Hikayat Hang Tuah, or "the tale of Hang Tuah", usually brings to mind images of brave, just and morally faultless warriors as well as a painful dilemma between loyalty to one‘s king or steadfastness to one‘s best friend. That the legendary and larger-than-life Malay hero Hang Tuah would ever be caught in a fatally difficult love affair was not even imagined.
This aspect alone was thus enough to fill this writer with the curiosity to see the Malaysian-Indonesian production Puteri Gunung Ledang (The Princess of Mount Ledang), which closed the Australian Malaysian Film Festival last weekend.
Expecting at least some of the histrionics typical among films of this genre, I walked into the cinema prepared to feel irritated from time to time.
Instead, the film was riveting from beginning to end.
Taking advantage of the filmmaker‘s creative license, Enfiniti Productions made minor modifications to the traditional lore by presenting the heroine as a Majapahit princess from Java, Gusti Putri Retno Dumillah, played convincingly and with subtlety by Tiara Jacquelina.
Retno, according to the film, sails to the Malay peninsula then continues on foot to Mt. Ledang, accompanied by a small group of servants under the supervision of lady-in-waiting Bayan (Christine Hakim). Retno travels to Malacca to fulfill her promise to the handsome Malaccan admiral, Hang Tuah, played by M. Nasir.
The two meet as Hang Tuah is accompanying his then royal master, Sultan Mahmud Shah of Malacca, on a tour of the region. They fall in love at first sight as Retno entertains the exalted guests with her dance troupe.
A modern woman born far too early in the 15th century, Retno arranges a meeting during which she woos Hang Tuah with an extremely refined dance, accompanied by appropriately sedate music.
Not even a suggestion of the untoward shedding of clothing is detected nor explicit body language shown in the scene. The dance is slow and deliberate, focusing on the fluid movements of the arms, hands and fingers delivered with mostly downcast eyes -- yet the air becomes saturated with erotic energy, and the strong warrior is reduced to a mere man, intoxicated with love and desire.
The tragedy begins in earnest when Gusti Adipati Handayaningrat of Majapahit (Alex Komang), finds his kingdom threatened by the neighboring Demak Kingdom. Adipati thus plans to offer his sister, Retno, in marriage to the Sultan of Demak to prevent an invasion, only to discover that Retno has left for Malacca without his permission, pursuing a dream of love.
Despite his anger, Adipati, with the aid of prime minister Patih (Slamet Rahardjo), embarks on Plan B.
Since Retno is already in Malacca, the two offer her to Sultan Mahmud Shah in order to secure Malacca‘s aid against Demak. The Malaccan sultan accepts and sends to Mt. Ledang a group of envoys -- headed by none other than Hang Tuah -- to deliver his marriage proposal to Retno.
But first, the envoys must find her. Retno has supernatural powers that can prevent anyone from approaching her, but of course she wants to see Hang Tuah.
Torn by his absolute loyalty to his king and his love for Retno, Hang Tuah goes on to see her. And while he renews his vows of love, "Ne‘er a day passed without my longing to be with you," the non-verbal message is clear: He cannot betray his king.
This brief and poignantly tragic reunion is to be the last for the lovers. Retno, aware that she has no hope of bending Hang Tuah‘s will, resolves to return to Java and marry the Demak sultan instead, as she will not be able to live in the same kingdom as her lover while she is another‘s wife.
The plot thickens as, instead of a straight rejection, Retno agrees to marry the Malaccan sultan if he is able to fulfill seven difficult conditions -- the last is a bowl of blood from the Sultan‘s favorite son.
The Sultan, determined to marry her, sets out to meet her demands when she appears magically before him and tells him that the conditions she offered were in reality a form of rejection.
Enraged by the humiliation, the Sultan places a curse upon her that she will live alone on Mt. Lebang, forever -- and that whoever sees her before the following dawn will die vomiting blood.
Despite his superhuman strength and endurance, Hang Tuah arrives too late at Mt. Lebang and pleads: "Show yourself to me...! I would rather die vomiting blood than not see you ever again!"
The film has sparse dialogue, relying instead on music, facial expressions and body language to carry the plot. Being a Hang Tuah story, it also has a few action scenes. The dialogue, especially that between Retno and Hang Tuah, is in poetic verse, hers delivered in Bahasa Indonesia and his in Malay. The English subtitles are translated well.
Puteri Gunung Ledang is an incredibly beautiful production in which director Saw Teong Hin, producers Shazalli Ramly, Tiara Jacqueline, Ade Djajamihardja and Mini Purushot, and the rest of the crew have clearly found the right chemistry.
Ultimately, it is a truly memorable film that tells an extremely touching story -- without histrionics.
Source: www.thejakartapost.com (28 Agustus 2007)
