The Big Durian

This brave film has as its point of departure, a horrible, ‘sticky’ event in Malaysia in October 1987, when a soldier, Private Adam, entered a Kuala Lumpur city hotel with an M16 machine gun and initiated a terrifying experience for many people. This multi-lingual, demi-documentary for the first time addresses local Malaysian politics, covering major issues of race, religion, youth, the media and even the pop music of the eighties. Twenty-three people are included in the film, some of whom are real. Others are pretending to be, but everyone contributes perspectives to the puzzle and the havoc wreaked by a soldier run amok. Like a suspense story, interviewees reveal bits of the mystery, perhaps saying more about society today than the incident itself. At the time, the official media did not report the truth, which made rumours about the event even more imaginative. The filmmaker has a charmingly original montage approach and also offers comments on his filmmaking process along the way. Briskly paced, a story that once shattered KL city now resonates through the present in an entertaining, humorous and reflective film.