It's a story of love between a father and his son. Very typical but Kaki Bakar is more interesting and honest.
Kakang is a immigrant from Indonesia who married to a Malaysian and has two daughters and two son. With his proud of Javanese 'elements' and heritage in his blood, Kakang, played excellently by Khalid Salleh, wanted his sons to have the similar qualities. But the elder between them two, inherited their mum's traits, which leave Kakang with one and only hope - Kesuma or Kesumo (depends on with one you prefer - Kakang's pronunciation or the spelling from the back of Kaki Bakar VCD.
Kesumo, the youngest among four and doesn't go to school too, is emotionally unstable kid. Sometimes he adored his dad's fierceness and awkward decisions but sometimes he puzzled with his dad's 'illness'. Sometimes he agreed to all his dad's doing but sometimes he doesn't. And these is worsen by Kakang's moment of transition (climax); from a very tough and aggressive man to a considerate and tolerant person, which Kesumo did not catch the signal.
You might be asking, this is only about a father nurtures a son, when will the Kaki Bakar comes in? Well, the whole story is circulating the desire of Kakang to take justice in his own hands, which is to burn down the smoke house or kandang or house. This is because Kakang feels that he has been denied to his rights all the time. And he's always become the poor victim.
What very interesting is the two daughters are the one who inherited his qualities while the sons are more like their mother. And this is what upsetting Kakang the most besides other Malay issues like subsidies, corruptions, adultery and politics.
Again, U-wei Haji Saari has managed to inject numerous criticisms about Malay dilemmas and the issues raised in this film are more important than pirated VCD produced and distributed by local mafias or competition between two roti canai stalls. Among those issues, the loudest must be our take for granted attitude towards our country's independence. According to Kakang, because of the Indonesian took the more 'jantan' way to acquire the freedom, that's why they appreciate more their independence and honor it with pride and dignity.
Khalid Salleh was brilliant especially when he 'accidentally' cried on his harden life. And I was surprised that he has beautiful voice too! Besides that, Ngasrizal is very promising too and he was only 12 when the movie started filming. However, there were two scenes that Kesumo was out of control; the moment he got angry when Tuan Kassim scolded his father about
the damaged carpet and the scene when he finally confronted his dad on Kakang's decision to burn down the smoke house. The rest of the team also did a good job and I love the two sisters. Their acting were realistic and convincing.
Beside the acting, Kaki Bakar was superbly photographed. My two favourite scene is the scene when Kakang walked Kesumo to Tuan Kassim's house and lectured him on the issue of being a jantan and stand up by your principle. However, the process of transporting the visual from TV format to film format has affected the originality and the quality of the film. But, Kaki Bakar's cinematography is still one of the best ever produced by a Malaysian.
I don't think Kaki Bakar could go to Cannes Festival Film if not of its good adapted script, excellent casting and superb cinematography. And the praise should go to U-wei Haji Saari for doing such a brilliant directing work and Kaki Bakar has once again put him as the most outstanding Malaysian director after the P. Ramlee era.
