Movie Title: Ola Bola
Release Date: 28 January 2016
Genre: Sports
Director: Chiu Keng Guan
Stars: JC Chee, Luqman Hafidz, Saran Kumar Manokaran, Bront Palarae
IMDB Rating: N/A
Storyline:
Ola Bola tells the tale of the golden age of Malaysian football when the Malaysian national football team qualifies for the Olympic Moscow 1980.
My Rating: 8.0/10
My Review: (No spoilers in this review, I think you guys need to see it for yourself!)
I was very excited for this movie and hopeful for this movie. Just based on the trailer, I saw that this movie has the potential to become the Malaysian Movie of the Year. Inspired by the events of qualification of the Malaysian National Football Team the Moscow Olympics 1980, the movie captures well the cultural diversity and the patriotism of Malaysia as a multi-racial country. The movie portrays the hardships of Malaysians in the 80s, the difficulties of footballers to juggle their life as footballers and as a family member.
The movie started with a very broken Malaysian team which was later united under the management of the new coach through intensive training and restructuring of the team. The plot focus on values of teamwork, patriotism and perseverance, something every person should strive for. Moments in the movie does make me feel a sense of pride in being a Malaysian and knowing we as Malaysian are capable of great things. I admit to almost tearing up in some moments of the movie.
The movie has a very diverse atmosphere by using different languages in different scenes instead of maintaining a 100% Malay dialogue. This shows the natural behavior and diversity of cultures in Malaysia. The director managed to capture the audience with good laughs and strong storyline keeping the movie very interesting. The choreography of the football matches is well done. The use of CGI was also very convincing. I am impressed with the casting choices with so many new faces and convincing acting.
My final verdict, this movie is a must watch movie with a very strong script and acting with good technical film making. I recommend everyone to watch this movie. A job well done and thank you, Chiu, for making such a good movie. It is good to have this type of movie in the Malaysian film industries which is always saturated with repetitive romance and comedy movies.
As the movie tagline says "You will believe again", I BELIEVE!
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