Prepare Yourself For THE RAID With This Extended Clip From MERANTAU

With the buzz continuing to grow around writer-director Gareth Huw Evans' second team up with Indonesian action star Iko Uwais in The Raid - screening at SXSW prior to a March 23rd theatrical release in North America as The Raid: Redemption - now seems like a good time to look back on where this particular collaboration began.

In 2009 Evans and Uwais released Merantau, the first Indonesian martial arts film in well over a decade and - as near as we can tell - the first to ever feature the local martial art of pencak silat.

Leaving the simple life of a young man in rural Sumatra, Yuda must undergo merantau, a traditional rite of passage in which a young man must leave his family's home to make it on his own. After heading to the big city of Jakarta, Yuda begins his trial of merantau. He quickly learns that living in the big city is very different from all he has ever known. After a young boy tries to steal his wallet, he is plunged into a violent world of human trafficking where his martial arts skills are tested in a rapidly escalating spiral of violence.

Merantau would prove to be a hit at home before winning an Audience Award at Fantastic Fest and Best Picture at the inaugural ActionFest.

Available now on DVD, BluRay and VOD from Magnet Releasing we've got an extended fight clip from Merantau for your perusal below, so take a look at how it all began before The Raid hits screens. And, just as a little FYI: That pole stunt? Thirteen takes. Ouch.