Tuesday, March 21, 2006

E for Entry

Last Friday, the 5 SJI Mats (N for Nazir, M for Mus, N for Nas, A for Aizat and S for Me) minus I for Iskandar plus W for Wak watched an M for Movie at L for Lido. And yes you guessed it by the retarded way I'm giving you the first alphabet of certain words, the movie was V for Vendetta. It's a cyberpunk movie with an S for Shitload of parallels to World War 2 G for Germany, only thing it's set in a fascist E for England, sometime in the not-too-distant future.

At the end of the movie, my head ran for me its own version of V for Vendetta, only in the context of post-apocalyptic Singapore. And its main protagonists are Mats. Plus, there is a minute Smallville reference in it.

I present to you M for Void Deck, Sial - a short, screenplay-style treatise on a post-apocalyptic fascist Singapore...

WOODLANDS, SINGAPORE.

A Mat and a Minah - SITI and ALI respectively - sit on their couch, watching TV. On the boob tube is a political rally, in which an impassioned POLITICIAN speaks of the nation's strength, and how it will never bow down to the pressures of the international community.

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POLITICIAN ON TV: This country will never bow down to the demands of that pigsty they call the United Nations. They have tried to stand together and called for us to treat the protesters with respect and dignity. And who are they? The Africans! Anything done that even hints at a lack of respect and dignity will get the Africans talking. Because they haven't had any since the 12th century. Who else? Americans! Americans - they don't even treat one another with respect and dignity, but they expect it from the outside. Eat hamburgers, you fat hypocrites!

SITI: What only this guy! Nowadays, Americans drink more coffee than they eat hamburgers sial.

ALI: Chill ah brudder. (long pause) What's coffee? Is it something you pay when you cough?

SITI: No you buto. It's a black-coloured drink that keeps you awake when you drink it.

ALI: Oh... tongkat ali?

SITI: I'm going to smack you.

SITI starts smacking ALI.

ALI: Ouch! Wait! Stop! (points at the ceiling) There's someone standing on the ceiling!

SITI: (looks around) Huh? Where?

ALI runs off.

SITI: (squints his eyes at the ceiling) Eh I don't see it ah!

ALI runs up the stairs.

SITI: (walks towards area under ceiling, looks really really hard at ceiling) Hello? Anybody there?

SITI turns around and realises ALI was no longer there. He runs up the stairs after her.

ALI is standing on the roof of their HDB flat. She's looking out at Woodlands sprawled ahead of her, its night lights blinking nostalgia into her being. The roof access hatch opens, and out climbs SITI. He walks over to where ALI is, and stands beside her.

ALI: You know, all that whacking reminded me of what our people are going through with this government in power.

SITI: They get whacked for tongkat ali jokes?

ALI: They'd get whacked for less...

SITI: Even bad knock knock jokes?

ALI: Yeah...

SITI: Knock knock!

ALI: Who's there?

SITI: Geylang.

ALI: Geylang who?

SITI: The uncle who didn't give Lana any cousins.

ALI: (stares at SITI...after long pause,) You wanna hear some music?

SITI: Okay. So where did you steal the discman or i-pod or whatever?

ALI: No, Siti... The music is out here...

ALI gestures out to Woodlands, and SITI's eyes follow her hands. Beyond them, the buildings of Woodlands start to move. They then sit down in two rows, with the tallest among them standing by the side. There was the sound of concrete slapping against concrete, and then deep, rumbling voices sang out...

BUILDINGS: Hey, this is the dikir barat of the HDB flats/All you brothers and sisters stop behaving like prats/Oh politics is going down the drain/All we feel is suffering and a lot of pain/If you really had to choose/Would you stay or kaboose?

SITI: Dudette, nice dikir barat!

ALI: This is only the start. When I'm done, the government buildings will start moving, and everybody in it will be moved by the power of dikir barat. And we'll finally get treated with dignity and respect and we can bathe in the glory of human rights.

SITI: ...Yeah okay. You wanna grab some satay?

ALI: Yeah sure!

SITI and ALI walk off, into the sunset, and off the edge of the HDB flat.

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