Strength In Unity

About three years ago, I watched the movie, Rise of the Planet of the Apes on a Sunday afternoon. Of course the movie was famous because of its special effects, which were mainly achieved with the help of modern movie-making technology—mostly computer and all those digital stuff. I mentioned briefly about the awesome special effects in a post here. But even without the special effects, it was still a good story in itself. In all the excitement, there was actually a very powerful message for the audience. 

The movie tells the story of Caesar, a male chimpanzee born with a high IQ, which eventually united a bunch of unruly apes from the confines of a primate shelter, from a zoo, and from a lab, for the sake of seeking freedom. 

There was a scene when Caesar was in the primate shelter, sitting on a rocky ledge with his orangutan friend. Caesar was sad looking at some apes fighting with each other down below. He wanted the apes to unite, and the orangutan asked him why. Here is a video clip from youtube; you can see for yourself how Caesar explains himself.

As I was walking out of the cinema that day, I knew that there would be a sequel to the movie. After all, most successful movies these days would almost automatically have sequels. True enough, its sequel, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, arrived at the cinemas about 2 weeks ago. I took the earliest opportunity to watch it; and again I was happy with what I saw. 

Of course Dawn is the continuation of Rise, and the story has developed up to 10 years apart. But again there is that same message to the audience—this time uttered by an ape named Koba. A short sentence consisting of just 2 powerful words: Together Strong!

It suddenly occurred to me that perhaps it would be beneficial if all Malaysians could be convinced—even forced—to watch Rise (and Dawn) of the Planet of the Apes. I think it's gonna be worth the few hours watching apes, and hopefully at the end of it, learn something about Strength In Unity.