PULAU BURU TANAH AIR BETA

Directed by: Rahung Nasution
Running time: 48 min

For Germans, communism is dead as the last piece of Berlin Wall was torn apart 25 years ago. For the rest of the world, it is just a past. But for us Indonesians, the ghost of communism is alive and well. Yes, you read it just right, alive and well.

Even after 50 years since the so called communist "coup" happened in Indonesia (at least that is what the government is so hard to emphasize), anything related to communism and Marxism still incite fear among the masses. 

There's this "scare" wind blown by irresponsible figures that communism will rise again. Like a vampire which will devour us all. A silly scare for intellectuals but a real one for gullible people.

By this socio political climate, last March a short documentary successfully ruffle some feathers. This unsexy genre for mainstream Indonesian moviegoers take a sensitive issue, the illegal imprisonment for people accused of association with the Indonesian Communist Party at Buru island, East Indonesia. 

The first screening (March 16, 2016) at Goethe Institute got cancelled since the police who was supposed to protect and serve the rights for peaceful gatherings will not give guarantee for the safety of the screening.

The same case happened to screening of The Look of Silence and The Act of Killing in some regions far away from Jakarta. Even ASEAN Literature festival "almost" receive similar fate.

So the screening moved to the office of Human Rights affairs later that night to a packed audience. Three days later, March 19, the screening was made available again but at LBH Jakarta (Public Law attorney's office) during Belok Kiri Festival (Turn Left Festival, also received similar fate, not given protection to gather and discuss peacefully by the police).

The documentary itself is very beautiful. It does not try to take the whole subject, but a personal journey for ex prisoner, Hesrsri Setiawan, a poet formerly a member of Lekra (Lembaga Kebudayaan Rakyat, people's cultural institution, culturally but not officialy related to Indonesian Communist Party).

Hesrsi nostalgic return to Buru island was met with his fellow inmates, shares stories and hopes to the audience. Although it has some flaws (such as audio inaudible and loose editing), this is a daring but also a beautiful documentary about what it feels as someone who has been imprisoned without fair trial at all. A powerful reminder that such atrocity has happened (and surely shall not happen again) in Indonesia.

COBAIN: MONTAGE OF A HECK

(HBO Documentary Films)
Directed by: Brett Morgen
Running time: 132 minutes

Cobain, the flawed prophet of the 90s everybody adores. His music has become leitmotiv of the 90s, but him as a person is deeply flawed. We all know his heroin addiction and suicidal tendencies. It took almost quarter century to have a decent documentary about Cobain to finally materialize.

This is not your usual documentary filled with boring interviews and archives, this is the most intimate documentary about Kurt Cobain's life. It makes you feel as if you are inside his house. From the cradle and to his end. The mash up of videos and art inspired and from the works of Kurt Cobain is good.

Together with the music, this remind me as Nirvana was at their heights. At that time everybody know Nirvana. Now a generation later, the youth get to know (again) who Cobain is. His drug abuse, his self loathing and suicidal tendencies with stories from people around him gives a better picture on who he really is. The ascent of fame hurts him. The talented but tortured kid of a broken home got his epiphany in punk and music.

The arc of Cobain’s life is drawn:  hypersensitive, talented child of a broken home, who screams his pain into drawings and notebooks. The discovery of punk was like a religious epiphany. This is a time capsule as memento from the 90s generation. Remember it was 25 years ago, not 10 years ago. If you knew Nirvana at their heights, you are old.

PULP: A FILM ABOUT LIFE, DEATH & SUPERMARKETS

http://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com

Directed by: Florian Habicht
Running time: 93 minutes

I have to say that this one will be very subjective since I am a fan of this band. I grew up listening to them in the 90s. However I shall judge this documentary free from my rose tinted glasses. As a documentary, Pulp: a Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets is amazing. Although only works with Pulp fans.

If you have no idea what Pulp is and never heard of them, I suggest you watch another documentary about the origin of this Sheffield's pride. This one is not about the origin but on how common people (pun intended) in Sheffield see and tell how Pulp changes their lives, for the better.

This documentary extend beyond the "normal" MTV. It has fleeting moments, interviews with common people, some songs being sung by (also) common people and off course, the compulsory snippets from concerts in Sheffield. The way the cinematographer depicts the concert is good, it gives you a romantic view on Pulp and the followers.

Pulp: a Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets is about the process of growing old. It is more than just selfish documentary about self glorifying by having too much interviews woven in one big picture. It is more than just the story of Jarvis Cocker and friends, but the story of common people, just like us. Warm and tender, I think even non-Pulp fans can smile after watching this documentary.

THE LOOK OF SILENCE

Directed by: Joshua Oppenheimer and anonymous
Running Time: 98 minutes

How do you feel if one day a stranger come up to your house and after pleasantries have been exchanged, that stranger said that your father, someone you deeply respected, is responsible for killing his brother for 50 or so years ago. That awkward uneasy silence will follow. Thus the title The Look of Silence or Senyap in Indonesian, is a perfect title for this documentary. It is a numbing silence, reacting to such revelation and stories of savagery.

This is not "just" a murder, this is a slaughter that happened in Indonesia in 1965 after the so called regime change and communist uprising (according to the government) happened. The Look of Silence is a stunning companion piece for The Act of Killing. In The Act of Killing, also covering the same historical frame, the main star is Anwar Congo, here there are many Anwar Congo, but with a twist. What if the so called people who comitted slaughter met with the family of he victims?

What done is done, said a supposedly perpetrator. A term we Indonesians always heard everywhere and used in many occasion. But nothing is ever done for Adi Rukun, he himself the youngest in his family. His brother, Ramli, is one of the victim killed in 1965. For years his parents must suffer the condemnation and discrimination felt by relatives of the people accused of being a member of communist party. As if there is a thing called inherited sin to anyone blood related to those being accused. 

Adi, himself a 40 something ophthalmologist, roams the streets in North Sumatra, "interviewing" the perpetrators and sometimes their families. He confronted them with harsh realities. Some of the dialogue are full with tense and awkward silence. Not all perpetrators are the same. Some would deny their responsibility and said that they did the right thing, some would vehemently defend their actions, some dare to recreate what they had done and some has no courage to look at Adi's eye directly. None of these perpetrators have face any law at all. They walk free in Indonesia.

In one tense scene, a family of the perpetrators (the perpetrators himself had passed away), shocked upon learning that their father is a member of the militia that hunt and killed many people, including Ramli. As if there is an earthquake happened in the room. Who to blame? This film clearly shows that even the perpetrator's family must bear the pain.

Filmed with different approach than The Act of Killing and also a stand alone from the Oscar nominated documentary, some of the scene in this documentary seem a bit "artificially framed" but the story is not. It is a real story and what happened to Adi's family, happened to hundred of thousands other families, who decided to just be silent. This is another powerful documentary from Joshua Oppenheimer, produced by Werner Herzog and Errol Morris, that shows that there is an open wound that everybody ignores under the saying: what done is done.

20 FEET FROM STARDOM

Directed by: Morgan Neville

Starring: Darlene Love, Judith Hill, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer, Táta Vega, Jo Lawry

Running time: 90 minutes

Do you know that other voice in the song Gimme Shelter belongs to Merry Clayton? Who is Merry Clayton? She's not a superstar at all but she sang in one of the legendary song of all time. She's one of many backup singers, lies 20 feet from stardom but got rare if not at all, recognition.

This is the documentary that beat The Act of Killing at this year's Academy Awards. Not just the story of Merry Clayton but other veteran backup singers like Darlene Love, Judith Hill, Lisa Fischer, Táta Vega and Jo Lawry.  The story follows their career from the beginning.

The stories told through interviews and archival performances. Those interviewed are also legend in music industry like Sting, Stevie Wonder, Bette Midler, Bruce Springsteen and Mick Jagger. The presence of backup singer are mostly anonymous, but they contribute greatly to famous songs and they had been through ups and downs in life. As for this, Sting says: the spiritual journey to become a musician is very important.

What I like from this documentary that it shines light to those who deserves to be recognized in the music industry. Most will even say that how come they didn't get the spotlight, they are talented. To this, it is still a mystery. Even Sting says that in music industry the playing field is not level and why someone become financially successful and not perhaps lies in the hand of destiny.

EPIC JAVA

Directed by: Febian Nurrahman Saktinegara
Writer: Galih Mulya Nugraha
Run Time: 30 minutes

This film has no connection to Java Heat whatsoever, programming language or a cup of coffee. This is a short documentary made by Febian Nurrahman Saktinegara. It has no story, just a non-narrative short documentary about the beautiful Java landscape. Some by live video, some by time-lapse. According to the site jakartavenue.com this project started as Febian Nurrahman Saktinegara went to Jogja for a holiday.

He shoot some scenes and upload a teaser video titled Mysterious Ashes - Epic Java in youtube. From there, things escalated quickly. This project once was a hot thread in kaskus.com (Indonesia's leading internet forum) and then it goes to wujudkan.com (crowdfunding site), to get more money so Epic Java can be made.

Febian cooperated with Arie Naftali Hawuhede, Galih Mulya Nugraha and Denny Novandi Ryan (as music composer and sound designer). This small team visited 50 locations across Java and spent one year filming a lot of things. According to Galih the story start as the sun rises in the east until it set in the west.

With minimal gadgets and cameras they managed to give a beautiful presentation. I have to say, after I seen this at Jakarta International Film Festival two weeks ago, that it met my expectation. The music is amazing, it can fill up the air with wonders.

Somehow Epic Java reminded me of Ron Fricke's Chronos, Samsara, Baraka and Koyaaniqsatsi. I can understand the limitations the crew had so this one is just a short documentary. I applaud their spirit and creativity to make the project possible. I feel lucky to be able to watch it. If only this one is more than 30 minutes and released commercially at the cinemas, perhaps more people can appreciate it better.

THE ACT OF KILLING

Directors: Anonymous, Christine Cynn, Joshua Oppenheimer

Running time: 159 minutes

For most apolitical Indonesians, the new order regime remembered for its stability and progressive economical development. It was the peaceful time for most Indonesians when the prices of daily commodities were in the reach of most people, education were attainable and the middle class grows significantly. But little did they know that the so called "stability" was paved and paid by the bloods of their fellow brothers and sisters killed in the post 1965 pogrom in some areas in Indonesia. The merciless pogroms killed approximately hundreds of thousands of people, they were killed without even being trialed at all. They were killed simply because they were accused of being communist sympathizer. Was these accusations true remains to be unknown until today.

Why is it related to us now? It is because the whole new order regime was built upon the fear of communism and their sympathizers. Communist are equal with evil, cruelty and malice. The whole 30th September movement that killed six generals and an officer in 1965 was blamed solely on communist agents, who, according to the new order's government version, infiltrated the army to conduct those murders. So the new order regime keeps reminding people that communist sympathizers were wrong and "deserved" to be marginalized, even killed. The times were different back then, it was the cold war and the country was sharply divided over these things.

Most Indonesians do not know about these pogroms, some know it from hearsay and carefully edited history from the new order regime and off course it does not appear in the official history book Indonesians studied at school. The world according to the new order regime was as easy as black and white, black being the godless communist oppressors, and white being the brave anti communist, fighting the commies to unite the country. The ghost of communism need to be kept alive so the leaders of the new order regime can still hold their power.

But you cannot hid a rotten fish longer than three days, after the new order regime falls and what was once forbidden to be known by common people can now be accessed freely, people began to know each horrible aspects of the new order, not just the pogroms but also the silencing of political activist and many human rights abuses done in the name to preserve the so called "stability" of the new order regime. Some price you have to pay eh? What happened to the idea that a nation belongs to everyone without marginalization regardless of so many thing?

Then comes this chilling documentary from Joshua Oppenheimer that does not deal with the grand scale of what happened in Jakarta in 1965. In fact, if the whole 1965 pogrom thing were a picture, Oppenheimer just took a pixel of it in the form of Anwar Congo, a famous executor in Medan, North Sumatra, who claims have killed thousands of people.

Congo is an old man now, suitable to become a grandfather. He told his story of executing people with a smile. He also had his friends, fellow executioner, to tell his story. But this documentary is more than that, in a bitter turn, Oppenheimer gave these perpetrators their own "movie". He gives them a stage where these executioners re enact what they have done almost 50 years ago. It is very creepy but real.

What follows is how the "film" was made with the help of a famous paramilitary organization in Indonesia. As the film progressed, we see how these executioners questions what they have done and how the recent Indonesian political scene is keeping these people and their paramilitary organization, alive and well. We also see the bizarre film that Congo and friends trying to show, it felt like made by Alexander Jodorowsky and I wonder what the film looks like as a whole.

As a documentary The Act of Killing is successful in telling a gray and gruesome story without showing any real blood at all. It shows us, Indonesians, that we had a terrible past we must not repeat and shows international viewers that a documentary about an executioner like this is one of a kind. 

This documentary does not defend any ideology, it just shows us the banality of evil, the absurd cause on why the killing happened and what the executioners felt, do they feel some guilt or can they sleep well at night. After seeing this, you just realized that what Congo had done is just a tiny pixel in a big picture from Indonesia's troubling (and bloody) past. One cannot stop wondering what sort of picture consisted of these pixels. Are we able to look at it?

SHINE A LIGHT

(Paramount Vantage)
Runtime: 122 min

Scorsese and The Stones, a magical combination on the screen and on your ears. Martin Scorsese documenting two 2006 performances that took place during The Rolling Stones A Bigger Bang tour, this is also the first documentary features which open this year's Berlin International Film Festival. Intercut with archival footage of their career, their performance are awesome as ever. It is clear that this documentary was meant for hard core Stones fans, since there are no song title appeared whatsoever, but unless you live in a cave for the past 50 years or holed up in Paris Hilton's basement listening to her so-called album, anyone from both side of the equator can distinguish between "Jumping Jack Flash" and "I Can't Get No Satisfaction".

The lensing and camera movement are vibrant, it can capture Mick Jagger's theatrical performance and eccentricity of Keith Richard, mind you, tracking shot is Scorsese's trademark and he also employs nine Academy Award winning and nominated cinematographer. Not only that, with Bill Clinton and added performance of Christina Aguilera, Jack White, and Buddy Guy, this is may be the most intimate documentary ever made.

For a band whose age qualified to retire and enjoy their success, kudos for their infinite passion for music and performance which shaped our culture. With this documentary, fans (and you) can get ultimate satisfaction.

For those who wonders about the song title, here's the performance list in chronological order:
1. Jumpin' Jack Flash
2. Shattered
3. She Was Hot
4. All Down the Line
5. Loving Cup - with Jack White
6. As Tears Go By (Jagger/Richards/Oldham)
7. Some Girls
8. Just My Imagination (Norman Whitfield/Barrett Strong)
9. Far Away Eyes
10. Champagne & Reefer (Muddy Waters) - with Buddy Guy
11. Tumbling Dice
12. You Got the Silver - lead vocal by Keith Richards
13. Connection (incomplete/cut with 1999 interview clips) - lead vocal by Keith Richards
14. Sympathy for the Devil
15. Live with Me - with Christina Aguilera
16. Start Me Up
17. Brown Sugar
18. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
19. Shine a Light (incomplete; audio only)