SINGAPORE FILMS

REFLECTION ESSAY

Singapore is a diverse nation promoting multiculturalism and multiracial through its four significant races; Chinese, Malays, Indians and Eurasians. This therefore resulted in production companies having to produce films that appeal to every race without losing its cultural authenticity. Singapore cinema and Malaysian cinema were once victims of a large crossover as Singapore was once part of Malaysia, until Singapore became independent in 1965. Singapore cinema deals largely with materialist values in a cultural manner, reflecting mainstream values (Codelli, 2014).

 

In the 1930s, two film empires were founded in Singapore. Loke Wan Tho’s Cathay Productions and Shaw Brothers, founded by brothers Run Run and Runme. Cathay productions then produced the first feature film Laila Majnun in 1933 and Shaw Brothers began making Chinese films in 1935. The successful results from the production of Chinese films switched their focus unto Malay films. Both studios tend to rely on Indian directors and their films by remaking films that had already existed in India. Indian actors were replaced with locals while keeping the scripts intact. Although these films were “recycled”, they proved to be quite popular with the local audiences. The rising success of Singapore’s film industry was then cut short and interrupted by the Japanese Occupation.

 

In 1941, Japanese forces invaded Singapore, establishing control over almost all aspects of the lives of the locals, including cinema. The Japanese used the studios for the production of propaganda films. The Japanese Occupation came to an end in 1945 and film industries were turning in Singaporean motion picture studios again. The first postwar film studio was then set up in 1947, the Malay Film Productions. P. Ramlee ran Malay Film Productions and acted almost as a one-man production crew. He wrote songs, scripts, sang, acted in movies and directed movies. P Ramlee made majority of his films locally at Malay Film Productions, as his films were contemporary comedies and melodramas.

 

The beginnings of the Singapore film industry in the 1950s and 1960s were due to two studio houses, Cathay and Shaw. These organizations had their own stable of actors who worked only with their respective organization; for an example P. Ramlee only worked with Shaw. They produced 250 films and in 1958, there were 17 feature films in Malay language produced. These Malay films had English subtitles, therefore giving them a wider audience. In 1963, the local film industry died down as television was introduced. The introduction of television allowed the ubiquity of western culture and the idea of westernization soon became something approaching the norm. The local film industry was no longer favored for its production of mythical stories that had strong expression of feelings, fears, and traditional beliefs. Due to the competition from televisions, the Shaw brothers closed Malay Film Productions, after P. Ramlee left for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Cathay on the other hand, faced financial trouble since the death of its founder and therefore closed down, resulting in Singapore becoming a nation without a national cinema in 1972.

 

The closures of two major studios in Singapore lead to fewer films being produced in Singapore. Films produced then had no influence of the Singapore culture and therefore lost its authenticity. 1991 saw a temporary return of local films with ‘Medium Rare’, a movie based on a local murder case. Although a local film and a true story, it was no surprise that the film was trying to ‘copy’ Hollywood styled movies. The rebirth of Singapore’s film industry began in 1995 when a local director, Eric Khoo produced ‘Mee Pok Man’ which proceeded the local film industry to a new direction. Mee Pok Man won international acclaim, and with a handful of new productions, the industry had one of its best years in 1997. As the biggest film festivals are Cannes, Venice and Berlin Film Festivals (Singapore International Film Festival, 2014), Eric Khoo managed to put his films out there and won awards. This changed Singapore’s film industry for the best and therefore set the potential to revive its glory days.

 

Just like Singapore, the film industry is a “multi-racial” influenced industry, although most productions were Malay centric, the production crew was made up with a good mix of other races too, like Chinese, Indians and Eurasians (Hjort and Petrie, 2007).  Quoted by Wu (Singaporemagazine.sif.org.sg, 2015), “A good movie touches our hearts and stirs our minds,”, this essay focuses on three landmark films that lies close to every Singaporean’s heart. This film portfolio features the evolution of films from the down turn of local films during the golden era to the revival of local films. The landmark films chosen not only represents different periods of the local film industry but also the films of different languages and cultural influences. These film tell a story when put together; Gurushetram is a Tamil movie that portrays the lives of rebellious youths in Singapore, Ah Boys to Men is a movie told in Chinese about 18 year old men who have to commit themselves to National Service as required by the government, Penarik Becha is a Malay movie that shares about the poor/rich mentality in the Malay society that the rich were of higher status than the poor.

 

Movies are documents of their time and place (Braudy and Cohen, 1999) and tell stories of one’s experiences. Three different local directors produced these movies locally in different eras, each sharing a different view of the ‘Singapore life’.  Ah Boys to Men tells about the trials and tribulations of Singaporean males who have to commit themselves to National Service at the age of 18. A passage of life that is often dreaded by local men, Jack Neo portrays National Service to be a tiring and boring time of a man’s life but also added hints of hilarious jokes that only locals would understand. Beyond all this, Jack Neo has not forgotten to appeal to the audience with stories of morals and values in his movie. Jack Neo brings the audience for an experience that all men will or have experience at a point of their lives. Ah Boys to Men was filmed in local locations and authentic landmarks such as ‘Tekong Island’ where National Service men are often posted there to serve the nation. The movie brings audiences back into the past in the opening scenes where Singapore was under attack with landmarks such as the CBD area being bombed and civilians being killed. Flashback scenes of National Service during the 1960s and 1970s brought audience back to the time when the military was formed comparing to what the enlisted men have to go through now.

 

Gurushetram was a film that portrays the lives of rebellious youths in Singapore and how a boy, Prakash works with his uncle, Siva who deals with drugs and practice gangsters. Filmed on the streets of Singapore and in Ulu Tiram, Johor Bahru, Malaysia, the director T.T Dhavamanni shares the story of the struggles of a teenager in the outside world. With an attempt to focus on a part of the Indian community in Singapore that needs attention, Gurushetram proves that in reality Singapore is facing problems within the society. Quoting Nicole Rafter (2006), the movie “attempts to make sense of a society in which the streets scripts the screen and the screen scripts the street”. With a team of home-grown talents and local production, Gurushetram was the first local Tamil feature film to be produced in Singapore. T.T Dhavamanni exposes the community through the use of film so as to create awareness and symbolizing the division we have in our community in terms of status and approach towards life (Gurushetram Production Notes, 2014)

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Penarik Becha tells a story about the rich and poor dichotomy that is often grafted on traditional malay films. Amran, a poor rickshaw peddler falls in love with Azizah the daughter of a rich man named Marzuki. P Ramlee aims to share that the rich and poor dichotomy should not matter, quoting Azizah “…rich and poor are equal. Human wealth is just dirt”. The movie was filmed in Singapore, featuring different landmarks. Introductory shots of the movie feature the iconic clock tower between the Victoria theatre and Victoria memorial hall then, followed by shots the busy streets of Singapore (Codelli, 2014.). A shot of a Cold Storage grocery outlet was also featured in the film. Singapore was a Malay influenced nation in its early years and therefore P Ramlee portrayed the community to be strongly populated by the Malays. In the movie scenes, every character whether minor or main casts were of Malay ethnicity and the Chinese and Indians population were practically invisible. Comparing Penarik Becha to movies produced in Singapore today, film-makers are more senstitive to the ethnic balance and class differences on the movie screen. For an example, Ah Boys to Men features all races in a Chinese speaking film. We can hardly find new local movies addressed to a particular ethnicity in this new age.

 

 

References

 

Braudy, L. and Cohen, M. (1999). Film theory and criticism. New York: Oxford University Press.

 

Codelli, L. (n.d.). World film locations.

 

Hjort, M. and Petrie, D. (2007). The cinema of small nations. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

 

Singaporemagazine.sif.org.sg, (2015). Movie Magic | Singapore Magazine. [online] Available at: http://singaporemagazine.sif.org.sg/movie-magic [Accessed 21 Dec. 2014].