Wednesday, October 26, 2005
15Just finished my last S'pore Society not long ago... the lecturer spent the first hour summing up all the topics for this module, and for the 2nd hour, he showed us the movie, 15. He initially wanted to let us watch it a few weeks ago in conherence with our topic "Youth Sub-Culture", but had some problems with the censorship board. Today he said he's allowed to show us a shortened version of the show, abt 15-20 mins.
At the beginning it was funny, they showed the conversations between the 2 Ah-Bengs (REAL-LIFE gangsters), and between short intervals they have them singing their hokkien-full-of-vulgarities songs. Now I know how come this show had received numerous awards. For every scene that you laugh along with, there is also something even deeper that is thought-invoking, and for that side of that scene, it is anything but funny... it is sad. In one scene they showed the 2 boys having this exchange, about this girl that they saw jump from the building one day. One of them said that it's the 3rd case in the week already. The other replied, that maybe it is the trend now. The whole LT laughed, and then the first boy said, "then maybe I can break the record and be the 4th one.
And in one scene one boy asked the other, will we be frens forever? The other answered, there is no such thing as a forever fren or foe. We will be frens as long as it lasts. And in another scene, they showed this one nursing a wound of the other, which is caused by one of their frens, who became a traitor against them suddenly. And in another scene, 3 boys were sitting at the playground, one asked the rest, "have you ever thought of what your future will be like?" One of the other boys replied, "hopefully I can pass my N'Levels, then go ITE, come out get a job and slog till I die. If I'm lucky I can find a wife and get married." The other boy replied, "That is if you are not brought to prison yet, or is already hacked to death."
Another scene, one of the boys tell the other he cannot come over to him house the next day because his mum is celebrating his bday for him. The other asked, how is she going to celebrate for him? He said, "cook for me lor." And the scene following this showed this boy sitting on top of the letter boxes at the void deck, with alot of wounds on his face. And he called his fren, asked whether he can stayover at his house today. His fren asked, I thought your mum is celebrating your bday with you? He said, "I am driven out of the house because I failed my maths test." He proceeded to ask his fren are his folks fine with him coming over at this time, and his fren said that they have no right to interfere with his activites, and adds that everytime he goes to the homes of his other frens he is so jealous when he sees the family warmth they get to enjoy.
One of the last scenes showed the fren singing bday song for this boy, and then smashing the cake into his face. The boy started crying. He said ever since his grandmother died, no one has bought a cake for him... and he told his fren that he really appreciates it cos he knows that his fren is poor, and yet still bought one for him. And then his fren gave him a cigarette and lighted it for him. He took it out of his mouth and broke it into 2, and gave the other half to his fren. He said, "This is my last cigarette, and I wan you to share it with him. I dun wan you to die before me, because I wan you to be at my funeral."
The ending showed a black screen and subtitles, of what happened to these "actors" now. One of them is in prison or stg liddat, the other has received his 3rd public caning. The last one, the one who said that speech above, "Whereabouts Unknown." And I could already feel tears welling up. It suddenly reminded me of my student. For some of my frens, you may know that my ex-student frm NVSS had jumped to his death not so long ago. The other students told me it's cos of gang affairs. This show further confirmed, that it is highly possible.
Gangs, to me, is something you only see in movies. And even if you hear bengs talking about them in real life, you'd think that they are juz trying to act cool, those kind see police car run already. But now I realised, they really exist. And they're scary. And it's super saddening to also realise that there is this group of youth in society, like what potrayed in the film, who chose to go this path, who are foresaken by their family, and choose to stick to gangs, where they hope to find a sense of belonging. They are a group of youths abandoned by society, and deemed hopeless by their families, teachers and peers. It is very upsetting to see this side of society when you've always been on the other side, where u have everything and anything.
After my lecture I went to meet my proj mates for meeting, but throughout my mind was still on the show. One of my group members asked me how come I looked so dazed, and asked me how was the show (Cos I sms-ed one of them to let them noe I can leave lect early cos they showing a show which only lasts for less than an hr). Then I started telling them a very summarized version of the show, and I could feel my lips quivering, and they hurry dug for tissue. And then I told them that it reminded me of my student. He jumped too... not too recently.
This is what I got from surfing the net for information abt the cast of this film:
Much of 15, which is cast with real teenage gang members, has no discernible plot, due partly to the fact that one of the stars was arrested for stabbing another gang member halfway through filming. It is a no-holds-barred, fly-on-the-wall part-documentary, part-drama of their unconventional lifestyle.
One "actor" repeatedly slashes his wrists with a box cutter, another forces a condom packed with drugs down his throat to smuggle overseas, two pierce each others' faces to insert studs and one squirms as he gets a rudimentary tattoo."The act of inflicting pain on themselves is like a form of rebellion," Tan said. "I think I do have a responsibility [to intervene] but I have a greater responsibility to tell the audience how they lead their lives. Uuurgh... I feel sick again.This is such a sad entry... now I wished I should have jolly well skipped this last SS lecture since I'd already skipped so many...
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* xuan * listened
@ |10/26/2005 04:12:00 PM|
