Noob Film Review - DAULAT by Imran Sheikh
Pada mulanya saya melihat pada poster dan tajuk filem. "Daulat" with the tagline berbunyi "You cannot win in politics by being nice".
Selepas itu, opening scene dimulakan dengan disclaimer yang berbunyi...
"The following story is fictional. We repeat, the following story is fictional. Any similarities to Malaysian politics are purely coincidental."
Then the next scene made me laugh so hard.
An elderly man in baju melayu sedang mengangkat sumpah. We Malaysians surely can relate who that is. Plus with the following scene of a man and a woman looking at the broadcast saying something like "We have never lost before"
How can this similarities be coincidental? I repeat. How can this similarities be coincidental??
I can't help to treat the rest of the movie as a borderline spoof of the Malaysian political happenings that is still fresh in all of our heads.
And the post credit of the character Suri breaking the fourth wall, lecturing the viewer of what and how we should think is borderline if not total insult to our intelligence.
And by putting the name "Mahsuri binti Muhammad" does not make it any clearer where this film is coming from?
As "Machiavellian" as Suri can be, there is no need for the scene where she sit in front of Niccolo Machiavelli potrait. Her character is already enough to show that she is "Machiavellian" in how she slays the people around her.
In fact, is there any politicians who are not a "Machiavellian"? Where being nice is a disadvantage. Where betrayal is not a sin. Where it is better to be feared than loved.
We all know who it is that has lost in the beginning of the movie. We know who MUNA is. We know who Hassan is. Who MCC is etc. Does it need to be that literate to convey a "Machiavellian" message? What is quite obvious to me that this is to demonized the winning party (I wonder who Tun Malik is hmmm) and to fictionalized a comeback win of the losing party. And as the movie tagline says "You cannot win in politics by being nice", Suri is basically shooting herself in her head in the post credit scene.
And with all the violence and power play happening below the surface, how could you vow in God's name in front of His earthly-representative of justice and honor, and at the same time make mockery of it all?
What is then "Daulat" have to do with it all? More like the total absence of it (Neo-Colonialism) injected as a 'condition' for 'freedom' by you-know-who and virtually diminished the totalitarian power of the monarchy.
Pawns are moved by the chessmasters. It shows in the nicely done intro graphics, Suri and Hassan are into it in the beginning and in the end. Guess who are the real pawns.
And there is a difference between 'plot twist' and a 'MacGuffin'.
Do it the 'Game of Thrones' way. Do it the 'Mencari Rahmat' way. Do it even 'Satu Kampung Dua Orang' way. Heck do it even in the 'Lang Buana' way. Satire, sarcasm and subtlety. With everything is being said and lectured to us viewers, what is there left for us to think and kopek, olah and comment? What are the traits of a film that lasted for generations?
What is the real purpose of film and its role in shaping the minds of its people and hence the country?
Great performance by Vanidah Imran and Dain Said!
