Lelaki Harapan Dunia - Liew Seng Tat (wpatrywanie cz. 26)

Drugi pełen metraż malezyjskiego reżysera, którego bywalcy Nowych Horyzontów mogą kojarzyć z pokazywanego tam Kwiatka w kieszeni.
Ten film (wsparty nie tylko przez Turyn, ale też Sundance i Hubert Bals Fund) jest ciekawy sam w sobie, warto go obejrzeć.

Tym bardziej, że potem można poczytać recenzje i zaplątać się w sieć post-, neo- i po prostu kolonialistycznych spostrzeżeń.

Yet the rush to sponsor “Men Who Save the World” shows up the all-too-often neo-colonialist agenda of these “First World” organizations who magnanimously provide money to “Third World” filmmakers touting a particular vision of what the West wants to see coming out of the East, or South. In this case, perhaps they thought a comedy would shake up their usual product of distancing poverty porn; a clever laffer might have done the trick, but given the way the African character, among others, is treated here, their involvement is perplexing to say the least. (via)

Liew, who saw some initial success at international festivals with his 2007 debut Flower in the Pocket, undercuts his own attempt at a lighthearted tone with heavy-handed humor, consistently demonstrating distracting cultural, racial and gender insensitivity. From ridiculing superstitious villagers to stereotyping Africans and completely sidelining women, Liew’s film barrels ahead with barely a clue. (via)

Jak dla mnie, wygląda to tak, że zachodni krytycy zbyt szybko weszli w rolę zatroskanych o poprawność polityczną strażników. Tak im do tego było spieszno, że nie zauważyli mają do czynienia z satyrą na przywary rodaków reżysera.

What the western critics might have failed to understand was that parts of the film may be a deliberate form of satire which, perhaps, only Malaysians could relate to -- visits by politicians to garner and maintain support, people resorting to violence and going against each other without clearly understanding the real problem, the horror of ritual slaughtering, corruption, "gangsters"... I'd rather not say more but locals would get the idea. Liew is bold enough to sneak these little satires in, but any more than that would've gotten the film completely banned from being released here in Malaysia. (via)

International reviews have been mixed so far, with most complaints aimed at what the reviewers are (mistakenly) calling racist and homophobic jokes that litter the film, which is understandable given their presumed lack of knowledge of local context.

Malaysians, however, will have a field day trying to decode the film’s many hidden meanings and subtext in addition to laughing at ourselves, courtesy of the merciless way the film pokes fun at everyday Malaysian things. (via)

Warto też wziąć pod uwagę co do powiedzenia ma sam autor.

Dziwi mnie też trochę, jak wszyscy chętnie nazywają ten film komedią. Jasne, jest kilka zabawnych momentów, ale mi raczej śmiech wiązł w gardle