Songlap... a human trafficking story

Songlap means to steal away

the Poster:

the Trailer:


the Plot:
The movie is about two brothers: Am (Shaheizy Sam) and Ad (Syafie Naswip), who in the desperation of life in big metropolis KL; work in a human trafficking syndicate which takes in girls with unwanted pregnancies, takes care of them and sells their babies on the black market.

Am has resigned to their fate, scavenging for scraps and tough luck in order to survive. He resists any change because he thinks that this is the only way to survive in this world. He is obedient and yet could be sneaky if he could get away with it. Whatever crime that he did, one thing that he never do is desert his younger brother, Ad.

Ad, his younger brother on the other hand is desperate for change and more hopeful in life. He tries to enter a dancing competition to win the prize of RM50,000 in order to escape their pathetic fate, but somehow does not succeed in the competition. Other than Am, he has a friend, Razak (Izzue Islam), a mat pet (drug addict) who believes in him and is his sole companion. One morning, Razak dies of overdose and Ad's world started to unravel as he flees the scene.

As Ad met Hawa, who was in an unwanted pregnancy situation and was picked up by the syndicate, he recognised that Hawa is Razak's sister and he simply grabs Hawa's baby and her along to escape from the syndicate, regardless of what will happen.


the Review:
the storyline treats us as mature audiences who are able to put things together to obtain comprehension. the story is simple, yet with heavy concepts, murkier background and gritty realisation of pain, passion and how far in hell do people go to live their lives.

Ad represents the younger generation, idealistic, full of hope and bravery in doing what he thinks right. though with his limited upbringing, he tries to instill respect in his interaction with the prostitute he thought as his mother (Normah Damanhuri), using "saya" instead of "aku". it implies that though he was removed from the normal family institution, he knew that parents are the ones that he should show respect regardless of their way of living. and the scene where he hugs Am to beg him to go to Kuantan together was rather touching.

as for Am, he is sneaky and yet obedient, surviving day to day, doing what's in store for him in order to get paid. what he knew is to collect money and more money, regardless of any conscience. but i do suspect that he does have a conscience, only limited and reserved to babies, that instead of raising a child single handedly, what is better to do is to let go of the child for adoption where the child has better chance in life than the original mother can provide. this is one example of his acceptance of his fate: that his mother should have given up on him instead of trying to raise him and Ad together only to hurt him in the end.

the story reveals itself moment by moment, it does not preach nor need everything to be shown by glimpses of the past to let audiences know what had happened. by the agony of Am as he asks Hawa to let go of her baby, we got to know that his mother has tried to raise him herself only to beat him up when she's unable to stop him crying for food etc.

and i rather like the theme of survival of the fittest carried in this movie. Abang Mat (Hasnul Rahmat) was thought to be the biggest Fish in the pond as he preached at Am to not continue be the servant of Mama's Jason and follow him instead. his constant preening and belittling towards his assistant prove to be fatal as his assistant turns up to be a traitor in cahoots with Jason. at the end of the movie, it proves that this mantra serves to help Am survive and be freed from those who oppress him.

basically Am is a good brother who has his brother's best interest in mind all the time. the fact that though he at first belittled Ad's ambition to win RM50 thousand in a dance competition, still he did drop Ad at the competition and went in to watch him dance. and when the judge asked Ad about whether he's still a student or not and Ad answered "no", Am being his big brother does cringe and show some sort of regret about that. and he repeatedly asked Jason not to hurt Ad though his brother had repeatedly defied him by taking Hawa and her baby away with their shared money.

as for Hawa, she was silent in almost every scene but as she develops a bond with her baby, her voice seems to find sound again to protect her and the baby. we need not the scene where her father rapes her, it was told simply by Hawa's beseeching questions, "whose baby is this?"

it is a human trafficking story in its simplest sense. when a father bargained his daughter's future with his lust, when a mother bargained her body to gain money, when a man bargained his services/obedience for more money. plus the obvious prostitution and baby selling.

it's a damning reality that still happens if we care to spend time in the gutters to have a look at what was told in this film. but then, we will be bargaining our conscience as we walk away, achieving nothing.

i give this story 4.5 star for its simplicity in story telling a very heavy society problem. a must watch for those who want to learn a great story telling style.

Ombak Rindu

...or loosely translated as "Waves of Longing".

the Trailer:


the OST:


oh well, i've watched this movie last night and got mixed feelings regarding this novel adaptation.

The Plot:
Izzah (Maya Karin), an orphan girl was sold to a night club by her cruel uncle. there, she was raped by Hariss (Aaron Aziz), a young businessman who happened to be the club owner's friend and benefactor. due to Izzah's plea for help, Hariss bought her from the Club to be his mistress and brought her back to his Ombak Villa. being a pious girl, Izzah pleaded for Hariss to marry her instead and she agreed to claim nothing whatsoever from him. reluctantly, Hariss did as she asked and they were married secretly.

at first Hariss was a cruel, egoist and abusive husband. nonetheless, the meek submission of Izzah made him fall in love with her. so when Mila, his childhood friend went back from abroad to finally have the wedding of her dreams, Hariss refused. he admitted to Mila that he was in love with someone else and won't be able to love Mila even if they proceed with the Wedding. Mila insisted that they proceed with the wedding as she's in love with him and had set on marrying him since forever. being a celebrity herself, the media would be frenzied if her much publicised wedding-to-be is cancelled.

Hariss' overbearing mother, Datuk Sufiah even intervened and forced Hariss to go on with the Wedding that she could tolerate the idea of Hariss keeping Izzah as his mistress, working at Hariss' office.

Izzah was at first saddened that Hariss is marrying Mila but she consoled herself by going back to her hometown and met Mail (Bront Palarae), her friend and ardent admirer. her uncle is gone, her aunt died after the operation to remove her cancer.

Harizz was unable to return back to visit Izzah after his second marriage. however a chance meeting with Izzah at Pak Dollah's house, his driver, reunited the lovers again and the secret of their marriage was made known to Pak Dollah (Zaidi Omar) and Mak Jah (Normah Damanhuri). from thereon, Mak Jah embraced Izzah as family, pitying her condition as the secret first wife.

however, all hell's break lose when Hariss was involved in an accident. izzah was prohibited from having any contact with her husband by Datuk Sufiah. Hariss was kept isolated at his home and barred from having any contact with Izzah. to make things worse, Datuk Sufiah turned Izzah out of Ombak Villa with nothing on her back except her clothes. broken-hearted and at loss as Pak Dollah and Mak Jah were away performing Hajj, Izzah returned to her hometown.

there she met Mail and together they returned to KL and stayed at Pak Dollah's home as Mail is going for an interview at KL. being followed by a private investigator hired by Datuk Sufiah, Izzah and Mail were photographed together in a compromising position though they were innocent. the picture was showed to the convalescing Hariss by his mother.

Hariss went berserk due to Izzah's betrayal and when they met at Pak Dollah's house, Hariss vented his anger on Izzah in front of Pak Dollah, Mak Jah and Mail. he left and Izzah fell as she tried to pursue him, bleeding. fortunately the baby she's carrying survived. she however resolved on returning back to her hometown.

Pak Dollah, sympathetic to Izzah's fate, went to see Hariss to square things off. in front of Mila and Datuk Sufiah, it was revealed that Hariss was actually Pak Dollah's son with Mak Jah. he was given as a baby to Datuk Sufiah when the 3rd baby she bornt was also a stillborn. Her husband had pleaded with Pak Dollah for Hariss in order to avoid Datuk Sufiah from being demented with the loss.

Hariss repented and he went to seek Izzah at her hometown. they reconciled and Mila, upon knowing the real story, that Izzah was the first wife and she the second fiddle, decided that she will ask for divorce from Hariss, regardless of her deep feelings for him.


the Riviu:
i felt stunted upon absorbing the story as i had read the original book at first. i used to love the novel, some 11-ish years ago. hariz was the ultimate male, when he repented. but as i read the book again, in year 2012, truly, the story both in the book and film doesn't quite gel off nicely.

Izzah was depicted as weak, submissive and meek both in the movie and book. and Hariss in the movie, the transition into a loving husband was given not enough details. as if the viewers were given the fact that after a while he loves Izzah, and just meekly we have to accept that fact.

Izzah and Hariss were not given enough character development in the movie, unlike Izzah and Hariz in the book. that is why i think i can accept the way Izzah clinged to Hariz in the first place, and Hariz to fall in love with Izzah after years being together. Izzah and Hariss on the the other hand, were only given few bits of this and that, namely months to admit their love, in front of the rocks and the waves no less.

as for Mila, her character in the movie was much much better compared to in the book. we were made to understand that she really loved Hariss and the decision at the end to terminate the marriage was not easy. for that, we rooted for Mila. except for her ugly make up at the airport, hu hu.

all in all, i felt that the book is much better that the movie. the bits left out in the movie made it hollow and pretentious. however the redeeming qualities of the movie is in the form of the character development of Mail and Mila who were the favourite characters in the movie.

plus, the movie has too much discontinuity as proved by the Bloopers here. memang perasan pun sikit sebanyak but this site spot more. i wonder how Izzah could afford to buy the watch that she gave to Hariss on their wedding day.

oh well, the movie is cheesy and i could only award 2 and 1/2 stars.. sorry eh. Hariss is too much worldly with no scrap of religious inclination. the book too only contributed the last chapter to depict that Hariz was thankful to God for having Izzah in his life. kiranya sempat bertaubat jugak lah.

anyhow Aaron Aziz seems to be a perfect choice for Hariss whilst Maya Karin seems stunted. it's better if the part went to Eja, even though she does look old a bit, her emotional range can be seen to be more than a tea spoon, so to speak. but then Izzah's character is only of a meek, submissive female (slave), so better to have a more presentable face la kot.

the Photos:

Mail is soooo super sweet :D style tudung Izzah plak super duper horrendous!

Izzah and Hariss looked on as Mila left them. ewwah.. xde ucapan terima kasih ke Izzah? Hariss? lepas macam tu je... kesian sama Mila eh.

the numerous funny skits made from the OR scenes, hahah..