the characters were in and indeed, perhaps, what is happening in Malaysia these days.
The middle portion is full of conflict as the team is shown to be disorganised at practice, arguing with each other and suffering various defeats. It was only late in the day when we see cohesion during training, after the arrival of the new coach.
This arrangement, if not unique, is a winning formula for many movies showcasing sports teams facing a difficult situation, complete with the obligatory 'changing-room inspiring speech' scene, which builds up to a powerful ending.
The closest example would perhaps be the movie 'When The Game Stands Tall' which details the similar struggle of a US high school team, the De La Salle Spartans, as they deal with getting their newly promoted junior team in shape after a series of humiliating defeats.
Use of foreshadowing
'Ola-Bola' also made beautiful use of foreshadowing with the use of the news item that the Tamil language news announcer referred to in the beginning as 'Gajah sama gajah berlawan, kancil terkepit ditengah' alluding perhaps to the eventual boycott of the Moscow Olympics.
The phrase function is two-fold - to show that Afghanistan became the proxy war between US and Soviet Russia, as well as how the team had to forgo being at the Olympics due to the ensuing boycott.
It also used the same mechanism in a lighter fashion to show the interplay between Rajah, Samy, and Vellu, the three younger brothers of goalkeeper Muthu.
The way the three exchanged glances provided a foreshadow of naughty times to come when they tried to drive their father's lorry to deliver coconuts.
'Ola-Bola' also made spectacular use of aerial photography with beautiful shots and scenes that really tickle the patriotic bone, including a delightful shot of a train chugging through a beautiful Sabah landscape.
While come may consider this a cheap trick, it does its job in providing a bird's eye view of the country and helps to give us a sense of how we are part of a larger whole rather than just the space we occupy, wherever we are.
'We win together, we lose together'
This also plays a part in setting the scene for making the players seem more than just who they are from the tighter shots of their earlier scenes to the sweeping shots of the Malaysian landscapes to those that cut a swathe through the audience at the stadium during the final game.
It should also be noted that the production showed great attention to detail as they created scenes that really seemed to be from the 1980s with the proper props, costume, hairdos, and superb casting.
And tying the whole movie together, however, is the funny yet strangely fitting running commentary of the apprentice announcer, his performance sewing the scenes like a thread. In this role, Bront Palarae (photo) really stood out.
Indeed, when he shouted his iconic "Gol! Gol! Gol!" cheer, even the audience in the cinema was galvanised.
In the end, the movie was an ensemble, just as the Malaysian team was, and indeed hopefully what we Malaysians can become. In the words spoken by Chow with such reverence in the movie's end, '… we speak many languages but we sing one song'.
May we, too, realise this and remember that 'We win together, we lose together', regardless of who scores the winning goal. In the end, we are all Malaysians.
Source: https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/329448#ixzz3zGcM6pDg
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