Writer: Nur Safina Othman

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Effects: NA
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Watch this if you liked: "Pensil"

Jomlah CIUM - maybe the title of this film is controversial and would definitely attract public attention but don't get it wrong. The meaning of the title has nothing to do with that wet thing you do with your lips. It means "Jomlah Cari Identiti Untuk Malaysia".

This film tells the story of three individuals of different faith. There's a blind uztaz (Islamic teacher) who desires to build a surau (little mosque) for misguided youths, a Buddhist monk who is suffering from cancer and also a nun who takes care of the monk. Even though each of them practices different religion, the monk and the nun still want to help the uztaz. The message that is trying to be projected here is that even though we come from different races and religion, we must always help oen another.

While the storyline is simple, it is relayed to the audience in a very slow way and this strangely disorientates the audience and keeps them from being able to understand it. Other than that, there are a lot of repeated lines in the script which reels boredom into the cinema. Yes, we understand the message that the director wants to send, which is finding identity for Malaysia. We must unite without care for colour and creed. However, if that message is said over and over, it simply bores. The director has to realise that no audience likes overly preachy life lessons.

The quality of the picture is also rather low. Other than that, post-production of this film is evidently disorganised. Perhaps this is why local films can never run too far from concerns about cost and budget.

All the actors and actresses are disappointingly stiff in this film. Their performance is not up to par, especially if you are famous TV actor Kenchana Devi and also M. Subash Abdullah, most promising actor at the 21st Malaysian Film Festival.

The message that the director wants to convey is wonderful, but it was communicated in an ineffective way. It's very far from an excellent film but everybody has a right to try, don't they?

Cinema Online, 16 June 2009