A film about teens roils Singapore

Drugs, secret societies, abusive parents, pornography, violence, suicide. Welcome to Singapore. As seen, that is, by outcast teens in "15," a local production winning raves at film fests from Venice to Pusan. But what's most surprising about the film is that Singaporeans now have a chance to see it.

The city-state, which has traditionally maintained a tight rein on the film industry, allowed the film to be screened within its borders this fall. "If this had come out five years ago, it would have got a total ban," says Freddie Yeo, general manager of post-production company Infinite Frameworks, which worked on the movie.

But that was before the government decided to "artify" the Lion city a few years ago, partly as a way to distinguish it from mainland China, which is stealing away the attention - and business - of multinational corporations.

That "15" is being shown here at all is in itself interesting. Even more interesting, though, are the fresh insights it offers into Singapore society, not only through the content itself, but in the reactions of Singaporeans to it.

The film chronicles a group of neglected 15-year-olds struggling against loneliness, despair, and low self-esteem in a high-pressure society bent on success. Scorned by family and school after falling behind, they form gangs for comfort ... and the usual gang trouble begins.

For all the stir it's causing, the movie is surprisingly low-budget, and at times amateurish. But that, say critics, is appropriate in a sense.

"You wouldn't want '15' to be some totally slick package," says Ben Slater, a Singapore-based film critic and curator with spell#7, a local theater group. "It needs to be raw. Otherwise, it would just aestheticize the pain of its subjects."

And the film's "subjects" are not actors, they're real kids. The director, Royston Tan, encountered one, Shaun, while doing volunteer work two years ago and eventually earned the gang's trust enough to be able to film their lives over a period of many months.

"We told them, 'No acting,' " says Mr. Tan.

A few scenes were staged - a schoolgirl jumps off a building after failing an exam, for instance - but all were based on something real, says Tan. "I just scripted them in different order."

The fact that the film is (mostly) realistic makes it all the more grisly at points. In a drug-trafficking scene, a gang member horrifically forces a prophylactic full of pills down his throat; another scene shows a heavily tattooed youth casually mutilates himself.

The film seems to have had a positive impact on at least one of its "stars." Shaun is now serious about his education. "When Shaun saw the film, it was like a mirror," says Yeo. "It made him change and think about his life."

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