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Teller Of Tales : U-Wei Bin Hajisaari in conversation with Philip Cheah and Aruna Vasudev

U-Wei Bin Hajisaari is a leading Malaysian director and the first to create history of sorts for his country when his film Kaki Bakar (The Arsonist), was selected for screening in Un Certain Regard Category at Cannes this year. But of course, he is better known as the director behind the controversial Perempuan, Isteri... (Woman, Wife And Whore...). A modest and soft-spoken man who is glad to have brought the Malaysian cinema into international focus, he has since been invited to other festivals like Telluride, New York, Brussels and Toronto.

He has also been invited to participate in a film series sponsored by the Goethe Institute in Jarkata called Own And Unfamiliar under which one director is invited from Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and Singapore each to make a film of his choice. He has also been approached to adapt and film Henri Fauconnier's prize-winning colonial novel Soul Of Malaya.

U-WEI: I don't think I am a historian. It is just that I feel I have stories to tell and I put up these stories and let the audience decide.

ARUNA VASUDEV: Your first feature Woman, Wife And Whore ... was quite a daring film to make in the context of the Malayan society today. What made you choose a subject like that and take the risk of the film being banned?

U-WEI: I had been wondering what could happen in a situation like if on the day of my marriage the bride did not turn up. The situation just grew out of that premise and unfolded slowly and I was quite surprised that compared to my other works it came quite early and today I just see myself as a story-teller.

ARUNA: But the film could have been banned in Malaysia.

U-WEI: I think films shouldn't be banned.

ARUNA: But was there a chance of that happening?

PHILIP CHEAH: I remember reading that you were attacked by the women's groups in Malaysia.

U-WEI: Yes, I was attacked. I guess they misread the film as anti- or putting down the Malay woman. I told them that if you couldn't read beyond the picture then I'm sorry.

PHILIP: In fact, the woman character in the film is very strong - in control of her sexuality, of the situation.

ARUNA: The film won several Malay National Awards, but I want to know about this banning because I am curious about it. Was there a controversy about the film apart from the women's protest?

U-WEI: Yes, the controversy was about the word 'whore'. I was warned about using that word and... I think that is rather silly. I think they shouldn't censor because as a Malaysian, as a person from the East, I know how graphic I can get. I am very conventional and I would like my parents to see the work I do. And if they feel they must censor something, then they should censor the audience!

PHILIP: How long was the deliberation about the title of the film?

U-WEI: When they heard I was doing that film, I was given a verbal warning that something was going to happen and that there would be protest. But that was word of mouth and I did not even know who was saying this. Anyway, I just did my work and at the end, from what I understand, they wrote a letter or they contacted the producer to say that we should change the title.

ARUNA: The objection was only to the title?

U-WEI: To the title and to some of the visuals - the scene where she is squatting on the rice. They took off about three seconds so the rhythm is gone. It's never been said what happened but Malaysian girls know what's going on; every child, every Malay girl knows about this and they know where to learn to do that. She was brought up as a typical Malay kampong (village) girl who was exposed to traditions.

PHILIP: It is some sort of charm.

U-WEI: The thing I was really interested in and I wondered about is that the woman didn't really say that she had done it and I thought - is it sexual or is it something else?

ARUNA: The way you shot it, it was quite sensual.

U-WEI: I was in another phase and I could not have done otherwise.

ARUNA: The girl who played the main role, is she an actress?

U-WEI: Not at the point, no. She did a couple of commercials just after she finished the film. But the commercials came out first.

PHILIP: Did any women in the audience with her strong character? Did you get that kind of response?

U-WEI: Two years after the film was released the same woman who attacked me came to see me and said, "Now I understand what you are trying to do." I was very surprised.

ARUNA: Two years after the film was released?

U-WEI: Yes. "Well," I said "just give it a chance before you attack it".

ARUNA: What were you doing before you made this film?

U-WEI: I was doing TV dramas. I guess, it's just another extension of what I have been doing about alienation. Even in The Aronist I have put a Javanese into a Malay society and in thism a Kampong Malay girl in a new environment. So, that's what I was really into and I could relate with that.

PHILIP: Was Woman, Wife And Whore... widely distributed in Malaysia?

U-WEI: Yes, it ran very well, it made the producer happy.

ARUNA: And it was the same producer who produced Black Widow?

U-WEI: No, that was by another woman producer, I am saying 'woman' producer because when she came to me she said, "I want to do the story as it would be done by a woman."

PHILIP: Were you getting offers from producers? Was the story already written?

U-WEI: I always get offers; I never get good offers! So when Raja Azmi came to me and said, "I want you to direct my story," and I said," what is it about?" and she said, " it is about a very dangerous Malay woman," and I said, "I'll do it." But it didn't turn out to be that when I read the script and it is not about that; but then the fact is taht she wrote it herself. I am always amazed when someoen can write books because then I feel there is something I might learn from this text. Just knowing her and knowing that she really had a very strong will to do it I thought that if I do this for all the wrong reasons I will still do it, probably because Raja Azmi asked me to. Nobody else wanted to do it.

ARUNA: But what was wrong with it? Why was it that the others didn't want to touch it?

U-WEI: She is quite strong in what she wants. I had a very friendly disagreement with her about the ending which I did not quite agree with. I thought she should make it stronger but she was very scared to do that and the movie didn't get to be successful, as before, at the box-office. It's a quieter film. There's no violence, no provocation or no girl sitting over rice!

Note: The above is an excerpt from an article first published in Cinemaya (#30, Autumn 1995). To subscribe, send US$28 to Cinemaya, B-90, Defence Colony, New Delhi 110 024, India.

Source : http://www.asia-online.com/bigo/feb96/febmovie.html