For his long-awaited second film, Liew Seng Tat (Tiger Award winner in 2008 with his widely praised debut Flower in the Pocket) allowed himself to be an inspired by angkat rumah (‘house move’), a Malaysian tradition in which recycling and public spirit come together in a surreal spectacle: friends and neighbours join forces to carry a whole house from one place to another. In Men Who Save the World, this happens at the request of retired singer Pak Awang, who wants to give his daughter a house in her home village as a present for her upcoming wedding. This house move forms the start of a frivolous rural comedy that shows the other side of collectivist thought. At first, the villagers unanimously support the intensive undertaking that lasts several days, but the community spirit breaks down when a Nigerian immigrant, fleeing the police, uses the house as a hiding place. There are rumours the house is bewitched and work stops. Pak Awang’s vain attempts to bring his fellow villagers to their senses end up driving him further and further onto the side-lines.
