NOOB FILM REVIEW - THE WAVE WILL CARRY US (2025) directed by Lau Kek Huat
SYNOPSIS (GSC)
When Ah Yao returns to Malaysia for his father’s funeral, he expects grief, not chaos. But everything turns upside down when the religious police storm in, claiming his father—who secretly converted to Islam—must be buried in an Islamic cemetery. Refusing to let go, Ah Yao and his siblings set out on a wild, darkly comedic journey to reclaim the body, confronting cultural clashes, family secrets, and absurd obstacles along the way.
REVIEW - THE EXODUS INTO DIASPORA
Ah Yao's father arrived in Malaya around 100 years before the present time, accompanied by his grandfather. One of the first thing they do is to pray for the blessing of the 'Datuk Keramat', the spirit of the land.
Later, Ah Yao's grandfather got sick and isolated, in fear of infection. There was no one else that could help them. Ah Yao's father then prayed to the 'Datuk Keramat' for help. Not long after that a durian dropped onto his head. Apart from hinting him for the cure (to drink the water from the durian skin for cooling), it is a sign of blessings from the spirit of the land. They have indirectly practiced 'Dimana bumi dipijak, di situ langit dijunjung' and carries no harm or malice.
Many have mistaken shrines for 'berhala'. It is not. It is a way of paying respect. The real 'berhala' or idol is a person (or a system) in power that people worships and he cannot do no wrong. It is cleverly depicted by Lau Kek Huat when those who think they own the land denies them of citizenship near the time of merdeka.
The subject of 'this land is mine' is everywhere. The same reason for why most of us paying more for fuel nowadays.
Anyways
THE TRAGEDY OF AN IDENTITY CRISIS
The scene where Ah Yao and his brother lifted the body of their dead father matches the scene in the film Angkat, which also includes them losing hold of the dead body. The metaphor is quite clear. The overbearing of the old burden from the last generation. In Ah Yao's case, someone being born here, yet still carries the 'pendatang' label of his grandfather.
That scene runs simultaneously with his sister making love at the stroke of midnight of Hari Kebangsaan's fireworks. Ah Yao and his brother end up laughing in full acceptence of the whole absurdity. At this point, the film has turned into a black comedy, the same as Angkat.
His sister is going to have another baby, which is also inherits the same 'pendatang' burden. Their father has married an Indonesian woman and converted to Islam, already with a son. There, the trace of Hakka from his father is erased when the boy is just going to be known as a Malay instead of a mix. Ah Yao's sister also acknowledges the absurdity and tragedy in the ending scene. And acceptence symbolised by the title of the film itself. Just like in the 2001 film The Spinning Gasing, where the cultural fusion melting pot union between the character Yati (a Malay) and Harry (a Chinese) is denied by taboos.
IT'S A DURIAN LIFE
The Wave Will Carry Us might have the same meaning as U-Wei's Hanyut. It can mourn with other similar films speaking of the subject of diaspora - Snow In Midsummer, Pavane For An Infant, Barbarian Invasion, Rivers of Exploding Durian, - and the metaphorical meaning that durians have in all of these film. Love how its been used as metaphor in many Malaysian literature - in comic strip, ‘It’s a Durian Life’ by C.W. Kee, the infamous film ‘The Big Durian’ by Amir Muhammad. (Hence, Kuman Pictures film 'Pendatang' could also be added to this list)
Perhaps it is a lamentation and a perfect allegory of being alienated in a land of your birth. It is ever so tricky now in being independent with a system that feeds on division instead of unity. The stance of living in it is a mark of acceptance of its oxymoronic absurdism. Despite the ‘foul smell’, we all rejoice in its bittersweetness as a seasonal ‘plat du jour’. Oh, the irony. Life has to go on.
During a recent PROFIMA programme, Adman Md Salleh who directed Amok (1995) and Paloh (2003) commented about the racial fragmentation in our local film narrative. Each have their own - the Chinese, Indian and Malay. Even after almost 70 years of independence, the film industry still struggles in claiming its own cinematic identity. I have added to his list - the forgotten West Malaysian - the cinema of Sabah and Sarawak. The divide is clear. But a poetry in a fiction such as The Waves Will Carry Us would not be possible without it. Its blessing in disguise. True art can only come from hardship.
Pray that the next GE's electoral campaign will take heed from what Sultan Johor said in 2021 about using the term 'pendatang' for the Malaysian Chinese.