Could 'Lelaki Harapan Dunia' be the Malaysian film that proves that we have matured?

When you watch a film, the way you consume and process it depends on your personal perspective, beliefs and cultural background. Basically, it is something very subjective.

So when I watched film auteur Liew Seng Tat's latest feature film 'Lelaki Harapan Dunia', my opinion of it might not be as objective as others because I have been friends with him for more than a decade.

We started making short films at the same time and we have even worked on films together where we commented on the environment that we live in, our beautiful country of Malaysia.

We are good friends. He was even my 'pengapit' when I got married, looking very handsome in a Johor teluk belanga baju Melayu and songket. He played the role well delving into the culture of my ethnicity.

He has been fascinated with Malaysian culture, and told me many stories about Malay culture that even I have never known. I am not his only Malay friend. He has many.

When he followed me back to my father's hometown in Muar, I brought him to see my late aunty's house which is considered one of the last traditional Bugis houses in the country. He was very fascinated.

So it was no wonder he decided to make the film 'Lelaki Harapan Dunia' which is about a small Malay kampung whose villagers wanted to lift a kampung house as a gift for a newly married couple to build a home.

Seng Tat was influenced by the old and extinct Malay tradition of 'angkat rumah' where many years ago, when villagers wanted to move house, they literally moved their house, with the help of the entire kampung of course.

This was where the original Malaysian gotong-royong spirit originated from. Every layer of society came together to achieve one ultimate goal - ‘bersatu kita teguh, bercerai kita roboh’.

He had visited Malay villages around the country and he had spoken to many people who were well versed in the tradition. He told me about it and I thought it was interesting. But this was four years ago.

He decided to test the tradition by creating an arts project where he would built a small wooden kampung house and make a call for the public to help carry the house from Jalan Ipoh to the KL Performance Arts Centre.

The response was amazing. Hundreds of people from all walks of life, race and religion turned up in full force that Saturday morning for 'Projek Angkat Rumah', including yours truly.

Although it took everyone half the day to carry the house across a distance of about 3 kilometres, the mood was festive and everyone felt like they had bonded and was part of a big family once the feat was achieved.


And now, the film has been completed. Starring local actors such as Wan Hanafi Su, Soffi Jikan, Azhan Rani, Harun Salim Bachik and Jalil Hamid, the funny comedy film has already traveled to more than a dozen film festivals around the world.

‘Lelaki Harapan Dunia’ will open in cinemas across Malaysia today, 27th November 2014, for a Malaysian audience to see, as intended by Seng Tat.

"This is a film that shows the strength of Malaysians whereby we actually have it in us to come together and achieve the impossible. I made this film for us, the Malaysian people," he says.

Although the setting is in a small Malay village, you could lift the story and plant it in any society around the world and realise that the life and foibles of humanity is similar everywhere.

It represents the strengths of humanity and also the weaknesses. As we are all only human. Every action we make as human beings is almost always with the best of intentions. Yet sometimes, our own insecurities can get the better of us.

But what makes 'Lelaki Harapan Dunia' special is how the filmmaker is able to make a serious social critique palatable, and make it like a realisation for our society, through his gift of comedy.

Peppered with humorous scenes and funny dialogue that warms the heart, a person who doesn't know Seng Tat personally might be inclined to think that he is one interesting and funny person.

Dare I say that this film could be the great Malaysian film that the industry has been hoping for all this while to lift it up from the doldrums? I don't know, because that is for Malaysians to decide. But I'm willing to bet that it will be coming very close.