Alex

Last night there was a documentary on Channel U about the life of a boy, Alex, who grew up in an unhappy home because his parents were always quarrelling and taking out their frustration on him.

The documentary traced his life from the time he was about nine when he fell into bad company till the present day. Scenes from the past were re-enacted by actors but the narration that threaded the chronological segments of his life was done by Alex who has now turned over a new leaf.

He had vandalised property, shoplifted, smoked and took drugs. When he was caught for having drugs in his possession, he was sent to a Boy's Home where he had to kick his drug addiction doing cold turkey. It was tough for him and he learned that despite his parents' treatment of him in the past, they and his sister were the only people in the world who stood by him, encouraged him and helped him to regain his self-worth.

Through the help of a social worker he picked himself up, went back to school and topped his cohort in the final-year examinations and he gives talks to students in his school, telling them about this past and motivating them to do good with their lives.

This first-person account account is touching and seeing a real person who is unafraid to reveal his past misdeeds talking about his dreams and aspirations make this documentary one that is deserving of special mention for the way it was made. I do not know how kids who are at risk view Alex. Do they dismiss him as uncool because he turned good? Maybe.

Having watched Alex's story on TV, I am glad that he told it unashamedly and I hope that he continues to be a positive influence on the lives of those who have for various reasons fallen by the wayside and who reject and are rejected by people around them. I hope that teenagers who happened to have watched this documentary will empathise with Alex and learn from him that though it may take tremendous effort to change, it takes only determination to do so.

Just Follow Law - A Jack Neo Movie

I watched this movie with my kids after having had dinner at Swenson's in February around Chinese New Year. This is a made-in-Singapore movie by Jack Neo for Singaporeans to laugh at themselves. He makes a movie in time for release every year during Chinese New Year and though he may not be known internationally we really need a great local talent like him to make us realise that when we have dreams, we should go all out to make them come true.

He pokes fun at people from all stratas of society and uses dialects so liberally that we can literally roll off our chairs (for those who understand like the older folks, moi included) and those who roll off a second later after reading the sub-titles (my kids).This time it's a movie about the civil service and all its red-tapes, endless meetings, ridiculous bureaucratic practices and civil servant bosses. The scenes were representative of the typical civil service operation magnified many times for that hilarious effect.

Especially classic was the depiction of the emails shooting around the departments, laterally and vertically till someone got 'killed' in the end. That was my favourite segment of the movie.Apart from the humour that was quite slapstick in parts, there was the typical Jack Neo moralising on filial piety, parental love and the need to make something with your life. I hope my kids were moved by these segments.

The TV magazine gave it a two star rating. I think they are just jealous of this super-talented guy who has endeared himself to us masses with his frank and brutal portrayals of how life is in Singapore, expressing what Singaporeans feel deep inside. I give him a 4 star. He missed perfection by one star because there were parts that were a little draggy.

The male and female leads were wonderful in their own ways - superb because they are already established stars in their own right. However, I really love all the supporting cast - they were really a scream, each and every one of them - the auntie cleaner/dancers, the technicians, the "cheapest-quote" pyrotechics contractor who literally set the stage on fire, the 'kia-see' (afraid to die) CEO, the suffering minister, the very pregnant supervisor whose job was to doggedly carry out orders without question, the Tamil-spewing security guard who in just a few appearances gave us much insight about what makes him tick.

Special mention goes to his boss and the two bootlickers who plotted to put a more capable colleague down so they would look good in front of the big boss.

We must also not forget the 'professional medium' and his sidekick who worked their backs off to help solve the problem in the movie and failing to achieve success offered the services of more powerful deities for additional fees.Also deserving of accolades were the actors who played an assortment of civil servants whose common key performance indicator seemed to be the rate and speed they passed enquiries from the public from one statutory board to another using very officious tones and expressions. They made great impressions even though each one had appeared for less than a minute's duration on the screen.

I particularly liked the dialect-speaking mum whom I can relate to because she is just a simple, bothersome mum whose only fault was that she loved her daughter so much. Makes me think of my mum because I am like her daughter in some ways. You have to be a mum and have much love for your kids to be able to think of your own mum and feel the love that you never felt was there before. Have I mentioned all? Yes, I think I have and they are really unforgettable performances. Kudos!When the movie ended and the lights came on, it was back to real life.

The VCD and DVD of this movie is out in the shops so get a copy so that you can watch it when you are in need of a good laugh now and then.

The five people you meet in heaven

Written last Christmas

I just finished reading "The Five People you meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom. Today is Christmas Eve and I have a few hours to myself before friends and famiy arrive to be together on this day where our reason for the gathering is really to celebrate friendship.

This book draws attention to how people live through life with so much hurt and puzzlement. Even in death they carry these baggages to their graves and are unable to enter Heaven as they were because Heaven is a place only for those who enter it with peace and love.

We learn about how the 5 people in the story come to terms with their bitterness, hate, fears and loss and how everything we did on earth had affected the lives of others in various ways.The key message is that we posess the power to influence the lives of others, especially our children. Known or unknown to us, our children's fate is in our hands. How true it is when the author described children as glass that we adults have the power to crack or shatter.

On the eve of Christmas, I hope that the people whose lives have not been whole or fulfilled can be with someone who will be a source of warmth and comfort to them for as long as they wish. All the shopping and presents cannot make up for the joy of one human being offering love and friendship and another simply appreciating it.

Edward Scissorhands

There's something interesting about this movie "Edward Scissorhands" that I cannot seem to pinpoint. Is it a story about being different, weird or outright freakish? Is it about how people perceive the world through their own lenses and when presented with something or someone less than perfect in their view and not fitting into their idea of what is normal, they respond with fake acceptance, apprehension or rejection. How would you respond when you see someone whose hands are gigantic pairs of scissors? How would you respond when you meet someone like Edward Scisorhands?

Edward Scissorhands discovers by accident his talent for cutting (of course) starting with shaping shrubs in the neighbourhood to styling dog's fur and ultimatley to displaying artistic talent for hairstyling (women's hair). His talent escalates and soon people forget that he is 'different' and soon treat him like one of their kind. What happens if he were to trade his scissorhands for prosthetic hands? Would he then become nobody special and fade into oblivion? Will he still be special like a famous TV personality well-known for his styling feats or will he be special to those who don't really care if he is famous or not.

His innocence beomes his undoing as people take advantage of him from the lusty woman in the neighbourhood to a bunch of teenagers who need his assistance to stage a burglary in one of their homes. Not knowing what he is doing when he agrees to help, he is left behind when the burglary goes wrong and he is arrested. Soon, those who cannot not hurt him or take advantage of him completely begin to tell lies about him and he is shunned even by those who have benefitted from his talents before. But he never gives up. In his isolation from those who never see him beyond what they could get from him, Edward Scissorhands creates the best work that his heart could conjure up - an ice sculpture of an angel that looks like the girl he is in love with. Then as suddenly as he has found peace, evil in the form of the girl's jealous boyfriend taunts him and a series of unintended mishaps make him appear to be dangerous to the community. He is driven back to the castle where he came from alone and misunderstood.

The jealous boyfriend follows him and is killed by Edward trying to protect the girl from harm. The whole town arrives to conclude that Edward Scissorhands is who they have always thought him to be - a freak, a misfit - and they get him out of their lives.

Edward, returns to a world where he is happy but alone in his own castle with the beautiful memories of the family who have given him their love but were not able to sustain it because by and large, people who see beyond 'disabilities' or what they perceive as abnormal, are rare. It takes very special people to be able to stand up to those who ostracise them and equally special ones to stand by them.

Edward Scissorhands is a story about growing up and going through an important phase in your life where you come to realise who really loves you and who does not.