Movie: Puteri Gunung Ledang

How many of you have seen the movie, Puteri Gunung Ledang? It was produced in 2004 and I have only JUST seen it!

Somebody had broken up the film in three parts and uploaded it to stage6.com. I don't even remember from where I followed the link to stage6. Anyway, I started watching the movie the day before, late, and then continued again yesterday.

I was impressed by the production. I believe it is easily the best produced Malaysian film so far, in terms of the script, cinematography, the location, the set, the special effects .. wow .. very, very professional. Now I understand why the producers of the film thought it was good enough to be submitted for the Foreign Film section of the Academy Awards.

There were scenes with horses, I mean riding on horses, an elephant, and lots of jungle scenes. It was truly an epic film. I am impressed!

The only criticism I have of the film is the length. At about 2 1/2 hours long, it is very long. Maybe the editor should have been more aggressive with the editing! But how do you cut off most of the scenes involving the leading lady when the leading lady is also one of the producers? Hmm, that was indeed a dilemma! For the editor that is!

I haven't watched that many Malaysian films, and I have never heard of the director, Teong Hin Saw. Is he Malaysian? He's good!

I was surprised at M. Nasir's acting. I think he is good. That scene where Hang Tuah (M.Nasir) and Gusti Puteri (Tiara Jacquelina) did their "mating dance" was memorable! I say "mating dance" because it reminded me of the mating dances that some male birds do to attract the female! Except in this scene, it is the female that started the dance.

Christine Hakim was one of my favorite Indonesian actresses when I was a teenager, and I can't believe how old she looked in the movie! Ya, ya, as if I haven't aged myself!

If you haven't watched the movie, and don't live in Malaysian, you might want to watch the movie at stage6.com. Just do a search of the name and you'll be able to see it. I had to end up downloading the film on my computer because the 2nd part refused to download fully on the screen. For those of you living in Malaysia, go buy the original movie in VCD and support our local film industry.

Here's the mating dance scene between Gusti Puteri and Hand Tuah.