Singapore Dreaming

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This is a poignant, yet darkly humorous story about a typical Singaporean family coming to grips with their aspirations. It weaves a layered and moving tale about a family dealing with loss, ambition and the search for what really matters in life.


This is a synopsis of the movie Singapore Dreaming. An interesting local film made to depict the local lifestyle in a manner that is as real as it can get. The plot was a bit predictable, but then, it's just like a normal family plot, a normal family reflection which is so much predictable, actually a chinese family to be exact. Imagine the male child in the family being the attention of everything, a husband who is constantly under the shadow of his wife, a boyfriend who has gotten so much from his girlfriend, a girlfriend who gives everything to her boyfriend, a housewife who does what she normally does + brew herbal tea, the male breadwinner who views material wealth as important as his own son.

One main theme in the show that is either explicitly presented or subtlely shown is none other than the Singapore Dream (otherwise why do you think it's called (Singapore Dreaming). The famous 5Cs is therefore mentioned here. The 5Cs which a lot of people view as the purpose of their life: cash, condo, credit card, car, career, plus the 6th C: country club. The character in the movie added in one extra, which comes after you achieve these 6Cs: the last C in coffin. Funny, and true. It brings in a main issue in life: that is death will come to everyone regardless what you have achieved. So what's after death? But then, I think life has already provided us the answer to the last C, and I call this the one and only C any Singaporeans and other human beings would ever need: Christ!!!

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
- Matthew 6:25-34


Do I even need to explain this?

Materialism emerged early as a dominant theme in the movie together with the pursuit of 5Cs. This is linked together with the practicalism as depicted in the movie.

Nowadays people look at what car you drive, what clothes you wear and what university you graduated from. If you are going to make it, you have to look as if you have already made it

Perhaps this statement in the movie sums it all. The beginning discourse between a mother and her pre-school kid presented the whole thing even better analogically, perhaps in a lesser realistic tone:

.... gotten 100 marks for his spelling. Why your spelling only got 95? (paraphrased)

It should have been 99.9.

The question here is straight forward. How much is enough? What do we really want? Who sets the standard here? Why should we subject ourselves to the standard of others? Work till you enter the coffin for who to see?

Till we find a resolution for this issue, I will leave it at here.

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