I
watched it the first day it came out. How much was hype? I will say
more later. Social media is abuzz with talking points. I was there,
though very very young... so I can relate a bit better. My views in
blue.Below were excerpts of online comments:
> “It should be Eric
Yong (James Wong,) the pride of Sabah, to score the historical goal,
never understand why Ali is the scorer.... Why change the proud history
of Malaysian football.... a very poor presentation of Malaysia football
history...OlaBola....u can never cheat history.
Strictly
speaking, IT IS NOT A DOCUMENTARY ... why don't you hit out on how good
looking Keong was, supposedly to be Soh Chin Aun (tauke), I respect Chin
Aun a lot as possibly the best defender Malaysia has ever produced but
he is no looker. BUT if its not a documentary, it was BASED on real life
events... it was, and they actually went as far as going to Sabah
taking the train to talk to a supposedly ex-Sabah national player ... so
obviously Eric in the movie was James Wong's "character somewhat" .. I
know its not supposed to be accurate but you go all the way to try and
replicate the FEELING OF MUHIBBAH, the Malaysia Boleh spirit, the fight
for nation spirit ... why tamper with the scores and the scorer??? If it does not matter, why tamper??? Obviously
its to make a deliberate attempt to balance out the racial focus of the
movie - the tauke had a large portion of it, followed by Muthu's
(Arumugam) family ... and in trying not to leave out the Malays, ...Ali
became the scorer?? When do we have to be politically correct in creative arts, I guess thats why its called creative.
I supposed the film maker would have wanted to stay true BUT look at
the humungous number of advertisers and sponsors behind the film - I am sure THEY HAD A FUCKED UP say in it. The director/writer gets the brunt of it but somehow I think its NOT HIS FAULT.
> Don’t waste your money and time to watch the movie, OlaBola!
I was going to watch it few days ago in KL due to rave reviews but my
bro-in-law and friends confirmed that not Eric but Ali who scored.
Again, to
boycott the movie because of that one fact is just silly. It is not a
historical documentary, in as much as Titanic was based on real events
but you know there was no fucking Jack shouting "I am KING OF THE WORLD"
in reality. But most of us enjoyed it. I can see the stupidity in
having Ali scoring the goal - the biggest discredit is to have a whole
new generation NOT knowing that it was James Wong who scored. But thanks
to the uproar in social media - like it or not, now EVERYBODY KNOWS
King James Wong scored the fucking goal!!!
Imagine a film based on real events about Malaysia's independence, BUT NOT A DOCUMENTARY and you have Sinnapiah Samy shouting "Merdeka, Merdeka, Merdeka"... at the stadium - you can do that but people will cringe at how far you went beyond real life events.
Imagine a film based on real events about Malaysia's independence, BUT NOT A DOCUMENTARY and you have Sinnapiah Samy shouting "Merdeka, Merdeka, Merdeka"... at the stadium - you can do that but people will cringe at how far you went beyond real life events.
Its a reprehensible fault but not big enough to detract from the overall good movie and execution.
> The younger n future generations MUST know the TRUE facts of Malaysia football.
> All of us here have
a very strong feeling about being a Sabahan and the way we have been
treated by our West Malaysian counterparts.
OK, don't
be overly sensitive my beloved East Malaysians. The film actually shot a
lot of scenes in Sabah, its beautiful. We get too sensitive about that
ONE THING that distracts from the overall. Yes, I believe East
Malaysians have been "mis-treated" in many ways. Look at Malaysia Day,
when did it actually became a holiday? But we are still a young country
and these things evolve and we learn. Our parents who live in West
Malaysia rarely got the chance to visit East Malaysia during their
heydays - but I think it would be fair to assume the majority of us
below 40 have done so nowadays. Some things are NOT TAUGHT at school, we
learn as we go along. Of course its largely the government's fault.
> The movie is not a
documentary or biography. Names and storyline can be changed and also
altered for the big screen. The movie’s main theme is about the true
spirit of 1Malaysia. That’s the main message of the movie if we look at
it from bigger picture.
Overall,
the movie is a 7/10 ... not a 9 or a 10. The storyline is mushy and
predictable. The acting was pretty good though I must say. The best
thing about the film, the cinematography, the lensing and framing of
scenic shots were superb. Who knew Malaysia was so pretty. The other
good thing was how the team stayed true to the 70s in terms of the
dressing, artefacts, ... the 70s fun-fair was exactly the way it was.
Plus the theme song was fantastic.
I wondered
why didn't the team stick to the truth and obtain permission from
players to get at as close to the truth in the movie.
While it is
all good to remember the team that got the second Olympic
qualification, I am quite sure that they HAD ALL THEIR AMBITIONS,
TENACITY and INSPIRATION from the earlier team who ACTUALLY got to go to
the Olympics. The 1970s team ... did not get their deserved accolades
as well. In fact the 80s team, I am sure would say their heroes were the
following 1970s superstars (I may have left out a few):
SYED AHMAD
WONG CHOON WAH
ALI BAKAR
ISA BAKAR
SALLEH IBRAHIM
M CHANDRAN
MOKHTAR DAHARI
LIM FUNG KEE
LIM FUNG KEE
SHAHARUDDIN ABDULLAH
M BAKAR
HARUN JUSOH
UMAPARAN
REDUAN ABDULLAH
WONG KOU FOU
WONG KOU FOU
BAKRI IBNI
SHUKOR SALLEH
These are the players that paved the way... that allowed the younger Malaysians to dream of the possible.
Life is not
fair. As corporations with a heart, as a government who may start to
have a heart ... do what is right, support good efforts fairly, as
equitably as you can. Political correctness has no place in a true blue
Malaysia.
http://malaysiafinance.blogspot.my/2016/02/ola-bola-talking-points.html
