Remember Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down in 2001? What if you could get a non-US perspective of that bloody and tragic battle in Somalia? Well, here comes Malbatt Misi Bakara to give us the tale of the Malaysian Battalion (Malbatt) who were instrumental in saving the lives of the 70 American soldiers in 1993’s Battle Of Mogadishu.

APC Assemble

Paskal (2018) and The Assistant (2022) director Adrian Teh has returned in 2023 with Malbatt Misi Bakara, which is arguably his most ambitious movie to date with an ensemble cast consisting of popular Malaysian actors and a foreign setting (set in Somalia but actually filmed in Turkey and Malaysia). While Malbatt Misi Bakara promises to offer the story of the real Malaysian soldiers who helped rescue the US soldiers in the Battle Of Mogadishu, does it deliver that? Just like Paskal before it (or movies like Top Gun or even Black Hawk Down), Malbatt Misi Bakara is a patriotic (read: propaganda) war movie, so you should know what you’re getting into before watching the movie.

Even though it’s one of the most expensive Malaysian movies ever made (with a production budget of RM20 million), Malbatt Misi Bakara doesn’t really look like it sometimes. The movie doesn’t look too ugly, but the CGI and special effects can look janky, especially when it comes to the smoke and explosions. Some scenes, especially near the end, can break your immersion as the actors clearly look like they’re standing in front of a green screen. Sure, a RM20 million budget still can’t compare to the massive budget of Hollywood feature films but perhaps more of the money could have been more efficiently funneled to make the movie better in terms of visuals. That being said, the sound effects (shooting, bombs, etc.) are actually decent.

Most importantly of all though, Malbatt Misi Bakara can be surprisingly intense and emotional at times. I say surprisingly because almost 50 per cent of the movie (I’m not exaggerating, by the way) features scenes where the actors are in an APC (Armoured Personnel Carrier) vehicle. That’s because, for a majority of the movie’s runtime, the Malaysian soldiers spend their time inside the APC to stay safe while entering Mogadishu. We see them using a lot of technical terms while communicating with each other back and forth, as well as simultaneously getting shot at by enemy insurgents in the city. While I personally like these scenes since they remind me of the tense submarine scenes of other war movies (or similar ones in starship battles in the Star Trek franchise), they can drag the pacing of the movie, which can feel a lot longer if you don’t like the APC parts (since the movie is 2 hours and 10 minutes long).

Most of the ensemble cast generally gives good performances, and some of them contribute to how emotional and intense the movie can be at times. Unfortunately, Malbatt Misi Bakara still falls prey to a lot of the same pitfalls that other local Malaysian movies fall to; an inconsistent narrative/plot and cringe-worthy dialogue or moments of comedy. There’s nothing majorly wrong with the plot but some might argue that the movie doesn’t really clearly portray or focus much on the actual rescue of the American soldiers that the title of the movie is about. There’s not much of a coherent third act, as the second act of the movie stretches on almost to the climax of the movie before it all just ends. A more well-defined climax showcasing the successful rescue would have made the movie more satisfying.

The best thing about Malbatt Misi Bakara is how the movie explores certain themes such as despite the Malaysian soldiers feeling like they’re being looked down on and disrespected by the Americans although they’re the ones trying to help them, they still perform their duties and responsibilities to the best of their abilities. I also appreciated how the movie cast Somalian actor Musa Aden as Abdalle, a UN interpreter who helps the Malaysian soldiers. We get to see the conflict from his perspective as well, which is something not even Black Hawk Down had (Ridley Scott portrayed almost all the Somalians as the “bad guys”). During a press conference following the screening of Malbatt Misi Bakara, Abdalle actor Musa Aden revealed that he was born and raised in Bakara, Mogadishu, and that he was there when the conflict happened, which adds even more.

Fire In The Hole

Ultimately, Malbatt Misi Bakara still can’t realistically compete with the likes of iconic war movies like Black Hawk Down, Saving Private Ryan or All’s Quiet On The Western Front. However, when measured by the standards of other local movies, the movie is actually a good effort by director Adrian Teh and the cast/crew to make a movie. It’s not perfect and has a bunch of flaws, but for a Malaysian movie, at least I can say that it wasn’t bad. Last but not least, it would be remiss of me not to mention that Malbatt Misi Bakara is the first Malaysian movie to be shown in IMAX.

FINAL SCORE: 60/100

We attended an early screening of Malbatt Misi Bakara courtesy of GSC Cinemas. Malbatt Misi Bakara is slated to premiere in Malaysian cinemas on 24 August 2023 (available on IMAX screens earlier from 18 August 2023).