Reimagining Leftenan Adnan Saidi : cinematic constructions of Malay war heroism

• Main Author: Nur Izzah Ibrahim
• Other Authors: Scott Michael Anthony
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: DRNTU::Humanities
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/73610
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Despite Leftenan Adnan’s prominence as a war hero within the Malay community in Singapore and Malaysia, little is known about the cinematic constructions of him produced between 2000 and 2001. In an attempt to shed light on this issue, this essay will analyze the motivations, production processes involved and significance of these biographical films in negotiating collective and individual memories of the legendary figure. To explore this, my paper will also examine the various approaches adopted by these films in depicting Lt Adnan’s racial and religious identity as well as the influence of the film’s production model on these cinematic constructions. In essence, it argues that the historical discourses, adopted in Singapore and Malaysia, surrounding his heroism were largely influenced by the prevailing state ideologies and sensitives of the period. However, following the release of these films, it became apparent that the perception and interest of the Singapore Malay community, especially, and the respective governments on Adnan’s war memory took a diverging path. This essay hopes to shed some light on how this aspect of the two countries’ common history could be interpreted differently and what were the factors that could have contributed to this.