Amir Muhamad: The Filmmaker

I was searching for good movies to watch. Recently I've seen some funny Singaporean shows like Where Got Ghost and Money No Enough 2, and they were pretty hilarious so I set about looking for Malaysian movies that I might enjoy.

That's when I stumbled upon filmmaker Amir Muhamad. And his films have a tendency of being banned in Malaysia.

The first film that got banned, The Last Communist, is a film supposedly inspired by communist party leader Chin Peng and is basically interviews with the people who shared the same hometown with him. The film takes a satirical approach by inserting songs modeled after propaganda music.

The second film that got banned, Apa Khabar Orang Kampung, is a show about a village of South Thailand where retired members of the communist party of neighbouring Malaysia goes about in their daily lives, inter spread with a Thai radio soap opera. There were no mention of the word communist in the whole film and its a continuation from The Last Communist, which may explain why it got banned (not really).

His latest film, Malaysian Gods, was spared the ban from Malaysian authorities, but instead they chose another tactic which is to limit screening from cinemas and TV, effectively banning the show without actually banning it. You can still buy a copy to watch at home, or have it screened on campus, which will definitely get the show right in front of the future generation of voters, where is matters most.

The film chronicles the key events leading to and after the sacking of Anwar Ibrahim and his subsequent trial by fire for corruption. The whole film is done in Tamil. It also chronicles the events of the past 10 years after the fated Reformasi protests.

The film manages to reveal that, among the older generations there is a guarded reservation when it comes to airing their thoughts, while the younger generation is more vocal and less afraid to give their opinions on the matter, indeed this will be the new political landscape and against all this, dry satirical humour perpetuates the film

The director has announced a hiatus from filmmaking, and this will probably be his last film for a long time to come, seeing as to how he never gets a chance to screen any of his documentaries to the public at large. However, he has found a willing audience down north at the Singapore International Film Festival, and I hope to be able to enjoy this film soon.

You can download Apa Khabar Orang Kampung from:

http://rapidshare.com/files/270087651/Village_People_Radio_Show_-_Amir_Muhammad.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/270105792/Village_People_Radio_Show_-_Amir_Muhammad.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/270398685/Village_People_Radio_Show_-_Amir_Muhammad.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/270413993/Village_People_Radio_Show_-_Amir_Muhammad.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/270441120/Village_People_Radio_Show_-_Amir_Muhammad.part5.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/270458538/Village_People_Radio_Show_-_Amir_Muhammad.part6.rar