Archive for June, 2006

A quirky musical film has been banned in Malaysia. The Last Communist by Malaysian filmmaker Amir Muhammed tells the story of Chin Peng, a key Communist leader during the period in post-war Malaya known as "the Emergency". It was initially passed by the Board of Censors but after some concerned reporting from the Malay-language newspaper Berita Harian, the government decided to ban the film because of fears that it glorifies Chin Peng and Communism.

There has been a lot of outcry and open debate in the press and on Malaysian blogs about this decision. The older generation of Malaysians lived through a traumatic time in Malaysian history and understandably, have residual fears of the destabilizing influence of Communist ideology. The younger generation feel that they can make up their own minds about what to think and want the opportunity to see the movie and decide for themselves.

I haven’t seen the movie but will be queuing up for tickets when it is screened at the London Film Festival in Oct/ Nov later this year.

Personally, I don’t think the older generation have anything to worry about. From what I’ve read, the film is an off beat documentary with musical interludes, which include a girl singing about the importance of the identity card and not a rousing polemic to rise up and revolt.

Anyway, Communism is a hard-line angry political ideology of want and Malaysians are generally warm, friendly and well off. There are opportunities to improve one’s lot through work and perseverance. The economy is stable and Malaysia is at a stage of development where they can afford to have migrant workers do the less desirable jobs. Many people are - enterprisingly - driving across the causeway to catch the film and I hear that cinemas there have extended the runs of the film to keep up with demand. These don’t sound to me like people who will be rioting in the streets demanding the redistribution of property just because of a semi-musical documentary.

Useful links:

The Star, a Malaysian daily paper at http://www.thestar.com.my - go to the Archives section and search "last communist"

The director, Amir Muhammed’s blog at http://lastcommunist.blogspot.com/.

The Official Site for the film where you can watch the trailer at http://www.redfilms.com.my/lelakikomunis.htm.

Wong Kar-Wei, the Hong Kong director of Chungking Express and In the Mood for Love, has been elected the president of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival. This is the first time that a Chinese director has taken on this prestigious and influential role. On the jury with him, among an international array of actors and directors, is another Chinese artist, Zhang Zhe Yi who played the lead in Memoirs of A Geisha.

Film commentators say that this is a critical moment in world cinema as it signposts the rising influence and reach of Chinese film. Interviewed on BBC News 24, Wong said that in the next few years, we will be seeing a lot of great movies coming out of China.

See also http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4581522.stm

Jesus is among us. Or rather, Jesus is among us through his living heirs. That is the premise of the Da Vinci Code and I think that is one of the reasons for its sensational appeal.

In a post 9/11, secular and questioning world where the Church is in decline and fragmented with internal arguments about
sexuality and AIDs, among other things, the myth offered up by the Code resonates at many levels.

Jesus - The Human Story

The hallmark of modern Christianity is its questioning and seeking, ever since the days of Martin Luther. In the Anglo
Saxon Anglican countries, our modern emphasis on individuality and personal choice is a direct evolution out of the spiritual (an sometimes political) strugges that resulted in the Church of England itself and subsequently, denominations such as the Quakers, Methodists, Presbyterians and non-Conformists where the personal relationship with God is a strong focus. We in the West in
the 3rd millenium have now questioned ourselves out of a faith but the pull of spirituality is strong - many people may not go to church but they believe in "something out there" and some look to Buddhism, other religions and New Age
practices to fill the gap.

Then this myth comes along that Jesus the man fathered a child with Mary Magdalene, who, after his death on the cross and
bearing his child, was spirited away to a secret location in Provence. Here is a recognisable real man with his recognisable human desires for love and family. Here is a tragic human story of loss and survival that we can all relate to at a human level. And as for running away to start a new life in Provence - well, we can connect with that completely.

In today’s world, it is also easier to believe those events could have happened than to believe in the "rose from the dead and ascended into heaven" thing.

Euro-Jesus

For a myth to be successful like this one, it has to fall within the realms of plausibility - and if the events narrated also
could have been possible, that is even better. So far, so plausible and so possible. Add on a theme that picks up on the current zeitgeist and you have a true zinger.

So, let’s take the location. In this post 9/11 world, it is significant that the myth places Jesus’s bloodline in Europe and
away from the Middle East. He - through his purported descendants - become French: still foreign and exotic enough for English speakers and the rest of the world but not as foreign and unsettling as being Israeli or Arab. In the present climate, it claims Jesus for Europeans - and by extension for Western civilisation.

And fortunately, the French don’t have an official royalty any more so this myth comfortably blends with the other haunting legends of secret princes living among us. You can test the power of this construct by asking yourself this question: Would the myth work if Mary had run away to live in the Home Counties and it is revealed that Prince Charles is the Holy Blood incarnate?

Blood

In a time of HIV and AIDS and anxiety about disease, a secret founded around blood - royal and holy blood, no less - has a
contemporary resonance that builds on our primordial response to blood as family, sacrifice, honour and death. Against all our instincts, the Christian story tells us letting of blood brings life, not death and the duality for us in modern times is hauntingly hopeful.

Pilgrim Tours

Medieval pilgrims made their way to Jerusalem to seek expiation of their sins, collecting holy tokens and relics at significant
way stations along the route - here is the finger of St. Someone or Other; here, so-and-so saw a vision of the Virgin. Pilgrims today travel by Easyjet and bring home tokens of David Beckham from the World Cup. So the cult of Jesus that became Christianity comes full circle. We need to see for ourselves, touch for ourselves, come within the lingering aura - whether it is a celebrity’s sweaty football shirt or a holy bone of a saint or the shroud that wrapped Jesus himself. We can now travel around England and France and do the Da Vinci tour, seeking out the glamour of the book and the movie and at some level, reaching
out to the aura of Jesus himself.

Easyfaith

It is so much more beautiful and safe, picturing a nice European great-great grandson of God in France that one might bump into while sipping espresso at a lovely cafe. He might truly be one of us, a man yet God, that suave Frenchman at the next table. It’s easier for the Western world to connect with that than to think of Jesus, the icon of love and forgiveness, (with or without descendants) as part of the troubled and wartorn Jerusalem and rooted in the Middle East. A trip to France is so much more do-able than a visit to Israel. Playing puzzles and codes is so much safer than having any true faith. The myth gives us this short cut to Jesus, if only we can be clever enough to solve the riddles. In some ways, it’s salvation by Sudoku.

pic from flickr by rk catch; non commercial use; no derivations

David T K Wong has a refreshing take on the business side of writing. He is the benefactor behind the prestigious creative writing fellowship that bears his name at the University of East Anglia and the eponymous short story prize awarded by PEN.

I met him at a drinks part the other evening and he told me he had always wanted to write ever since he was a child. But he had had to focus on work and earning a living. He started out as a dishwasher in his native Hong Kong and later, was a ditchdigger. Eventually, he became a journalist and then entered the civil service before starting out in business for himself. His children are now grown and he realised that he had to do something for himself. In his middle age, he felt he had little time left to pursue his one lifetime passion - writing. He retired from his business life and moved to London - "because I don’t know anyone here. In Hong Kong, every day, someone calls me to go out, have dinner, do something. Here I can be alone to write."

During his working life, he would always be writing - short stories that have been published in Hong Kong, UK and US. After
he retired, he wrote his first novel The Evergreen Teahouse, published by Muse. Now, he writes every day and has little time for anything else.

He values the time he spent working. "It gave me experience of life so now I’ve got something to write about. It’s good to be working, being part of life."

On the business side of writing, he says he doesn’t have an agent. In that blunt way that Hong Kong folk can have, he says,
"Look, I’ve worked all my life. I don’t expect anyone to work for no money. I know my books won’t make money so if someone is working on a commission basis, they won’t earn anything. I write what I want to write because I want to write
it. I don’t care what critics or literary professors say about my work. I don’t need to sell my books. I write them for e."

His endowment of the fellowship at East Anglia University gives other writers a year away from the market place to be creative, to write and to be in the company of literary colleagues. He encouraged me to apply. "It buys you the time to write without worrying about having to produce something commercial that will sell. I’ve worked all my life and I know what a
luxury time is. I don’t have much time left in my life so I want to write as much as I can."

I must report that David does not look anywhere near death’s door. He is full of energy and a slight smile seems to be ever
present. His driven early years in the world of commerce have clearly paid off. He is evidently invigorated by his passion for writing and managed his life in a way that gives him the freedom to write to his own muse. The key seems to be that he has taken money out of the equation for his own writing - and beyond that, having himself lived the struggle of juggling work and writing, is helping
others do the same through his literary endowments.

Some useful links:

Some bio info on David - http://www.asia2000.com.hk/asia2000/authors/davidtkwong.shtml

David T K Wong Fellowship - http://www.uea.ac.uk/eas/fellowships/wong/wong.shtml

David T K Wong PEN Short Story Prize - http://www.englishpen.org/prizes/davidtkwongprize/