There are films that veer away from convention and formulas that are par for the course in their country of origin. In more than one way, Crossroads: One Two Jaga is a perfect example of countertrend cinema in a context which is too often hindered in Malaysia, the field of genre and mainstream cinema. It is no coincidence that the film has an unusual production genesis – although it does feature the ubiquitous actor Bront Palarae (that the Udine public will also see in the Indonesian film Satan’s Slaves by Joko Anwar), here he only has a cameo in the finale – with the reins of this courageous experiment in the hands of the veteran from the Malaysia underground art scene, Nam Ron, as director and co-writer.
Crossroads opens with a close-up of the disfigured face of a young police officer, Hussein, who is undergoing a heavy interrogation. When the opening credits come to a close, the scene moves to a group of children playing cops and robbers. One of them is Joko, the son of an Indonesian immigrant, Sugiman, who works on a building site for Mr. Sarip. Mr. Sarip’s son, Adi, arrives, and asks Joko to help him with his work. Sugiman is reluctant to give permission, partly because he needs to helps his sister, Sumiyati, who wants to leave her job as a home-help to go back to Indonesia, but in the end he agrees. But we soon find out that Adi’s new job includes practices which children shouldn’t be involved in, including hiding dead bodies…
From the very start, Crossroads introduces us to the world of Malaysian cops and robbers, where the line that divides them is subtly eroded. We witness the tougher side of life, of mutual exploitation and corruption that seems almost a necessity of life: what does it matter if a cop makes a little extra on the side asking for protection money from shopkeepers in the neighbourhood? If we compare it to the wads of cash which flow into the pockets of the gangland bosses or the politicians who play poker with the lives of those who work for them? The rookie cop Hussein, following a classic script, enters into life as a police officer with the usual integrity and rigour of the novice. Inevitably, he will depart with wounds to both his physical self and his moral self. Because when you try to follow the rules and do the right thing in a world where morals are upside down, where everything flows against the law and good sense, things don’t get repaired; if anything, they worsen.
Nam Rom (in the role of the corrupt dignitary) portrays a leaden fictional reality rooted in the dark underworld of today’s Malaysia: from the uncontrolled exploitation of immigrants from Bangladesh and Indonesia, to the tragic fate of the Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, from the run-of-the-mill corruption in public offices to the massive vicious circle of organised crime which sees politicians and the forces of law and order bending to its whim. The camera in this film shows no mercy, it is uncompromised. The serrated editing which brusquely alternates one narrative with another mixes up the pieces of the puzzle, which recomposes itself around the inescapable, but nonetheless piercing tragedy.
In its own way, Crossroads treads a rare yet relevant neorealistic trend of Malaysian cinema, which the Udine public were lucky enough to be exposed to in its magnificence in 2012, with the heart wrenching Songlap by Effendee Mazlan and Fariza Azlina Isahak. It does it in a rough and ready and sometimes decomposed fashion (take, for example, the soundtrack), partly perhaps due to a lack of concrete points of reference in local cinema, which usually allow the filmmaker to unravel thorny issues in terms of narrative or aesthetics, in accordance with the most commercial formulas (of course, partly in an attempt not to alienate the already limited potential public). But the effort is praiseworthy, as much for the obvious “whistleblowing” and the social-political comment, as for the path taken in terms of production values, and the independence that led the film makers to bring into the project noted Indonesian (and Philippine) talent, in particular, the renowned actor Ario Bayu in the role of Sugiman (he is also executive producer). Fingers crossed that this type of collaboration and intercourse between Malaysia and Indonesia will continue and expand, producing even more unusual and risk-taking results.
Nam Ron
Nam Ron or Namron (pen name of Shahili Abdan) is a writer, screenwriter and actor, one of the most loved in the Malaysian theatre. He made his film debut as an actor in Lips To Lips (2000) by Amir Muhammad and was in, amongst other things, Yasmin Ahmad’s Gubra (2006) and Dain Said’s Bunohan (2012). Crossroads: One Two Jaga is his third feature as director, after Gedebe (2001), which he wrote based on a play of his, which in turn was based on Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, and Jalan Pintas (2011).
FILMOGRAPHY
2003 – Gedebe
2011 – Jalan Pintas
2018 – Crossroads: One Two Jaga
Paolo Bertolin