Set in Malaya during the Japanese occupation in the 1940s, this film tells the story of a girl, Embun, who's thrown into the forefront of the struggle against the Japanese when her freedom-fighter brother, Bayu, and father are detained by the Japanese. In the midst of it all, she's also attracted to the Japanese army public relations man, Koishi, who is assigned to explain the Japanese propaganda to the Malays and win their support. Koishi also has a personal mission to fulfil in Malaya to find the Malay man who married his mother (in other words, his father) when she served as a Japanese spy prior to the occupation.
Acting
Umie Aida's devastating restraint as torn loyalties consume her
Production
Rare Malaysian lens on Japanese occupation, not just British colonialism
Writing
Koishi's father-hunt twist complicates every 'villain' label
Director
Erma Fatima
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
One of the first Malaysian films to humanize Japanese occupiers rather than depict them as faceless monsters, sparking controversy upon release. Erma Fatima specifically wanted to complicate the 'Malay victim/Japanese aggressor' binary.
Koishi's search for his Malay father mirrors real historical children of Japanese occupation—many 'Japanese' soldiers in Malaya were actually Koreans or Taiwanese conscripts, and post-war, thousands of mixed-race children were abandoned.
MY
