Ayat-Ayat Cinta -- Why Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Romance

I must be the last person around to watch Ayat-Ayat Cinta. I had originally wanted to drag The Hasbern to catch it in a theatre for the full cinematic experience, but plan tak jadi-jadi. In the end had to settle for a ciplak dvd. [Disclaimer: I hate watching pirated movies but curiosity got the better of me this time]

Our take on it?

To The Hasbern, Fahri’s predicament is such a oh-so-wonderful problem to have – having 4 admirers and oh…getting to marry The One With The Eyes – Aisha, the rich, intriguingly niqab-clad one - only to have her forcing you to marry the equally gorgeous lovable one – Coptic-Christian Maria. Who, by the way, are both luuk kreung (Thai for ‘anak separuh’ or half-caste), with Aisha being of Turkish-German descent no less. Oh..what a wonderful headache to suffer from.

Men.

Why must the 2 girls who win be the gorgeous half-caste ones eh? Apa…kalau good old indo girls tak layak ke? Menyampah. Turkish-German lagi. Hrrrmmpphh.

But that aside, I think Fedy Nuril played Fahri very well. He’s not devastatingly handsome in the usual Indo sinetron sort of way. He’s just right for the role with that lost hapless look. Dan dari dulu nenek cakap cari lelaki yang beriman kan. Ha…the scene when he looked down and gulped seconds after seeing Aisha’s face was so cute and awwww. And while slowly he revel in the fact that he’s got both chicks, he did act all awkward in the beginning.

On a more serious note, watching this movie as a married woman, the main p.o.l.y.g.a.m.y issue hits closer to home than say if I’d watched it as a dizzy dreamy-eyed anak dara. The emotions that Aisha went through upon discovering Maria’s diary and realizing that her husband shares a longer history and probably more in common with this woman is quite a lot to bear, what more realizing that this woman really loves your husband. And when discovering that she is pregnant, you can understand the reason behind her altruism and magnanimity when she told Fahri to “Bilang dia kamu akan nikahi dia.”

And the subsequent nikah at the hospital bed when it was then halal for him to hold Maria’s hand and wake her up from that coma, and the parts when she bumps into their intimate moments (same house lagi!)…sakit, beb!

Which is why on her deathbed Maria thanked Aisha for making her see “beda antara mencintai dan keinginan untuk memiliki.”

That scene when Fahri was acquitted and he sujud shukur while Aisha fell to her knees and held his face in her hands between the bars is kinda touching too.

There’s the usual sinetron-style melodrama, but overall the cinematography is beautiful and with such eye-candy and the overall Islamic feel/theme, I like it. Oh, and the haunting song by Rossa too.

Now I think I’ll go get the book.