Merong's Marvels

The Film's main heading design

Stephen Rahman-Hughes in a traditional Malay outfit

We all enjoy watching films, don’t we? Films are the medium from where we get our source of entertainment from. Besides the production team, the most important component that makes up a film is the actors, mainly the main characters. Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa is a film based on the History of Malaya that involves the Roman, Chinese, Malay and the Indian communities.

Among all the characters, the character that I appreciate the most is Merong Mahawangsa himself, played by Stephen Rahman-Hughes. He is a great personality as an actor himself and also in the character in the film. The character makes us pick up good moral values from the film, which can be implemented in our lives.

In the film, I adored Merong Mahawangsa as he possessed great fighting skills. It was a good sight to see Merong Mahawangsa’s fighting scene with Sunder, the Nobleman of Goa, India. There are also several fighting scenes in the film where the character has done a good job, as fighting scenes are hard to be acted out. The character in the film is a good depiction as warriors should always know how to protect themselves in whatever situation they are in. This teaches us that we should learn how to protect ourselves rather than depending on anyone else to protect us. 

The fantastic fighting scene between Merong Mahawangsa & Sunder....Full of action-packed fighting moves.

Besides that, Merong Mahawangsa is portrayed to be a good human being. This is shown when he is willing to fight to rescue Prince Marcus Carprenius from the Garuda Fighters until he faints and gets injured severely. This proves the character’s good discipline, loyalty and obedience to his empire as he was the royal escort of the Prince. Other than that, the manner in which Merong Mahawangsa takes care of his escort; Prince Marcus in Langkasuka when the Prince intends to marry Princess Meng Li Hua. Merong Mahawangsa also tries to unite them in a few scenes of the film. This shows how concerned is he regarding his duty as an escort.   

Merong Mahawangsa hurt terribly to save his escort, Prince Marcus

    

Smartness is portrayed by the persona when he uses mirrors to defeat the fighters of Garuda in the film. These battle tactics portray his smartness as a hero in the film. They finally won

the battle when the Romans and the Chinese came in the battle to help. This teaches us that we are able to defeat our enemy by using our brain power, and not only by our size.

Merong Mahawangsa had the willingness to sacrifice for others. He sacrifices his life to kill the black magician of the battle, named Taji. Even though he was stabbed by Taji, Merong made sure that Taji died by stabbing the sword in his stomach too. This was the main sacrifice that he did as the battle was won because of him as Taji was almost impossible to be defeated due to his black magic powers. This teaches us that sometimes in life we need to sacrifice in order for the benefit of others.  

The evil Taji

Taji and his black magic moves

In conclusion, it can be said that the main character of the film has many good characteristics that the viewers can pick up. It will teach viewers how to become a better person and also teach viewers what a true hero should be like.  

Merong Mahawangsa - A true hero

REFERENCES

• Anonymous 2012, Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa, viewed 25 September 2013, <http://cinemamalaysia.com.my/film/info/?id=hikayat_merong_mahawangsa_904>.