`Sampek-Engtay' portrays women as mere objects

By Arif Suryobuwono

JAKARTA (JP): "Set me as a seal upon your heart, ..., for love is as strong as death, and jealousy as cruel as the grave."

This part of the Song of Solomon can be found in the Bible, as sung in The Legend of Sampek-Engtay, a Hong Kong film based on a classical Chinese love story which has been playing in local movie houses since last week.

With blood running from her finger, Engtay wrote her full name on Sampek's gravestone, letting rain wash away the overly thick white cream applied to her face which her tears have streaked rivulets through.

Then she threw herself into Sampek's suddenly opening grave and was buried.

Sampek and Engtay came from unequal social rank, which the film exaggerates: Engtay studied at master Ciu Su Ciang's school accompanied by ten servants; Sampek worked at the same school doing odd jobs, such as ringing the school bell every morning, to help finance his tuition.

Engtay's ambitious mother forced her, the only daughter, to marry somebody of a higher social rank, shattering the girl's plan to elope with Sampek. This caused Sampek sheer agony and he wrote Engtay a letter denying their love, only to have blood squirt from his mouth while writing.

But this film, which tries to rejuvenate the 1,600-year-old story with some unexpected jocularity, is not quite your typical movie.

It portrays the paradox of freedom typically inherent in an upper-class society: freedom to do everything, good and bad, to maintain and increase their wealth, power and status which, strangely but logically, forms a barrier which severely limits them from mingling with, let alone marrying, people of lower birth.

That this is quite clearly superfluous is depicted in the film, with the addition of a monk who is slapped in the face by Engtay's mother for telling her the importance of freedom by saying "there should not be a fish pond in this world."

The film portrays women as mere objects who are subject to sale -- even by their own parents. Hence, they are treated as a business investment: nurtured, groomed and adorned because they are supposed to marry tycoons, or at least wealthier men, to ensure a greater return of investment and keep the family's dignity intact.

This is clear when, driven by ambition to have a highly salable daughter like she herself once was, Engtay's mother ordered her to disguise herself as a boy and attend school to learn music, poetry and art, in order to boost her selling price.

This differs from the original version where it was Engtay who persistently nagged until her father granted her wish to pursue an education.

The film consistently degraded Engtay's reputation as a clever and independent girl by describing her as a temperamental tomboy -- perhaps intended to rationalize her disguise as a schoolboy -- who was too fond of spending most of her time playing with Sampek so that in the final examination her ten servants had to help her cheat.

The film's disparaging scene of Engtay's dependency on Sampek in helping her memorize poetry for tomorrow's final examination further tarnishes her fierce struggle for women's rights in having access to education which, at that time, was enjoyed solely by males.

To make matters worse, the film seems to interpret women's existence in terms of sex. On the way home after graduating from the school, Engtay jumped out from the sedan chair, rushed to Sampek who was also on his way home, led him to escape from her ten servants, and, alone in the middle of a forest, started cuddling and kissing him.

As rain poured down, the passionate two entered a cave, covered the cave's entrance with a thick branch of bamboo and ... you can guess what happened next ...

However, the director's attempt to make the story look natural deserves praise, although the last scene becomes illogical: as if by magic, the monk appears in Engtay's bedroom, takes Engtay's picture of a pair of butterflies, cuts them out, and gives them life, as if he were God.

Seeing this film is not a waste of time unless you are a staunch advocate of women's rights.