Reviewed by Slekamala
It was a movie treat day for me and as “Anwar: The Untold Story” was playing in the theatres, I chose to watch the movie. It turned out to be a good decision. I realised there were many things that people, including me, did not really know much about the country’s 10th prime minister Anwar Ibrahim and what was really happening in the late 1990s.
The movie documents Anwar’s days as finance minister to his fallout with former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad to his imprisonment and the Reformasi days.
I found the movie interesting as I learnt through the many scenes some of the happenings in the country and how Anwar went through some of the upheavals in his life and what was really happening to him and his family beyond the headlines that hogged the newspapers during the period. At least from the perspective of the script writer.
The portrayal of him as a successful finance minister who did not allow any politician or businessman to corrupt him by actor Farid Kamil was reasonably convincing.
There were several heart tugging scenes portraying the pain of Anwar’s wife and children as they dealt with Anwar’s arrest and imprisonment. There were also the portrayals of how some people became uncomfortable with him and feared his rising power. The injustices done to him were cleverly woven into the plot, and I suspect many of the movie goers, like me, could have felt a sense of indignation with what had happened. There were also scenes that played up the admirable qualities and statesmanship of Anwar.
While there were some scenes where the flow of the story seemed a bit disjointed, the actors played their roles well and the story of Anwar in the realm of movie world was quite engaging. Most of all, it was an interesting recapture of the events of Malaysia’s financial crisis in 1998, the Anwar-Mahathir saga, and probably an eye-opener for many Malaysians who may have never known the country’s present prime minister’s past political history.
Slekamala is a movie buff and an avid reader who also dabbles in gardening during her free time.