Zafreen Zairizal stars as Zaffan in new film—Tiger Stripes
Growing up is hard enough without realising you are turning into a monster.
But for 12-year-old Zaffan, played by Zafreen Zairizal, the protagonist of new Malaysian film, Tiger Stripes, this is just the predicament she finds herself in.
After having her first period, free-spirited student Zaffan is confused and angry and finds herself increasingly isolated.
Her mother, who discovers blood on her sheets, proclaims that she is dirty now. Zaffan is inevitably distraught.
It’s all the more heart-breaking for the viewer to see it when it’s so clear that Zaffan is still a child. She still wants to play in streams, press multi-coloured stickers on trees, and do TikTok dances.
In many ways, she isn’t ready to act like an adult. But when her period comes, she is both simultaneously shunned and expected to grow up.
Even before her first period, it is made clear that Zaffan is seen as different at her school. She’s messy, and her friends are neat. She’s loud and boisterous.
It’s interesting how quickly the other girls start to associate all of these traits with being sexually promiscuous. They start to throw insults at her and call her terms like “slut”.
Getting her period only works to widen the gap between her and her peers.
After her friends start to show her the cold shoulder, she notices some terrifying changes to her body and a demon that won’t leave her alone. These changes are beyond what most of us experience in puberty.
She loses her hair, grows claws and eventually gains a tail.
The concept feels slightly ridiculous at times, but for the most part, it’s well done. Zairizal really does shine as Zaffan.
Any actor would find it intimidating to play a girl who is turning into a tiger, but she does it so naturally. Her ability to switch from anger to vulnerability to confusion in her performance is what really grounds the film.
There has been some criticism of the film and its director, Amanda Nell Eu, for presenting Malaysian society, which is a majority Muslim country, as regressive.
This story is about a young woman who feels constrained by societal expectations of her—so much so that turning into a monster becomes the only way out.
The issue of period poverty is also featured heavily in the film. Zaffan’s friends warn her to wash her disposable pad thoroughly before putting it on again.
In another scene you see Zaffan desperately scrubbing a sanitary towel in the shower.
While some themes seem universal, Nell Eu draws on events that have happened in Malaysia. In 2021 Malaysian media reported that young women were subjected to period spot checks.
Students reported that prefects had been using Q-tips, pencils or pens to discover if young women were bleeding.
This kind of surveillance and shame about periods is present throughout the film.
To make Tiger Stripes eligible for an Oscar nomination, Nell Eu had to edit and censor the film so it could be shown in Malaysian cinemas.
She spoke about how it felt like cutting was an insult to the story she was trying to tell.
“We were celebrated and selected for the Oscar entry,” she said.
“They said you make Malaysia proud, but don’t show this to Malaysians. It’s almost comedic. Painful and comedic at the same time.”
On every level Tiger Stripes is a film about how, in a sexist society, women are made to feel shame about their bodies.
Censorship, of course, doesn’t help the problem.
Tiger Stripes is now out in cinemas in Britain
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