The Big Durian, by Amir Muhammad, is a film documenting the events leading up to the notorious 1987 Operasi Lallang, from the perspective of the grassroots.
The events started unfurling with Pvt. Adam running amuck at Chow Kit; his M-16 rifle blazing. The cause was supposedly because his brother was killed by a member of royalty after a golf game (the brother was the caddy). As he sent rounds down the road of Chow Kit, fears of another May 13 were brought up.
A Sabahan girl stole a peek on the private during his rampage. She said she saw (with envy) the face of a man who has just burst out of his cage. Free, while she feels trapped in the big city.
The single most memorable scene for me was when an Indian lady was being interviewed. She described how she tried to persuade another person not to take to the streets, and said “let’em take everything”. As if to suggest the price of political apathy, this was followed up immediately with a photo of an Indian man with nothing to give: he was homeless. Hinting on the price of political apathy perhaps.
The film looks at the events of 1987 from the hindsight of the late 90’s. If this film is supposed to be the link from Ops Lallang (or arguably earlier, back to May 13) to the Reformasi movement, then Amir’s later film “Malaysian Gods” can be seen as the link from the Reformasi movement to the Hindraf movement.
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