Filmmaker Zuhir Bin Haji Saari or also known as U-Wei playing the role as an author producing film such as “Perempuan, Isteri dan…” (1993), “Kaki Bakar” (1995) and “Jogho” (1997). Besides being a director, he also considered as viewer and the scriptwriter. U-Wei is a director who well aware of his filming style and the mise-en-scene. Therefore, he plays the role of an author and this is known as “technique of self”.
The first film “Perempuan, Isteri dan...” (1993) portrayed a Malay society in a village. Zaleha escaped from her village during her wedding day with Amir. Amir kept a huge grudge and track Zaleha to redeem the shame. Zaleha was raped and sold to Som Chai where she was forced to become prostitute. After six months, Amir brought Zaleha back to his village. On the way back to village, Zaleha successful trapped Amir and they got married. While in the village, Zaleha created controversy and Amir killed her and her lover.
The second film “Kaki Bakar” (1995) having a story talking about Kakang, a settled foreigner from Jawa, Indonesia putting all the effort in cultivate the Javanese tradition to his son, Kusuma. Kakang was doing so after observed the existence of exploitation of different social status. Kakang’s big reaction had brought a big influence to his son, Kusuma.
The third film “Jogho” (1997) is a story about Mamat who is the champion of bullfight, angrily brought his family from Kelantan and stayed with Lazim at Petani in 70’s century. In one of the bullfight, Lazim was dead shot by Pak Isa who later on run somewhere else. Mamat determined to find Isa to solve the problem. This film also reveals the question on the spirit of Mamat and women in the context of life where Mamat practiced at the place.
The director U-Wei used the same style in producing the three films. He preferred to use camera pan left-right, slow dolly tracking shots and revealing the mise-en-scene. In “Perempuan, Isteri dan…” film, most of the shots are static and pan left-right. Besides that, there are also a lot of “dissolve to black” transitions. The film “Kaki Bakar” used more shots on pan left-right while the film “Jogho” used pan left-right and added with crane up shots. For example, the police station staircase shot was pan and crane up.
For the background music, U-Wei used haunting soundtrack (diegetic) where the diegetic sound means the sound that the audience can hear but the actors and actress unable to hear such as the dialogue. The “Jogho” film used a lot of haunting soundtrack for example the scene where Aral, the bull attack Mamat. The film also ended with professional music. For the film “Kaki Bakar”, loud music is used in most of the scenes. All the films also included more ambience sound.
The three films portrayed and presenting the hypermasculine Malay male identity in the rural area. It can be shown in some of the dialogue in the films itself. For example, “saya jantan, kamu jantan…” and “sayakan jogho” in “Jogho” film. This established how the Malay male in traditional time is handling with the people and the environment around him. In “Kaki Bakar” film, father portrayed he know the best in the family. Kakang educated Kusuma about the real identity of Malay people. Meanwhile, Kakang also determined Kusuma’s only education in religion. For example, Kakang told his wife “saya dah ajar adat” means he taught religion to Kusuma which is more important than others.
These three films also portrayed family ties and unconditional love. “Kaki Bakar” and “Jogho” films are more emphasize on big family love. For “Kaki Bakar” film, Kakang loved his family and he educated Kusuma on the existence of exploitation of different social status. He said “we are family and should be connected”. In “Jogho” film, when Lazim got shot by Pak Isa, Mamat wanted to revenge for him. Mamat eventually gave money to Lazim’s family as he always takes Lazim as a family. “Perempuan, Isteri dan…” film more to a husband-wife family love. Even though Amir hated his wife, Zaleha but he still buying her food and give her money to buy things. The real love slowly appeared after a period of time and Amir started to treat Zaleha nice.
Moreover, the role and voice of the male and female are one of the elements in these three films. In “Perempuan, Isteri dan…’ film, Amir always shouted at Zaleha and instructed her to do things. He even sold Zaleha to Som Chai and became prostitute who later on changed her attitude and living lifestyle. In “Kaki Bakar” film, Kakang shouted “He’s not a girl coddle with” at his wife when she attempted to clean Kasuma’s face. His wife said “he knows best” in one of the dialogue showing his father is the dominate person in the family as a male role. In “Jogho” film, we can see female role speak up as Minah was angry and said to Mamat that they did not have extra money to buy food feed Aral as their whole family are facing insufficient food also. Hereby, it shows that female is not weak in fact the male and female should work together.
