World film project: Indonesia
Feb. 12th, 2020 06:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livSo I ran into one of my most film-buff friends, ![[twitter.com profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/e0caa790ec10/-/twitter.com/favicon.ico)
ewan_m, at a party. And he reassured me that there are Indonesian films available on Netflix, it's just hard to search Netflix. Knowing that there was something to find we had a more thorough look, and found Sokola Rimba [Jungle School] (2013, directed Riri Riza), which nou had recommended.
I am a complete sucker for films about teachers saving disadvantaged children through the power of education. And sure, they can be problematic, colonialist and all the rest, but I can so much more easily imagine myself as a brilliant teacher than a typically brave action hero, so it's a huge wish fulfilment thing for me.
Sokola Rimba is a nice example of the genre. Teacher Butet, an educated, urban Indonesian, teaches groups of children from indigenous groups in order to empower them to assert their rights against loggers who have been taking advantage of the tribal peoples' illiteracy to invade and destroy their land. The film really seems to respect that the traditional peoples' way of life, they're not magical innocents, nor are they defective city-dwellers who need to be "civilized". I really liked that the happy ending is on the Rimba peoples' terms: they are able to read and therefore contest the unfair treaties, rather than giving up their supposedly primitive way of life in favour of a more modern lifestyle. There is one white person in the film and she's a very minor character with about five minutes of screen time.
The conflict, other than with the loggers, comes from a mixture of indigenous people who oppose the idea of education, fearing (not unreasonably) that an outsider teacher will undermine their culture; and Butet's employers, an organization committed to protecting the natural rainforest and disapproving of her going off to do unauthorized teaching. The film doesn't insist that anybody is right or wrong. The people who oppose literacy aren't "bad guys", they have a point. Likewise the people who want to allocate the charity's funds to do the job they're supposed to do. There's a bit of exploration of the clash between ecologically focused activism, protecting the biome and the environment, and the actual needs of the people who live in the protected zone, but it's nuanced.
The film can be a little slow-paced in places. And it's visually not all that interesting, the camera is almost always tightly on characters and doesn't do much with the landscapes or other cinematic elements. I did really love the almost-documentary approach to the indigenous groups, who are played by indigenous actors AFAICT – the film is 'based on a true story' and has Bungo, the leader of the young people who want to learn from Butet, playing himself.
Next up: Pakistan. Any recommendations welcome! We would ideally like a film from the 21st century, not primarily focused on violence or depressing real-world history. But if there's a Pakistani film you really love that doesn't fit those constraints please go ahead and recommend it anyway. Shortlist so far:
Bol
Zinda Bhaag
Dukhtar
nou had recommended.I am a complete sucker for films about teachers saving disadvantaged children through the power of education. And sure, they can be problematic, colonialist and all the rest, but I can so much more easily imagine myself as a brilliant teacher than a typically brave action hero, so it's a huge wish fulfilment thing for me.
Sokola Rimba is a nice example of the genre. Teacher Butet, an educated, urban Indonesian, teaches groups of children from indigenous groups in order to empower them to assert their rights against loggers who have been taking advantage of the tribal peoples' illiteracy to invade and destroy their land. The film really seems to respect that the traditional peoples' way of life, they're not magical innocents, nor are they defective city-dwellers who need to be "civilized". I really liked that the happy ending is on the Rimba peoples' terms: they are able to read and therefore contest the unfair treaties, rather than giving up their supposedly primitive way of life in favour of a more modern lifestyle. There is one white person in the film and she's a very minor character with about five minutes of screen time.
The conflict, other than with the loggers, comes from a mixture of indigenous people who oppose the idea of education, fearing (not unreasonably) that an outsider teacher will undermine their culture; and Butet's employers, an organization committed to protecting the natural rainforest and disapproving of her going off to do unauthorized teaching. The film doesn't insist that anybody is right or wrong. The people who oppose literacy aren't "bad guys", they have a point. Likewise the people who want to allocate the charity's funds to do the job they're supposed to do. There's a bit of exploration of the clash between ecologically focused activism, protecting the biome and the environment, and the actual needs of the people who live in the protected zone, but it's nuanced.
The film can be a little slow-paced in places. And it's visually not all that interesting, the camera is almost always tightly on characters and doesn't do much with the landscapes or other cinematic elements. I did really love the almost-documentary approach to the indigenous groups, who are played by indigenous actors AFAICT – the film is 'based on a true story' and has Bungo, the leader of the young people who want to learn from Butet, playing himself.
Next up: Pakistan. Any recommendations welcome! We would ideally like a film from the 21st century, not primarily focused on violence or depressing real-world history. But if there's a Pakistani film you really love that doesn't fit those constraints please go ahead and recommend it anyway. Shortlist so far:
Bol
Zinda Bhaag
Dukhtar
