Hanyut (Drifting) is a Malaysian adventure drama film written and directed by U-Wei Haji Saari based upon Joseph Conrad's 1895 novel, Almayer's Folly.
Almayer's dream of finding a mythical gold mountain is at odds with his plotting wife, colonial authorities, the political machinations of a local chief with Arab traders, and his daughter's love for a freedom-fighting Malay prince.
However, the release was postponed since December 2013[4] due to lack of promotional funding, in which director U-Wei had to request for RM 2 million from National Film Development Corporation Malaysia for marketing and local distribution purposes.
He sends his 10-year-old daughter Nina to Singapore to be educated as a Westerner, much to the distress of her mother Mem, a local woman of Betawi origin.
He believes her beauty, combined with the gold he expects to unearth, will help him build a trading empire and fulfill his fantasy of a glorious future back in Europe, a world he has never seen.
As Almayer's trading post prospers, he believes he is in reach of his dreams and readies boats and equipment for his gold-seeking expedition.
Dain turns out to be a Malay freedom fighter who uses the purchased gunpowder to blow up a Dutch vessel at the mouth of the river.
In the beginning of the story Almayer appears to be at the centre of society, but in the end we see that he is very much peripheral and alienated, and that the real cultural, political and economic life of the community is located elsewhere and involves other people besides himself.