Perempuan, Isteri, dan...

Film’s name: Filem Perempuan, Isteri dan?

Year: 1993

Director: U-Wei Shaari

Screenwriter: U-Wei Shaari

Major actors: Sofia Jane as Zaleha, Nasir Bilal Khan, Zaidi Omar, Yusuf Mohamad

In general, film-making in Muslim nations steered clear of overt portrayals of sexuality. Unlike the abstract imagery of love and sex in Iranian cinema, a few memorable Malaysian films preferred the raw (and quite crude) depictions of sexuality and its nasty consequences. Completely unknown outside the country, U-Wei Shaari’s “Perempuan, Isteri, dan Jalang” (Woman, Wife, and Whore, 1993) was a local commercial success, in spite of its art-house inclinations and widespread moral conservatism.

This film is talking about a lady, ZalehaI. n the beginning of the film, she is dragged into marriage to Amir who does not desire her. After taking her back to his village, he allows her to prostitute herself, and she soon becomes the object of sexual favours for men of the village. Far from feelings of guilt and shame, Zaleha relishes in her own sexuality while remaining in control of their gaze; in one scene she knowingly showers in the eyes of a voyeuristic neighbour. In this respect, Zaleha turns the table on the male gaze/female sex object model, and even challenges masculinity by choosing to have sex with the village idiot – which proved to be the last straw for Amir. Such sexual trangressions can only spell death for Zaleha; in the end of the film her husband murders her with a machete used by the village idiot earlier in the film to kill a bull – such symbolisms are aplenty in U-Wei’s films.

Conclusion

In my conclusion, I think that the old times movies is better than nowadays movie. It do not have so much of restricted or sensorship for the video so that we still can have a clearer view or understanding about the storyline. This story is not bad, it shown us that the differentiation between the old times of Malay and nowadays Malay.