The Olive Depression

 

“The army may have my body, but they will never have my mind.”

 

 

He disagreed with the idea of conscription, “Once you’ve learnt to accept conscription, you’ll learn to accept any injustice in this country” says the lead of his movie “The Olive Depression”, now playing at the Sinema. (The Olive Depression, a film in 8 parts, was originally scheduled to take its bow during last year’s Singapore International Film Festival. Out of the blue it got yanked from the schedule of the inaugural festival section called the Singapore Panorama)

 But Joshua Lim did not stop at complaining. He stood up to the system. He stood up against remaining in OCS. He made a movie out of it.

 

I had the privilege of doing an exclusive interview with Joshua, via MSN, who now lives in California.

14/2/2009  2:49:58 PM  mathia  Joshua Lim  so regarding your quitting ocs

 

14/2/2009  2:50:06 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  yeah

 

14/2/2009  2:50:06 PM  mathia  Joshua Lim  who was it you talked to exactly?

 

14/2/2009  2:50:18 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  omg

 

14/2/2009  2:50:20 PM  mathia  Joshua Lim  do you remember, in 2-3 lines, what you said ?

 

14/2/2009  2:50:21 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  u want the details

14/2/2009  2:50:28 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  i dunno if it’s military in confidence

14/2/2009  2:50:37 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  coz they bend the rules to let me out

 

14/2/2009  2:50:38 PM  mathia  Joshua Lim  so how should i call him? should i just say superior?

 

14/2/2009  2:51:00 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  what are u trying to say

14/2/2009  2:51:09 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  superior is a general layman term that most will understand

 

14/2/2009  2:51:26 PM  mathia  Joshua Lim  i just wanna capture your reason for dropping out, what did you say?

 

14/2/2009  2:51:51 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  oh hmmm

14/2/2009  2:52:00 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  i was very diplomatic

14/2/2009  2:52:07 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  i told them i was not patriotic

14/2/2009  2:52:21 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  if the govt needed me to lead soldiers in war, i would have a problem with that

14/2/2009  2:52:29 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  it’s bad enough i’m in the army

14/2/2009  2:52:42 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  so i asked if i could be a ‘follower’ instead of a ‘leader’

 

14/2/2009  2:53:01 PM  mathia  Joshua Lim  if the govt needed me to lead soldiers in war, i would have a problem with that ==> why?

 

14/2/2009  2:53:19 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  i’m a pacifist firstly

14/2/2009  2:53:30 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  and to lead troops to death is painful

14/2/2009  2:53:35 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  and to kill

14/2/2009  2:53:39 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  another story

14/2/2009  2:53:46 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  that’s my official statement

14/2/2009  2:53:48 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  but really the truth is

14/2/2009  2:53:53 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  i wanted out of the brainwashing in ocs

 

14/2/2009  2:54:18 PM  mathia  Joshua Lim  what brainwashing messages did you exactly want out of?

 

14/2/2009  2:54:25 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  my gosh

14/2/2009  2:54:26 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  so many

14/2/2009  2:54:30 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  example

14/2/2009  2:54:40 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  they would turn us out at 3am every night

14/2/2009  2:54:50 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  justifying their terrorising behaviour

14/2/2009  2:54:55 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  by saying that war can break out at 3am

14/2/2009  2:54:59 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  as leaders we should be alert and ready

14/2/2009  2:55:06 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  so this is part of a noble training

14/2/2009  2:55:08 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  when instead

14/2/2009  2:55:18 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  it’s part of a systematic scheme of impeding sleep

14/2/2009  2:55:34 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  so that we can change our mindsets as we are too tired to think/challenge

14/2/2009  2:56:11 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  but i didn’t tell them that of course

 

14/2/2009  2:57:47 PM  mathia  Joshua Lim  ok. give me a nice line (like the lines you have in the movies), a statement, of what you would tell your superior, why you cannot continue in OCS

 

14/2/2009  2:58:27 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  haha sheesh i dunno

14/2/2009  3:00:20 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  that i don’t have the passion for it

14/2/2009  3:01:48 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  is it important?

14/2/2009  3:01:55 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  leave it ambiguous

 

14/2/2009  3:02:02 PM  mathia  Joshua Lim  its impactful

 

14/2/2009  3:02:09 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  sheesh

14/2/2009  3:02:18 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  in bmt

14/2/2009  3:02:29 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  there is this thing called SIT Test

14/2/2009  3:02:33 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  and then at the end 

14/2/2009  3:02:36 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  they interview u

14/2/2009  3:02:39 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  asking if u want to go to OCS

14/2/2009  3:02:43 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  i said, “no”

14/2/2009  3:02:47 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  they asked why?

14/2/2009  3:03:02 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  i said, “I don’t have a passion for this military”

14/2/2009  3:03:23 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  they seem to like my reason

14/2/2009  3:03:29 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  and looked shocked that i would say that

14/2/2009  3:03:33 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  needless to say

 

14/2/2009  3:03:38 PM  mathia  Joshua Lim  they put you there anyway

 

14/2/2009  3:03:40 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  i was shocked when i was told i was going to OCS

14/2/2009  3:03:49 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  the bus ride there i was devastated

 

 

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I loved this movie  (  The Hours and American Beauty are 2 of my favourite movies, so if you’re going there for action, please don’t.) Unexpectedly, there was quite a lot of humour, but it was a humour that stemmed from the irony and tragic comedy of real life.  

 

It’s a story about what it means to retain your humanity, your choice, your freedom, in an environment where these are crimes.

Sinema Old School

11b Mount Sophia, B1-12 Singapore

6336.9707

 

One of the characters decides to take up an overseas scholarship, so that he can disrupt. “But don’t you have to come back and continue anyway?”

“Yes, but they will never have me. I’m going to eat and eat and get really fat, and I’ll injure myself and then they will downgrade me”

“You’re willing to injure yourself? Is this worth it?”

“But why should I be fit when I don’t even believe in being fit?”

18^th Feb  9 30pm

21^st Feb  2 30pm

22^nd Feb  6 10pm

 

It’s a story about loving without expectations , about rebelling without noncompliance, about living without compromise

 

Joshua Lim, in red