CULTURE MOVIES

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My collection of culture movies

I love to watch movies or drama that have the element of culture on it's. So, i come out with the idea to have this blog for all of you. Hope that this blog will help you a little on the culture movies and drama. Although is not many movies that i include on it if you have any comment and request, love to hear from you.

I have search to you four movies and one drama that have the culture element on its. The 4 movies is Anna and the King-Jodie Foster, The last samurai, SUMOLAH and Puteri Gunung Ledang.

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I've Been Married To Hell/ Oh, My Mother in Law

Makimura Kimiko, freelance journalist and city-girl extraordinaire, marries into a traditional Japanese family. Most overbearing of the Yamamoto Family members is Isojiro's mother, Shimako, who seems to think Kimiko is the perfect wife whose knowledge of the traditional Japanese arts knows no bounds. Kimiko on the other hand is sloppy, a bad cook unless it happens to be microwavable, and couldn't tell a shamisen from a bagpipe if her life depended on it. Bombarded by customs, Kimiko's only desire is to never step foot in the Main House again. But with the interference of her husband, Isojiro, who can't seem to say no to his mother, Kimiko finds herself back in a place she calls Hell and smack in the midst of some crazy tradition her in-laws want her to participate in.

Puteri Gunung Ledang

Puteri Gunung Ledang is a 2004 Malaysian epic fantasy period film directed by Saw Teong Hin and based on a Malay legend about a Princess who lived on top of Mount Ledang and a Malaccan Sultan's effort to court her. The film stars Tiara Jacquelina, M. Nasir and Adlin Aman Ramlie, and is produced by Shazalli Ramly.

Set in the late 15th century Sultanate of Malacca and the Javanese kingdom of Majapahit, against a backdrop of war and mysticism, the film is about the forbidden romance that blossomed between Gusti Putri, a Javanese Hindu princess, and Hang Tuah, the famed Malay Muslim warrior from Melaka.

Gusti Putri Retno Dumillah (Tiara Jacquelina), a princess of the Majapahit Kingdom, has fallen in love with one of Malaccan warrior Hang Tuah (M. Nasir). The Princess leaves her assigned palace life without the consent of her king, travelling to Mount Ledang in the hopes of being reunited with her beloved.

Soon after the princess’ parting, Majapahit is attacked by the Kingdom of Demak. Desperate to quell the invasion, Gusti Putri's brother and King, Gusti Adipati Handaya Ningrat (Alex Komang), offers his sister's hand in marriage to the Prince of Demak. Her absence renders this solution impossible. The King's only hope for security is to forge an alliance with the Malaccan Sultanate by offering his sister's hand in marriage to Sultan Mahmud Shah of Malacca.

Hang Tuah is ordered to head the royal delegation to present the royal proposal to Gusti Putri. The warrior leads the convoy up Mount Ledang. Gusti Adipati is angry that Hang Tuah is getting in his way and invokes supernatural powers to combat him. Despite his supernatural prowess, he is defeated by Hang Tuah and his magical Taming Sari kris. The injured Gusti Adipati expresses that the fate of his country is more important than love, and Hang Tuah's meddling has destroyed his only hope of saving his people. The guilty Hang Tuah resigns from his post as Admiral and cast his Taming Sari kris into the river, never to be found again.

After a fleeting reunion, the Princess is aware that her beloved's foremost duty is that of a warrior. Despite confessing his love for her, Hang Tuah will not forsake the Sultan's wishes. Brokenhearted, she agrees to marry the Sultan on the proviso that he is able to fulfill seven prohibitive conditions:

• A bridge made of pure gold from Malacca to Mount Ledang;
• Another bridge made of pure silver from Mount Ledang to Malacca;
• Seven trays (dulang) of the hearts of mosquitoes;
• Seven trays (dulang) of the hearts of the germs;
• Seven jars (tempayan) of the juice of young betel nuts (Note: Young betel nuts do not have juice);
• Seven jars (tempayan) of the tears of the virgins
• One bowl of blood from his fondest and only son, Sultan Ahmad.

When the Sultan learns of the Princess' prohibitive conditions, he is more determined to marry her. But before he can draw blood from his son, a mental projection of Gusti Putri appears before him, explaining that her conditions were in fact an indirect refusal of his proposal. The angered Sultan plants a curse on her, stating that from next sunlight whomsoever sees the princess will die coughing blood.

Hang Tuah, having heard of the curse of the Sultan from the Bendahara, rushes to Mount Ledang to see her one last time. He only arrives after the sun has risen, but Gusti Putri reveals herself to him. It is unknown what their final fate will be.

ANNA & THE KING - JODIE FOSTER 1999

Anna and the King

Director: Andy Tennant

Cast: Jodie Foster, Chow Yun-Fat, Bai Ling, Tom Felton, Syed Alwi, Randall Duk Kim, Keith Chin

The story of Anna Leonowens and King Mongkut of Siam has gone through multiple mutations in 150-plus years. First, there were the diaries of Indian-born British citizen Leonowens (known to be creative, to say the least, about many aspects of her life and story, even her name), recounting her experiences as teacher to the royal children of the King of Siam in the mid-19th century. Then there was Margaret Landon's 1943 novel (a fictionalized retelling of Leonowens' diaries), and in the years following there have been three movies (one animated), a Broadway musical, and a short-lived TV series (can you imagine?). Now we have the romantic epic Anna and the King, starring Jodie Foster as Leonowens and Chow Yun-Fat as King Mongkut.

Jodie Foster has said in interviews about Anna and the King that this film is different because it shows "Asia" from an "Asian perspective," while earlier renderings of the story only cared about Europeans. I would counter that this film is quite concerned with Europeans (or more precisely, white audience stand-ins). In other words, it has made the story more palatable to our 1990s tastes by making Anna flawed (ignorant of local customs and arrogant about her own claim to civilization) and by making gestures toward re-thinking colonial imperialism. When the King's son laments to his Father, "Why do you punish me with Imperialist school teacher?", it's funny now, because we know the downside — to put it mildly — of imperialism. We also know that Anna has much to learn about her high and mighty cultural assumptions (not to mention, she's a Victorian era woman who needs to learn her place within those assumptions).

The boy's line would have been funny at an earlier time for a different reason — because it would seem misguided: an imperialist (read: "civilized") schoolteacher is no punishment! Yet, despite Anna having to rethink her belief that "the English way is the way of the world," we also hear (in a voice-over by King Mongkut's eldest son, King Chulalongkorn, who has taken over the "diarist's" function in this film), that "Anna had shined such a light on Siam." The film implies — none too delicately — that religious freedom, a justice system, and the abolition of slavery were all a direct result of that "light." And, because of his own not-very-repressed desire for Anna, the King apparently comes to understand "for the first time, the superstition that a man could be satisfied with just one woman."

SUMOLAH

The Sushi Restaurant Association of Kuala Lumpur is organizing their annual underground Sumo tournament. Boleh Sushi, a small sushi joint and last year’s runners-up, are short one fighter after losing their cook, Hassan. They have to find a replacement soon. They accidentally find Ramlee.

What would happen if a hotheaded and unambitious Malay man (Ramlee) was forced to enter the rigourous and challenging world of sumo? Would he give up on the trials and tribulations he finds himself committed to? Or will his relationship with the father-figure he never had create a purpose for him to rise above the challenges and endeavour to do his best?

Story Synopsis
Ramlee (Afdlin Shauki) is a down and out Malay boy who can’t seem to hold down a job, much to his mother’s (Kartina Aziz) disappointment. Out of a job and out of money, he stumbles across a challenge by sushi restaurant owner Honda (Patrick Teoh) to “eat all you can for free food – within a time limit”.

Hungry and desperate, Ramlee attempts the challenge, and fails. In compensation, Honda lets Ramlee take a job at the restaurant to pay off his due. Ramlee becomes a member of the Boleh Sushi shop staff, along with Haris (Awie) and Andy (Radhi Khalid). Ramlee is immediately attracted to Honda’s beautiful daughter, Siti (Inthira Charoenpura), who is half-Japanese and half-Malay. He begins to learn the meaning of having good work, good friends and family.

One day he learns that part of his obligation is to take part in the Malaysian Sushi Association Amateur Sumo Wrestling Championships held by the local Japanese owners of sushi restaurants.

Whilst taking part in the initial friendly bout, Akira (Gurmit Singh), Siti’s ex-boyfriend, humiliates him in public. It is only after that that Ramlee finds out that he had been tricked into working for Boleh Sushi because Honda was desperate for a third member for their team.

Ramlee has to make a choice – whether to stay on and fight for Boleh Sushi in the upcoming Championships, or to give up on his new-found family. He decides to step up to the challenge and begins training with the boys for the big fight.

He learns the meaning of the word “nokotta” – never give up, the fight is not yet won. He learns that no matter what the result, the honour is in fighting the good fight. Ultimately, Ramlee’s challenge is to let go of the excuses he has made for himself, and to fight till the end, no matter what.

THE LAST SAMURAI

Captain Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise), a disenchanted ex-United States Army captain, is tortured by the guilt of his past transgressions against Native American civilians. After losing his previous job to share his old war experiences with the masses, he is recruited by his former commanding officer Colonel Bagley (whom Algren loathes and blames for his waking nightmares) on behalf of a Japanese businessman, Mr. Omura (Masato Harada), to help the new Meiji Restoration government train the new Western-style Imperial Japanese Army. With him are his old army colleague Zeb Gant (Billy Connolly) and Simon Graham, (Timothy Spall) a British translator.

Algren, under the command of Bagley, trains an army of peasants and farmers in firearm techniques, and is forced to take them into battle, despite lack of sufficient training, against a group of samurai rebels led by Katsumoto, to defend Omura's investment in a new railway. During the battle, the samurai slaughter Algren's poorly trained and inexperienced soldiers, and Bagley withdraws from the field. Algren manages to kill some samurai himself with pistol, a saber and a broken spear embroidered with a flag depicting a white tiger. Despite his best efforts he is soon overpowered. However, the flag on the spear reminds Katsumoto of a vision he had during meditation, of a white tiger fighting off his attackers. Seeing the resemblance, Katsumoto makes Algren his prisoner instead of letting his samurai kill him. He is taken to an isolated village, where he gradually recovers from his wounds (as well as his rampant alcoholism). He lives with the family of one samurai he killed, namely his widow Taka, her two sons and Katsumoto's son Nobutada. Over time, Algren's mental and emotional state improve as he learns "the way of the samurai" (Bushido), develops romantic feelings for Taka, studies swordsmanship from a skilled swordmaster (Ujio) and converses with the local residents, gaining their respect.

One night, as the people watch a comic play, a group of ninja assassins attack the village, intent on killing Katsumoto. The Samurai succeed in defeating the ninja, but suffer losses. Algren wins the respect and admiration of the samurai by fighting alongside them, and distinguishing himself in the battle by his defense of Katsumoto. Katsumoto confides in Algren that he believes that Omura is responsible for the attack.

With the arrival of spring, Nathan is taken back to Tokyo, where he learns that the army, under Bagley's command, is now better organized and outfitted with howitzers and Gatling guns. He declines Omura's job offer to lead the army against Katsumoto, to crush the Samurai rebellion. He also witnesses the brutality of the Japanese soldiers who enforce the new laws forbidding samurai to publicly carry swords and wear their hair in chonmage.

At the same time, Katsumoto offers his counsel to the Emperor, to whom he was once a teacher. He learns that the young Emperor's hold upon the throne is much weaker than he thought, and that he is afraid to challenge men like Omura, who control vast wealth and political power.

The samurai leader Katsumoto is arrested and confined to his quarters in Tokyo when he refuses to remove his sword in the Emperor's presence, but Algren, having learned that Omura has ordered his assassination, and narrowly escaping an assassination attempt on his own life (through judicious use of martial arts he learned in Katsumoto's camp), decides to rescue him with help from several of Katsumoto's loyal followers. During the rescue mission, Katsumoto's son Nobutada is killed while allowing Algren, Katsumoto and the rest of the team to escape.

Katsumoto is still mourning the loss of his son when he receives word that a large Imperial army unit is marching out to battle the samurai. A force of warriors, numbering only 500, are rallied. Algren makes a reference to the Battle of Thermopylae where a small army can cause great collateral damage against overwhelming odds by using the right tactics and terrain as force multipliers. Algren then receives a katana of his own. He is also given, by Taka, the armor of the samurai he killed. She dresses him into the armor, and they share a kiss just before Algren leaves.

The samurai plan, with the assistance of Algren, is to make their final stand, using a combination of superior close-combat ability and their enemy's over-confidence. When a large Imperial Army, under the command of Omura and Bagley confronts the samurai's forces to put down the rebellion, the samurai fall back to higher ground. Omura immediately orders the infantry to pursue them, as expected. The samurai lead them into a trap, setting a fire to cut off their escape routes. The samurai then unleash volleys of arrows on the infantrymen, killing many.

Drawing their swords, the samurai, Algren and Katsumoto amongst them, charge the confused and wounded infantrymen. A second wave of Imperial infantry follows behind and quickly joins the battle, as does the Samurai Cavalry. This results in a savage melee that leaves many samurai and infantrymen dead before the soldiers retreat. Realizing that new Imperial forces are coming and that defeat is imminent should a second battle occur, the surviving samurai resolve to make a final charge. They charge on horseback, being cut down by Japanese cannons and then by another unit of infantrymen. During the battle, Bagley shoots Katsumoto but Algren then throws his sword at Bagley before he can kill Katsumoto, killing him and saving Katsumoto's life. Against all odds, they manage to make it through the enemy lines. On approaching the Imperial rear line, and progressing enough to scare Omura, the Samurai are suddenly cut down by the Gatling guns the soldiers had acquired from the Americans. Katsumoto and Algren are badly wounded from the encounter, and are seemingly the only survivors. The Imperial general (who was originally trained by Algren), against Omura's wishes, orders the Gatling guns to cease fire, overcome by the emotional pressure from the dying samurai. Katsumoto, obeying bushido in order to keep his honour, commits seppuku (ritual suicide) with help from Algren, ending his life. The Imperial troops, many of whose comrades have also been killed, show their respect by bowing to the fallen samurai. Algren, who survives the battle heavily wounded, stays at Katsumoto's side.