We are familiar with the deleterious effects on children of parents undergoing separation and or divorce. Psychiatric points of view. Views of “victims”. Having done a spot of family law in the distant past I have witnessed squabbling hatreds creating mentally damaged children.
In “Ah Girl” (Ong Xuan Jing) copes the best she can with the separation and divorce of father (James Seah) and mother (Carrie Wong). “Ah Girl’s” strength is Ah Girl’s perception and feelings of the parental turmoil swirling about her seven-year-old persona.
In 1994 Singapore she lives with her tattooed horse betting chubby girl obsessed father, five-year-old sister Ah Tian (Sydney Wong), long suffering grandmother (Doreen Toh) and regularly overnights with her wine swilling tour guide mother.
Ah Girl’s father and mother are largely indifferent as regards Ah Girl and Ah Tian. What a horrific squabble at the hospital between mother and father. What a callous mother boozing up with ‘Uncle” Sam her new boyfriend and engaging in precoital antics while Ah Girl watches. What parents sanction an unofficial “adoption” (or kidnapping) of younger sister Ah Tian by “Uncle” Pat and “Auntie” Sarah?
Ah Girl’s comments that adults are liars hits home in the film. Simplistic but rife with cutting accuracy.
The abuse and blackness steamroll through the film but “Ah Girl” simply can’t understand and process the hell she roasts in. instead focusing on small moments of happiness and blind trust matters will improve. She discerns no reason why her mother and father can’t live together so perhaps we can credit her with a survivalist’s willful blindness. “Daddy loves fat girls so that is why he can’t get along with skinny Mommy.”
Excellent casting throughout the film capturing the lousiness of her father and indifference of her mother and the lack of compassion and selfishness of both. Jing is the undeniable star of the film shining in both grief, horror, anger, wonderment, sadness and inner strength. One stellar scene that portents the futures “stardom” of Jing is the withering stare given to grandmother ordering her to endure a haircut. Did Peter Gabriel sing, “If looks could kill they probably will?”
Throughout the film the adults criticize Ah Girl about her lack of respect for her elders yet those same elders are steeped in disrespect for Ah Girl and Ah Tian.
The intensity of your disgust of the treatment by her parents of Ah Girl will intensify as the film progresses. Its conclusion is incongruent with its content for the adult viewer. Adult truth may not correspond with pediatric truth…perhaps the key message of “Ah Girl”. Is there strength in simplicity?
Directed by Ang Geck Geck Priscilla who comments on the film, “Ah Girl is about a child facing the struggles of her family, and the quiet ways children carry the weight of circumstances they did not choose. We often ask children to be strong, to understand, and to grow up quickly. But we rarely stop to ask how they are coping. Through Ah Girl’s eyes, I wanted to remind us that every child deserves to be seen and heard, especially when they do not know how to ask for help.”
A mildly amusing film morphs into a highly disturbing account of neglect and abuse.
You can watch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-LkpJ4ACxk
RKS Singaporean Film Rating 79/100.
