Having won five awards already from festivals around the world including Locarno, “WAShhh” continues its extensive festival run, currently screening at Red Sea.
Washhh is screening at Red Sea Film Festival

The National Service Training Programme in Malaysia, which started in December 2003, began as way to encourage friendship between youths of certain ages from different races and ethnic groups and address concerns that the country’s multi-ethnic and multi-cultural groups who were seen of “becoming increasingly isolated from one another”. Although its purpose seemed benevolent a number of issues arose through its active years, including a number of accidents even including deaths. The program was abolished in 2018, although on 9 October 2023, Defence Minister Mohamad Hasan announced in parliament that the National Service would be revived, albeit at a renewed and downscaled structure. Mickie Lai takes inspiration from the whole concept in order to present a story filled with pointed commentary.
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A group of young girls in Malaysia National Service Camp are ordered by their bully commander to get up in the middle of the night to wash out used sanitary pads from the disposal bins in the communal bathroom, in a practice that reminds intently of army hazing. The task is pointless and humiliating, and the different racial groups in the class start to blame each other for their punishment, as, supposedly, the reason for the drill is the discovery of unclean sanitary pads. In the midst of all this, a leader seems to emerge.
Mickie Lai directs a film whose main purpose seems to be the critique the programme, which does look intensely like army training, particularly through the attitude of the commander, and the pointlessness and harshness of the hazing. That the result of this attitude results in racial fighting eloquently highlights that the program’s purpose is not served in any way by such behaviour, with, perhaps, the same applying to the whole program.
At the same time, that a girl emerges, willing to take all the burden on herself, even in her own way, could be perceived as a message of how leaders should act, with Jia Hui exhibiting impressive leadership in the role of the captain, as much as a controlled defiance towards the system. Furthermore, the fact that a Chinese girl is leading an effort of reconciliation between Muslims and Malays (Muslim and Malay tradition if your prefer) does send a message of unity. On the other hand, that not much changes, even after her intervention, with the exception of the mentality of some individuals, highlights that change will not come easily.
Lastly, that the theme is dirty sanitary could be perceived as a comment on the pressures of womanhood, with Lai essentially using her film as an overall act of defiance.
Li Xiuan Siow gives an imposing performance as Jia Hui, the ‘leader’ particularly in the scene where she decides to take matter in her own hands. The second memorable performance comes from Farah Ahmad as the commander, who is quite convincing in the role of the villain/bully.
Lee Kah Giap’s black-and-white cinematography works quite well here, adding in a way, to the tension that is instigated by both the story and Wong Kai Yun’s sharp editing, in a film that scores quite high on production values overall.
“WAShhh” is a great film, that manages to communicate a series of comments and a very entertaining story/event in just over 20 minutes. What becomes evident, is that Lai is more than ready to shoot a feature, perhaps even with the same theme.