Movie : Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa (The Malay Chronicles: Bloodlines)

Spectacular! Yet another courageous effort from KRU Studios in dabbling with the silver screen. Yes, this movie is one that you can not miss if you are looking for a difference in our "son of soil's" brainchild. Actually, I have seen this movie much earlier, however, due to the turns of events, I only manage to write about it today.

google image

The production company chose one of the revered ancient literature documents of the Malay chronicles; the Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa or The Kedah Annals as its latest production. As I understand it, this ancient literature script is also a document of historical accounts telling about the ancestry of Kedah rulers, yet it was weaved with such intricacies inclusive of mythical figures and miracles. However, let us be reminded that in the production's website, they explicitly said that this movie is "loosely" based on the chronicle, and so, what we would see is the production's interpretation of the chronicle and their choice of highlights in order to produce this movie. In general, we know that Merong Mahawangsa is said to be the descendant of Alexander the Great and the founder of Langkasuka Kingdom which later on became Kedah, and later on produced a line of kingdom rulers including the Sultan Mudzafar Shah.

The Gist (full synopsis can be read here: KRU Studios)

It was 120 AD, a prince from the Roman Empire was set to marry a beautiful princess from the Han Dynasty in China. Both empires agreed to execute the wedding in a neutral land, called the Golden Chersonese (Malay Peninsula). When the Roman ships was heavily damaged by the rough weather, they seek help from a sailor and traveller named Merong Mahawangsa when they met him Goa, India. Merong successfully escorted the Roman prince to the wedding site and met the Chinese envoy. However, the success was short-lived when an army of pirate nations called the Gerudans came and wreaked havocs at the camp in order to kidnap the princess. The Gerudans actually had a more sinister plan. Merong was later saved by a native villager who turned out to be a wise man (or tok guru), and later became his apprentice. Merong was then able to find out about his family and then set up a new kingdom which we later knew as Langkasuka. A reunion later brought Merong to use all his might and wisdom to face the Gerudans and save the princess. Will he succeed?

The verdict

Thumbs up from me! I think Stephen Rahman-Hughes has done a good job in delivering the lines and embracing his character. Khir Rahman brutal giller! All in all, all the actors performed really well. Good story line. The brawls and the war were rather violent and quite real. Kudos for that. And kudos for the special effects too. The best in Malaysian film industry so far. It was classy and I feel proud watching it, satisfied too.

It was a great experience watching this movie. And I wish the KRU brothers will continue to produce good quality movies in the future.