It was a movie based on a real event. That event, of course is etched in the minds of Malaysian football fans who can recall the nation’s glory days of the sport.
The quest for the spot as the representative of Asia in the Moscow Olympic was clearly depicted in the movie. It has a caveat though.
It was only a movie and the difficulty with movies is that it should have the creative licence.
That is where we audiences will always have difficulties whether the movies should stay on the path of facts or stray into the creative juices of film making.
Even in the days of Mahathirism, this issue came out and at great cost to the country. Dr Mahathir was eager to make Malaysia a film making hub of the East. And indeed a studio was set up for film making in Johor.
In 1999, when Entrapment, shot generally in and around the Petronas Twin Towers, and starring no less than Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones, was released in Malaysia it created a furore.
A scene showing the protagonists moving up the dark and dirty Melaka River as if it was nearby the Petronas Twin Tower had Malaysians up in arms. And of course the idea of having Malaysia as a destination of film making went down the political toilet after that.
More recently the film, Black Hawk Down again totally ignored the Malaysian peace keepers in their role of rescuing the Americans in the Somalian upheaval. This fact was eventually acknowledged by the producers and director.
Now we have Ola Bola where the depiction of the goal scorer has been changed from a Chinese to a Malay.
Who could have forgotten the scene of 1979. Hassan Sani the Sabahan took the ball lobbed from far inside the Malaysian territory. He raced down the right flank deep into the Korean corner, evading two Koreans in the process.
He crossed. And there was James Wong in the centre. Another Sabahan. Sidestepped two defenders, and before letting loose the shot that sent Malaysia to Moscow.
The movie tried to show the camaraderie of the team and the sacrifice of self for the nation. The “he ain’t heavy, he’s my brother” theme. However, times have changed. This is now a country questioning itself in many respects. This is now a society questioning its own identity, and the place for each citizen, and each race.
Too often, the majority tries to make the minority feel as if they are the nuisance and irritating younger brother, or worse still, a half brother, they have to tolerate rather than the brother in arms. So all the allegations go.
Thus, when an innocuous creative tweaking of the goal scorer from a Chinese to a Malay is made in the movie, it makes for public outcry. Is this another attempt to put down the minority? Or to put another race on the pedestal. This is all nonsense of course, but a public debate it has to be.
In the same vein, the producers may receive a complaint from German Karl Weigang, the then coach of Malaysia, who was made a British in the movie! Perhaps the Malaysian government will receive a protest note from the German embassy soon!
Will the Pinewood studio in Johor, another of Malaysia’s attempt to pitch itself back into the film making industry suffer the same constant bickering over such issues.
What if a film makes Malaysia into a country run by a president? Or depicts Malaysia as a corrupt country? It must be noted that films made in the United States have on numerous occasions depicted a corrupt United States president or an inept one.
In comedies, he has been depicted as a bungling fool. Remember Leslie Nielson.
Why should we bother if we are not the bungling fool, or the corrupt or the inept? We are however a country of hyper sensitive leaders who want the world to think we are first world, even if we do not behave so. If we are to restrict movie makers to facts, then we might as well welcome National Geographic alone to Malaysia.It is because America knows what is fact and what is fiction that makes the country great. Not wallow in self-pity, and condemn Leslie Neilson for portraying a bungling president.
Perhaps that is why creativity is not the strength of most Asian country. Students learned by rote learning. Universities are protected in much the same way as the resettlement villages during the communist insurgency days.
Even biopics are always alleged to have distorted the true life of their subjects. Was it not William Wallace made a hero by Mel Gibson in Brave heart, when William Wallace in real life wore the skin of his vanquished foes as his belt. If Hollywood is not about creative licences, it would have been dead long ago.
Even history re-interpret events at different times. British Invasion of Java written by Tim Hannigan deemed Singapore’s hero and founder a war monger.
Is Hang Tuah a samseng or a Malay folk hero? Was Rentap a marauding pirate or anti colonialists? What about Rosli Dhoby? We were once happily chanting we are one of thirteen states. Now we reassess and say we are one of three regions to form the country. Are our political heroes of present day really that?
So, even if Ola Bola was said to have been based on a true event, it did not warrant that the story should follow as closely to real life as we know the actual event to be.
The movie also showed several aspects of life of the time. One scene showed a family buying their first television set to watch the penultimate match on the day of the match itself.
Then all the neighbours in the village came to watch the match.
This reminded our family of our family’s first television set, a bulky 20-inch Setron. And my dad bought it the day before the Muhammad Ali-Bugner fight.
And as we were staying at the Radio Television Malaysia’s government quarters where the transmitting station was at Oya in Sibu, it was close by to the army barracks and what a great number of the army personnel crammed into our two room quarters to watch in our little sitting room.
Coming as this show did, during Chinese New Year period, it makes for much nostalgia, where friends and family come together to get to know each other better and catch up on the good old days.
This is increasingly the trend, that people and class mates now do a major reunion in one big occasion.
So it was that the St Joseph’s boys of 1983 (Form 5) and with the Upper 6 girls (ladies?) of 1985 had a major do at Boulevard Hotel. With over 90 students coming together and 17 teachers invited. It was therefore not surprising that the food went largely untouched but the chattering and clattering was loud and noisy and would have sent any teacher in the classroom mad.
It was also a time to honour the teachers. As was said in the event, good teachers finish the syllabus in class, but great teachers open up the horizon of students beyond the classrooms.
Indeed the great teachers are the ones who talk about everyday life outside of the classrooms. Sometimes enlightening, sometimes prodding our curiosity.
Write Straight, Write Sharp!