Matinya Seorang Patriot (1984)

Matinya Seorang Patriot is a Malaysian film directed by Rahim Razali in 1984. It is a fully Malay film, which it was spoken fully in Malay, involved only Malay actors, and featured the Malay cultures in Malaysia, including the dominant patriarchy system back in 1984. This film had also featured the modernization of Malaysia and how this modernization had affected the Malay societies.

After the sudden death of Haji Saaban from Kampung Seri Tualang, who was the chairman of Melati Holdings Sdn. Bhd, Safuan suspected that the death of his father could be related to the Melati Holdings. Therefore, he sent his brother, Saiful to Kuala Lumpur to revenge for his father while earning for his living. However, Saiful fell in love with one of the board of director’s daughter and give up on his mission. Many board of directors from Melati Holdings were killed by Saiful’s brothers and they were going to kill Saiful’s girlfriend next. When Saiful spoke out his mind, Safuan felt that Saiful betrayed their family. Then, he fought with Saiful in a Silat match. Although Safuan won the match, he and his other two brothers who murdered the board of directors from Melati Holdings surrendered themselves to the police after they realised their mistakes. 

When watching the film, we can clearly see the culture of Malay society in the 1980s. First and foremost, there is a dominant patriarchy system in term of sex existed in the Malay society of that era. We can see that there is no gender equality in that era and male are more dominant than the female in that society. The male that had been portrayed in this film seems to be more macho and aggressive, whereas females are more subordinate. For instance, we can clearly see this from the scene where Saiful’s brother came to his house in KL to kill his girlfriend. Siaful’s girlfriend was panic and mad at that time as she knew the plot of Saufan. The thing is really unpleasant to see and also shows the dominance of male in this scene is how Saiful calms his girlfriend. He did this by slapping her many times until she fainted and became silent. This particular scene had shown how the male treated female back in the olden days.

Furthermore, this film features the Malay culture really well. Start from the funeral itself, we all can learn about the way Malays have their funeral. On top of that, the best thing that we can see from this film which reflects the Malay culture is the art of silat. This can be seen clearly from the fight between Safuan and Saiful as they both were fighting in Silat style. Moreover, the costume of the traditional Malay warriors including the weapons were also shown in the film.

The topic that was discussed in this film is about how the modernization of Malaysia affects the Malay’s society. As we can see in this film, Malays like Saiful were migrated from the rural to the city, which was Kuala Lumpur to earn a better living. By living in a rural area and a city, it could really affect the mindset of the people. For instance, we can compare two representatives of the film, who are Saiful and Saufan. Saiful, is a man from a rural area who migrated to the city to earn a living, as for Saufan, he is completely a man who lives in the rural. For someone who lives in a city, including Saiful and his girlfriend, what I can see is that they are more open minded than the one from the rural. For instance, Saiful had given up taking revenge for his father’s death after some time he lives in the city and dating with his girlfriend. As for Saufan, his thinking is more traditional. We can see that the way he solves a problem is by using brute. He also thinks that as a descendant of a warrior, they should revenge for their father by killing the board of directors. Thus, these two characters had shown us how the modernization of Malaysia changes the society from two different areas. 

In conclusion, Matinya Seorang Patriot (1984) is a Malay film that reflects the society back in that era. From watching this film, we can learn how the inequality of male and female in the Malay society back in the 1980s. We can also see how the malays from the rural area and the city thinks and behave during the modernization of the country. It is also truly a suitable film to learn about the Malay culture.