Letters to a Young Muslim & The Two Popes

So yesterday I finished reading this book called Letters to a Young Muslim by Omar Saif Ghobash. I borrowed it from my housemate. I was expecting more from that book, so in the end I was kinda left a bit unsatisfied. So please people, don’t put your expectations so high in a book until you read them k.

Well, to sum up generally, this book is written in a way that letters from a father to his son. The writer tell us about how his father who was an arab being killed by a terrorist when he was a six years old, and how he struggled with the traditional thinking of the arab world or muslim world in middle east, hiw he struggled with his identity as his mother is russian, and he posed some questions that young muslim as his son should not be worry to ask provocative questions even though it considers as taboo in the muslim community generally. There a lot of questions being thrown here and there but the writer didn’t give any answers, because it left to the readers to find it I guess.

I think because living in muslim community in Malaysia where we don’t really have problems for extremists here, and because the issues brought up in this book for me is nothing new from what I have read of, made me feel like this is just an ok book? But I read a several good reviews from others so I think it depends on individual, of course.

And soon after I finished reading this, I watched a movie called The Two Popes which I find it so entertaining. It inspired from a true story of how Pope Francis being elected as a Pope, but the dialogues between the two of them might be fictional. But I love their conversations! The issues brought up in the catholic community like the conservatives and Church reformer, are also the issues that the muslim community faced as well.

It’s on Netflix!

Bisik Pada Langit

Alkisahnya, semalam buat pertama kali jejakkan kaki di Paya Bunga Square (PBS) untuk menonton wayang bersama dengan kakak dan emak. PBS ni baru lagi dibuka di Terengganu, sebab tulah baru aja pergi. Ini pun kakak yang belanja tiket wayang dan emak ni kena buat ulasan bagi filem ni. Aku kalau ikutkan memang niat nak tengok filem ni sebab Kabir Bhatia sudah lama tak keluarkan filem baru, jadi bila Bisik Pada Langit sudah masuk panggung, memang rasa teruja.

Aku memang tak ikuti pun perkembangan drama atau filem-filem melayu, memang tak suka. Tapi bagi arahan Kabir Bhatia, sejak drama Nur Kasih, memang aku ikuti termasuklah filem Cinta dan Sepi. Sinematografinya cantik, barisan pelakon yang berbakat dan jalan cerita yang bagus, bukan tipikal filem melayu.

Jadi berbalik kepada Bisik Pada Langit...

[credit: Google]

Bagi aku filem ini membawa tema yang biasa dan jalan cerita yang biasa-biasa sahaja. Di mana, yang biasa itulah yang membuatkan para penonton boleh relate dengan cerita ini. Membawa tema kekeluargaan berkenaan dengan kasih sayang seorang ayah yang pilih kasih, adik yang iri, pengorbanan anak sulong dan anak perempuan yang membawa harapan keluarga.

Situasi sebegini memang berlaku dalam masyarakat, antara sebab yang penonton boleh memahami perasaan watak-watak di dalam kisah ini. Bab mengalir air mata tu tak payah cakaplah, memang emosi sangat dari awal sampai akhir. Apatah lagi aku ni jenis cengeng (bak kata kawan-kawan). Ada juga sedikit babak lucu yang boleh membuatkan penonton tergelak.

Apa yang aku dapat simpulkan daripada kisah ini, apabila sesuatu yang paling kita sayang itu ditarik balik, barulah kita sedar akan kepentingan sesuatu yang lain. Sesuatu yang diabaikan sebelum ini. Dan dalam kisah ini, sayangnya seorang ayah pada satu-satunya anak perempuannya, menyebabkan si ayah terlupa bahawa dia juga masih mempunyai dua orang lagi anak lelaki yang juga menagih kasih sayangnya.

Kisah biasa-biasa yang penuh emosi.