The Big Durian

The Big Durian – Movie Review

Director: Amir Muhammad

Writer: Amir Muhammad

Stars: Amir Muhammad, Ghafir Akbar, Soh Boon Tat and etc.

This film is talking about a night of 18 October 1987 in Malaysia. The film talking about a soldier ran around with an M16 in the area of Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur. Then 23 people talked about him in the films.


After I watched this films, I do not quite understand what the film want to bring out, but I did a research online. I feel like this documentary is issue on what happened before and after the shooting.After the shooting, government cracked down and arrested over 100 citizens, mostly opposition leaders and Chinese educators, and shut down four independent newspapers. Besides it also talking about the Malaysia's political climate and racial difficulties among races between the Chinese and Malaysian ethnicity and in particular a controversial government crackdown called Operation Lalang.


In a conclusion, I really enjoyed it and learned a lot of Malaysian culture in the old times. The director is trying to wake the people who staying in this country. Let them see the truth clearly about what's going on in our country, Malaysia now.