CHANTS OF LOTUS (Perempuan Punya Cerita)

(Kalyana Shira Films)
Runtime: 109 min

In the land where most local movies are about shallow pursuits, this film stands out to make a bold statement on woman’s right.

Basically it is a four in one film, made by four Indonesian female directors (Nia Dinata, Upi, Lasja F. Susatyo, and Fatimah T. Rony) consisted of four heartbreaking stories, Cerita Pulau, Cerita Yogya, Cerita Cibinong and Cerita Jakarta.

Here you got the real story of four Indonesian woman in the verge of madness, a midwife who got a breast cancer but conducting abortion on a raped girl in a tiny island (kudos to Rachel Maryam acting as an autistic girl), Safina, a highschool girl and her sex experiment accompanied by her peers loose (and irresponsible) attitude on sex, charged by bootleg porn DVDs, a single mother who works as a janitor for a dangdut pub in Cibinong (rural area) and trapped in child trafficking scheme. In this segment most of the dialogs were in Sundanese (with Indonesian subtitle), kudos for Shanty and Sarah Sechan and the last segment about a young mother in Jakarta who have to face the reality that she got AIDS from her drug addict husband and try to keep her daughter.

Shot in HD, the picture was not as bright as 35 mm, but that is not a big problem. Bitter reality and diversity of Indonesia’s daily life depicted convincingly, from the dark room of a dangdut pub to the clean look on Jakarta’s life, the story packs enough punch in a country where most films are shallow in terms of theme.

Surely the women (and me) were distraught seeing how so many women in this country were mistreated because of the ongoing poverty and the lack of access to good education. This is a major eye opener, with abortion and child trafficking theme told in a dramatic way. Sadly, the censorship board censors some scenes abruptly, disturbing the unity of the film. I think the film should be seen uncensored, since it will make the message bolder.

The most potent segment was from the last one, Laksmi an HIV + infected mother who have to survive from her disease and child costudy battle with her in-laws. How Laksmi has to let her daughter being taken away and silently watch the rain pours on a bus window left a deafening silence. That sort of scene has been re do and re shoot by many Indonesian films, a scene where the main characters feels mellow and stare blankly at the bus window, but this one is totally different. Given the powerful backstory, the viewers were left with the deafening sound of silence seeing Laksmi continue her fight with AIDS.

In Indonesian cinemas starting from 17 January 2008. Don't miss it!

Photo by Syamsul Hadi, taken from Kalyana Shira Films Press Kit CD, resized to fit internet bandwith.