Sepat

Sepat by Yasmin Ahmad (2004, Malaysia)

Commentary based on http://arts.monash.edu.au/mai/asaa/farahazaleamohamedalamin.pdf

http://www.filmsasia.net/gpage218.html

Sepat is an example of a film that gets people talking, a trademark of most Yasmin Ahmad’s films. The film’s deviance from traditional/ conservative values and practices has stirred up quite number of feathers: a forum on the film, which was organized by Malaysian Ministry of Information and was aired on national television, labelled Ahmad a “corrupter of culture”. I do not see why is that so when Ahmad is an example of a director who is able to carve out strong characterisation from her characters. Many of them deviate from the norm ( I do not mean drugs taking ect) which makes them individually unique and fascinating. Example would be the opening scene where an Ah Beng looking boy complete with golden hair reads a Bengali poem eloquently in chinese to his mother. It is an unusual moment of an ‘Ah Beng’ appreciating ‘high brow’ art of poetry and mother and son sharing an intellectual interest. Ahmad’s film thus speaks to the audience of looking beyond the superficial.

Commentaries from friends:

Syahrul’s comment:

What I have noticed after watching Sepet and Talentime (2009) by Yasmin Ahmad is how she attempts to portray that everyone is equal and to never judge someone despite racial or social prejudices. The usual stereotypes are being shown in Sepet like the characters Jason/Ah Loong, an Ah beng (a stereotype applied to a certain group of young Chinese men in Southeast Asia, particularly Singapore and Malaysia) with gold hair cum Chinese VCD peddler, his best friend Ah Keong, another Ah Beng  and Kak Yam, the maid. What is unusual about these typical stereotypes is that Ah Loong managed to achieve 7 As for his exams and writes poetry, Ah Keong is a pianist with an interest in John Woo films and Kak Yam is the maid for Orked( the protagonist) but is treated like a queen by her employers(she gets to watch television together with them and speaks to them like they are blood relatives)  It is also interesting to notice Yasmin Ahmad poking humour on the Malay community, where in one scene, Ah Loong said “Not all Chinese men cheat and not all Malay men are lazy“. In reply Orked says “That is where you are wrong; all Malay men are lazy“. This is funny personally because I totally agree with the statement. 🙂