FILM REVIEW- BRAVO 5

Bravo 5 (2015) is a film directed by Mohd Latiff Zami (also known as M.Hilter Zami) under KaryaPrima Production. The film is based on a true story in 1989. The film features five members of the Command (Special Movement Regiment) who have been assigned the special task which is Bravo V, to trace the position of communists that planning to occupy strategic positions in central Malaysia at that time. The central part of the peninsula is the location for capturing Malaysia with armed struggle. The five commandos were able to detect the enemy camps and positions and the ambitious plans they had to deal with. However, unfortunately the connection was cut off because their communication set was damaged as a member of the responsible team slipped and fell off the cliff while fighting with the communists. Without the help of other supposed troops, they fought against nearly 200 communists. However, four of the commandos died on the battlefield as they fought to save their beloved country. The scriptwriter of this film was written by Mejar Zainal Hayat, an adaptation of his 27-year life story during his time in the Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM). The cast that starring for this film are Remy Ishak as Lieutenant Azri, Beto Kusyairy as Truper Karim, Sashi Tharan as Corporal Morgan, Xafier Fong as Corporal Ah Chia, Frank Peterson as Sergeant Unya, Sofi Jikan as Sidek Tapa, senior commander of Communist Party, Chew Kin Wah as Commander Lim Yatt, Chairman of the Communist Party of Malaya and Siti Saleha as Aida.

There are some types of television critics that I can found in this great film. Firstly, the subject matter. As I stated at the above, this film was about historical that based on a real story of a tragedy that happened on 1989. Each element is essential to making this film look like it really happened a while ago so that the viewers can appreciate and feels the film more deeply. In my opinion, every element that is brought into the making of this film meets the criteria and it looks very real. This is because, the cinematography used in this film is the same as the story of the past. In addition, each costume used for each actor also plays an important role. As we can see in this movie, they used costumes from the 80’s era for the villagers to make the audience imagine themselves as they were in that situation. Also, the environment or the setting in this movie is very much like the actual story of the village.

Next, the realism. The realism can be seen in every single scene as when all of the commandos wearing complete set of their uniform, holding a weapon, using an old phone to keep on connected with the centre which is with the ATM and all of the things that they use are even real. Other than that, the shooting set that they used are correct as they shoot in the forest. This is because, the set in the jungle can give viewers a better understanding of what really happened during the war. Additionally, all the commandos use the correct hand gesture or sign when giving instructions to the other commandos. This is because, during the war, they cannot make any noise because it can make their opponent know where they are and this can make their life in danger.

Other than that, the comic relief. For me, I think the comic reliever in this film is Sidek Tapa. The reason why I think he is the comic relief because there are several scenes that shows he can break the tense of the film when the audience are busy being focus, emotional or mad at the communists. Some of the scene that can release my tense are when Sidek Tapa found Commander Lim Yatt was shot dead by Corporal Ah Chia, but Sidek Tapa still playing it cool by saying "Our site has been destroyed, many of our people are dead. But everything is still ok-ay! ". In addition, there is also a scene where the audience is entertained when Sidek Tapa is dying because of a trap that they created on their own before, but still have the time to use his tagline "everything is ok-ay!"

Lastly, for the Television critics that I found in this film is essentialism. The stereotype that the director wanted to show in this film is, at that time women are so weak and regarded as mere greed. This is because, there is a scene where Aida, the wife of Lieutenant Azri and her younger sister were raped by a group of communists who came to their house unexpectedly in the absence of their parents and were brutally murdered after a group of communists satisfied their lust.

I've found a few elements in terms of stable and text volatility after watching this series. Based on my observation, the weapon is simply the sign, whereas the signified may vary — brave, responsibility, freedom that allows text to become erratic while the signifier means exists objectively. In the movie, Bravo 5, the weapon shows just how brave and capable these squad commandos can be when fighting in battle. We can see from the scene where the squad of 5 commandos fought desperately to save their country from being pillaged by outsiders, the communist party. As we can see, their willingness to raise their weapons during the war was extremely courageous and full of passion for the country. This is because, not everyone has this attitude.

SIGNIFIER	SIGNIFIED #1	SIGNIFIED #2
Weapon		Brave

Furthermore, each film released will have its own approach to genre analysis including the one directed by M. Hilter Zami. There are 3 approaches to genre analysis that I found from my observations on this Bravo 5 film which are aesthetic approaches, ritual approaches and ideological approaches. Firstly, the aesthetic approaches. Aesthetic approaches can be also known as hybridization or a combination of many types of genres. In this film called Bravo 5, the director of this film wanted this film genres to be portrayed as a history, war and patriotism. The history of the genre is here because, it is an adaptation of the true story that took place last year around 1989. At that time, there was a war between Malaysia and the Communist Party. Malaysia was no longer occupied by the party, but due to the struggle of our armed forces who fought hard until the communists were defeated, the country was saved. This war has caused a lot of bloodshed resulting in the loss of many loved ones. The spirit of patriotism here we can see where these colonized villagers also willingly to help these commandos during their time of need. As an example in this film, villagers in the native village tell of a safer exit for the two members so that they can be safe from the communist party's fortress.

Next, the ritual approaches. The ritual approach shows the value of the ritual that can be found in on drama or a film itself. A ritual is a sequence of activities that include movements, words, acts, or artifacts that have been conducted in a sequestered position and according to a specified sequence. As an example in this film, the ritual value that I can find is they believe in religious. There are many scenes that they include in this film to show how they respect their religious from different religions such as Islam and Hindu. In the film, the director includes scenes such as the funeral procession of the deceased Morgan’s Mother, who died because of old age. In the scene, they show that the ceremony was actually performed. The clothes used during the ceremony were also in accordance with their own understanding. In addition, the director also included religious scenes such as the scene where these commandos still perform their mandatory prayers, even when they are in the jungle to perform their operations.

The last approaches to genre analysis are ideological approaches. Ideological approaches is the main storyline or the main idea of ​​the drama or movie. Although this film may be relatively new, as it was released in 2015. It still maintains the storyline or idea of ​​the validity of this tragedy. For example, the director of this film still retains the storyline of this story, this story tells about the struggles of 5 members of commandos to implement the mission to save Tanah Melayu from being colonized by the Communist Party in 1989. The storyline like this makes the audience more affected compared to the western films. This is because, the Bravo 5 shows a lot about the passion and struggles they had, what the villagers were going through and many more. As for western films, their storyline is more about saving the country from being destroyed as an example of a war to save the country from nuclear war and so on. Also, the CGI of this movie is a bit unattractive as it seems unreal. This is because, there are some scenes that I find they use CGI and it didn’t reach my taste as an audience. For example, the scene which begins at the beginning of the film between Karim and a man after finding his fiancée is cheating behind him. In addition, the scene when the bomb exploded during the war also looked very unreal.

According to Northon Frye's theory (1957), there are viewed plot types as coming in four different varieties and each associated with season such as romances are spring, comedies are summer, tragedies are autumn and ironic literature is winter. In this film, it tells a lot about tragedy that happened in 1989. According to this frye theory, films related to this tragedy will usually take place in the autumn season. Many western films also show that usually film that have tragedy is closely related to the autumn season. But for this film directed by M.Hilter Zami, this theory does not work and it is contrary to Frye's theory. In this Bravo 5 film, the director has not revealed any of the specifications of the season they used to make the film successful. In addition, Malaysia is not a four-season country, so this movie contradicts Frye's theory.

The mise-en-scene can also be seen in films made by M. Hilter Zami as an attractive costume for successful plot and storyline as planned. In this film, the director uses the uniforms and real equipment used by the Malaysian armed forces. In addition, the language used in this movie is also easy to understand for all ages. This is because they have no figurative language or difficult to understand languages. Also, in this movie, they show a lot of the Sign Language they use during the war. The instructions used by the military are very much shown in the Bravo 5. The film does little to enhance some knowledge to the audience.

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