Finas and subtitling

Short story for the day:

Spoke to a friend some time back. We were discussing subtitles and FINAS (the national censorship board) in general.

My highlight of the conversation, I went to the cinema to watch Bruce Almighty (yes, that controversial film according to some of our politicians / religious leaders) and there was one scene that struck my mind. In it Morgan Freeman was introducing himself to Jim Carrey with the words, "I am god." Of course FINAS butchered the word "god" out of that sentence (they cut just that part of the film, leaving the "I am" untouched). The irony of it though was that the Malay subtitles was maintained, "Saya adalah tuhan" (literally, "I am god.").

So butcher the English verbiage out, but maintain the Malay written script of it. Hilarious.

My friend's highlight though truly out-trumped mine. He had gone to see the film The Day After Tomorrow at the cinema. This show was about the Earth facing a weather apocalypse for those who haven't seen it. Anyway at the beginning of the show when the title appeared on-screen the Malay subtitle that appeared was "Lusa" (literally "day after tomorrow"). He broke out laughing hilariously at that. Have to love our translators at the effort that they take in their work.

Another amusing subtitle incident from the past, there was a Batman and Robin cartoon showing over local television. In one scene:

Robin: Batman, Batman! Joker is getting away!(Orang Kelawar, Orang Kelawar! Orang Kelakar melarikan diri!)
Batman: Don't worry wonder boy, we shall stop him.(Jangan risau budak ajaib. Kami akan menangkap dia.)

For those who don't understand Malay, the translations here were very literal. I.e. Batman is a name, but the translator made it out as Bat Man. Joker was translated to the equivalent of Funny Man, and Wonder Boy was translated literally as mystical/magical boy.