Apprentice (2016)
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Review #1,315 |
THE SCOOP
Director: Boo Junfeng
Cast: Firdaus Rahman, Wan Hanafi Su, Mastura Ahmad
Plot: Aiman is a 28-year-old Malay correctional officer who is recently transferred to the territory's top prison. At his new workplace, he seems to take an unusual interest in another colleague—the long-serving chief executioner of the prison, and one of the most prolific in the world.
Genre: Drama
Awards: Nom. for Un Certain Regard Award (Cannes)
Runtime: 96min
Rating: M18 for mature content
International Sales: Luxbox
Singapore Distributor: Clover Films & Golden Village Pictures
IN RETROSPECT (Spoilers: NO)
Premiered
at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard category, Apprentice may have gone home empty-handed, but that's not to say
that it didn't deserve it. This is a
marked improvement over Sandcastle
(2010), Boo Junfeng's debut feature, which I had an issue with the male lead's
off-key performance.
Here
you have nothing of that sort with strong performances by the trio—Firdaus
Rahman as Aiman, Mastura Ahmad as his sister Suhaila, and Wan Hanafi Su as Rahim
the hangman. Apprentice follows Aiman as he works in a prison. He soon crosses paths with the chief
executioner, who has been pulling the lever for condemned souls for decades.
Drawn
closer by the process of death by hanging than ever before—and becoming an
apprentice of sorts to Rahim, Aiman is haunted by his family's torrid history,
and a lingering uncertainty on what the future holds.
Boo's
direction is restrained, never calling his craft to attention, thus channeling
a low-key vibe that works well with the heavy subject matter. There are no theatrics, but there are
powerful moments of character interplay.
Rahman has highly-charged scenes with Suhaila and Rahim separately that
calibrate his relationships with them from a psychological point-of-view, which
affects how he thinks about capital punishment.
In a
way, Apprentice functions not just as
a character study of one man's psychological burden, but through Aiman's
uncertain moral bearings, the film pivots precariously on the glaring and
controversial issue of the death penalty.
Boo's film doesn't fervently align with any side, but there's a subtle
nod towards the virtuous—if complex—notion of compassion.
Unlike
other films about capital punishment, Apprentice
details like a procedural the mechanics of executing (or should I say, murdering)
a person. It is a disturbing process
that still continues today in various grotesque forms in many countries—my
country included.
There
have been many films about the subject, made by masters of cinema. Notably, Kieslowski's A Short Film About Killing (1988) remains to be one of the
greatest. Capital punishment is made as
a subject of ridicule in Kubrick's Paths of Glory (1957). In Asia, Oshima
made the explicitly-titled Death by
Hanging (1968), and Lee Hsing directed the beautiful and elegiac Execution in Autumn (1972), amongst many
others.
Boo's
sophomore feature is in good company, and at least in the context of Singapore
cinema, will be remembered for being bold and brave. As long as the death penalty continues to
persist in Singapore, Apprentice will
be eternally timely for all of us.
Verdict: A marked improvement over ‘Sandcastle’, Boo’s
sophomore feature is a measured effort with strong performances, and content to
be a character study of one man’s psychological and moral bearings in relation
to capital punishment.
GRADE: B+
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