Share? No way....!

I may have mentioned before that I am not much of a Malay movie fan. But I watched Cinta recently did I not – and whaddayaknow..I watched the Indonesian movie Berbagi Suami over the past weekend. But that was Indonesian so does that count? Anyway, I was curious – yet again - so since hubby was game, why not. I wanted to see how they tackled this sensitive issue of polygamy and I was also curious as to why SIS went all out to support the movie.

Much to my surprise, it was not bad. Not bad at all. It was similar to Cinta in the sense that the movie had more than one story rolled into one film. Except here it began with one story before the second unfolded and finally the third tale was presented. And frankly, the first story was enough to get the message across and had already done so very well but the other stories were there to give the film more substance since it presented the subject matter from different angles.

For those who have yet to watch, let me fill you in. The gist of the film is but of course, the life of men who practice polygamy. But the brutal truth of how it hurts and how it affects the entire family is what this movie cleverly portrays. In the first case, the family is an affluent one, in which case the man can financially afford to take on a new wife. To make matters interesting, his first wife is a smart career woman, who is also a woman of strong faith. Still, it does not make it any easier, even after years and years. And the son grew up to be a cynical young man who did not exactly hate the father but became very protective of his mom. But cynical, no less.

In the second tale, the man is not wealthy and lives with all his wives under one roof. Crazy huh? In a more impoverished area in Jakarta, we see how someone with hardly any moral upbringing handle the polygamy issue and it can be disastrous. In a weird twist, two of his 4 wives fall for each other, I guess being exposed only to a man who use them for nothing more than fulfilling his lust leaves tremendous psychological repercussions on those with not much of moral fibers to begin with.

And finally we see the practice of polygamy by an Indonesian of Chinese origin, who is Catholic. And so we see no matter what the religion, no matter what the circumstances, polygamy will hurt and is far from heaven…except I guess when the man gets to enjoy a varied menu whenever he gets hungry. Eiiuu…gross…!

What did I get as I walked away from TGV that evening? Well, it simply reaffirms what I’ve always believed, that it never works. And this time, hubby agrees..! No-lah he wasn’t about to practice polygamy – over my dead body babe – but his 2 cents on the matter was that in situations where all parties consented, then it may be workable.

Hah - now he knows better.!! That it hurts, that you still can’t be totally happy, and that it affects the family, no matter which way you choose to look at it. As the character from the movie struggled to advise his son from his deathbed,”nanti kamu nikah, satu ajaa…pusiiing……..!!”

Simply put, the concept of sharing ends here…period.