Mentega Terbang Movie Review

 

Movie : Mentega terbang

Release date : 2023

Language : Malay & English

Director : Khairi Anwar

Producer : Tan Meng Kheng

Duration : 104 Minutes ( That's 1hr and 44mins just in case you can't count)

Warning : Spoilers

The Review

MENTEGA TERBANG - A film that has caused quite a stir recently in Malaysia. When I saw people talking about it and how it supposedly insults Islam and I was raring and ready to go and join in on the outrage bandwagon. Apart from the few choice scenes that were posted by outraged people to push their point forward, I started off with the trailer. It piqued my curiosity and I proceeded to find the full movie to watch. Will I be outraged and proceed to flame the internet at the end of this review? Read on to find out.

The movie centers around a typical Modern/Urban Malaysian Muslim family and more specifically the daughter of the family, Aisyah. And it seems that they would have nightly discussions about religion (yawn), except that the religion they discuss is not limited to islam (OMG). All religions seems to be on the table and the mom and dad being the cool parents that they are participate and indulge Aisyah.


At first I was getting ready to get in touch with my inner Gretha Thunberg and go HOW DARE YOU discuss other religions and poke fun at Islam. What kind of insensitive Kafir buttwipe would dare make this movie!!?? As I continued to watch the movie, Aisyah's would continue her research into Buddhism, Hinduism and so on and even reads up on the bible, that was given to her by the generic kind, generous caring neighborhood Auntie Esther and her dog Milo, which Aisyah had no qualms about petting and playing with (HOW DARE).

As the movie went on it was getting clearer as to why Aisyah was doing this, apart from having cool parents. Her mother is dying from terminal cancer. And Aisyah is trying to make sense of everything and trying to keep her mother around for a while longer. This includes research into religions that believes in reincarnation. So part of her plan initially was to maybe ask her mom to convert to a religion that has reincarnation so that she would never really be gone (not sure if the afterlife works this way but sure, I'll convert to the Viking religion and get hot valkyries to make out with). 

The movie also introduces the friendly neighbor Uncle Kasim, which falls into the category of a well meaning but ultimately kepo (busybody) & religiously preachy person. Uncle Kasim basically takes a stab at real life in Malaysian society and the people at with these characteristics.  Though to Uncle Kasim's credit, he never became violent when preaching his beliefs, just annoying. 

The story ends with the mother finally dying and the dad was broken for a while. The scene where Aisyah and the dad visited the mother's grave and a beautiful white butterfly landed on her mother's headstone and made Aisyah smiled happily when she saw this.  Now there are some that will conclude that Aisyah believes in reincarnation at this point and that the butterfly is her mom. Scientifically speaking that would be a terrible reincarnation deal coz butterflies only live up to 2 weeks at most, but symbolically this scene is very powerful, never underestimate the power of symbols. To me this scene and what Aisyah thinks is open and up to the audience, not unlike the spinning top scene at the end of Inception. 

Conclusion

Oh, this movie takes a stab at a lot of things. From the sanctity of the Muslim religion in Malaysia and globally as a whole, taking a stab at the busybody preachy people in society, the father actually telling Aisyah she can convert to other religions, Aisyah wanting to try pork dumplings and more. Some may even call this movie blasphemous.

On the flip side this movie also shows what truly happens in society, people will talk about religion, theirs or others, people will ask questions and people will become curious. People will have doubts and will look for answers, I mean just because you don't see it doesn't mean its not happening. The one I can relate the most is when Aisyah was looking at other religions for answers and how to have her mom stay around longer, but for me it was my late dad when he was really sick and instead of researching religion, I went the scientific route, research into experimental/radical treatments, medicine, super foods, whatever that even had a glimmer of hope in helping. From this standpoint I understood her desperation.

So am I angry? A part of me is annoyed at some of the scenes, but at the same time I cannot ignore the reality of society and how this movie reflects that reality so well and also the desperate struggle to find answers in whatever way, shape or form. While I can understand the fear of having the movie "corrupt" the younger minds spiritually among the more conservative crowd, I also cannot deny that this is a beautifully crafted story and is ultimately about a little girl that loves her mom very much and wants her to be around longer. 

I give this a 7.9/10

1.5/10 if you are insulted religiously.