Tiger Stripes           

This coming-of-age film touches on a myriad of subjects from puberty to bullying to friendships, parental conflict, religious conservatism and societal taboos - all under the cover of a folk-horror tale. The transgressiveness of the film right from the beginning is particularly surprising in that it was made in Islamic Malaysia which is very strict in what is allowed to be depicted. And in fact, the version seen in that country was highly censured. From what I have read they censored scenes of dancing, blood on a tampon, the taking off of the school-girls Abaya, the trying on of a brassiere on top of her clothes. Things that would go unnoticed in a film from The West but are asking for trouble in a country like Malaysia. While watching the film it is difficult to discern how much of it is real, how much fantasy, how much are dreams, how much is symbolism, how much the imagination of a young girl under stress or even how much is the perspective of the religious establishment. Is she being seen and judged through their eyes. Or is this just a modern-day folk tale of the Pontianak or a Penanggal, a story that will be told to scare children late at night to behave correctly.  On top of this is the fact that the director is a female, Amanda Nell Eu, who went to film school in London. Considering the content of the film - revolving around a girl's first menstruation, that makes sense. It is a subject that men tend to stay away from.


Three eleven-year-old female friends - gather in the woman's bathroom at school to frolic. Zaffan (Zafreen Zairizal) begins a wild frantic dance that her two friends video on their phone. It is likely that it is something she saw on TikTok. Then she takes off her Abaya revealing her pants and shirt beneath. Already a breach of Islamic decorum. Then she shows her friends that she is wearing a bra - and takes it off to allow her friend Farah (Deena Ezral) to put it on over her clothes. Three close friends in this rural town surrounded by the jungle.  But then Zaffan gets her first period and everything changes.


It puts her in a category from the other girls. She no longer has to attend prayer at the school. She gets whelps all over her body, omits a revolting odor that drives her friends away, sees demons in the treetops. And begins to get a hunger. All of her friends at school turn on her, bully her, humiliate her and there is a mass hysteria that overcomes them. At home she gets no support from her parents. She is going through body changes and has no one to talk to. She is able to scamper up trees and rundown small animals. That hunger. But then the film confuses us by having her back at school wearing her uniform in class - was it all a dream, a fantasy, a wish. An Islamic exorcist is brought in by her father; primarily because she has become so disobedient.  The film moves slowly, adding layers of disquiet but it never quite goes where you expect it to or want it to. The horror is off screen. I am sure everyone wanted Farah to become a meal. Instead, it goes into the mystic and you are not quite sure what you have witnessed.

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