Dukun Sends Shivers Down the Spine

You know that at the maiden screening of Dukun the movie, it is not going to be just another Malay movie when a prayer precedes proceedings.

Not a taped minus-one supplication of the doa but a live recitation by a real ustaz, specially engaged for the occasion beseeching divine providence.

Dukun was rumored to have been loosely based on a high-profile murder in 1993. The case involved a politician who had engaged a woman bomoh (shaman) Mona Fandey, who killed the former in a ritual. Mona Fandey was hanged for the murder in 2001 but gained popularity throughout the trial for her lavish fashion and playing to the cameras.

The movie was ready for general release more than a decade ago but did not make it past the censors then, and was shelved at the insistence of Mona Fandey's family.

Directed by Dain Said, Dukun goes back to the Land of the Bataks in Sumatera women shamans practise black magic and claim to wield the secret of invincibility.

The scene shifts back to Malaysia - where the film’s protagonist, a singer who goes by the stage name Diana Dahlan, played by Umie Aida,happens to dabble in black magic. A businessman Datuk Jefri is attracted by Diana’s supernatural powers – never mind that it involves witchcraft, shamanism and sorcery, all elements that amount to heathenism and syirk in Islam.

In Dukun, Datuk Jefri sought Diana’s pact with the devil to help him secure lucrative business contracts. Things then go wrong when she hacks him in a ritual, bloodily eats his heart and gets arrested for murder.

Audiences are also not disappointed (somewhat interestingly) as Datuk Jefri's gruesome end has mutilation scenes worthy of triple-X rating.

She admits proudly but the court decides she must have a lawyer, and in comes Karim, who has his own mystery.

The song Merana Jiwa is a saviour of the movie as it is truly a haunting melody playing in your mind long after you leave the cinema.

However, what was interesting was how some parts got through censorship, and one would come away with complex questions on a community which prides itself on prayers and talismans.