Janji film Indonesia

I've been spending a long time in Indonesia now, in fact its the longest time I've ever stayed here ever since I left 10 years ago. And if there was ever an appropriate time to call me Indonesian, I'll have to say its during this past 6 months.

In the past half a year, I've gotten myself acquainted with the myriad TV serials that are being aired across the seemingly endless list of 9 or 10 TV stations? Anyway, I've been watching quite a number of sinetrons (drama serials) now. It sort of became a habit, something akin to a family activity. Everyday at 9 pm, the 3 of us would tune in to the same channel, sit, watch and laugh together.

Having 6 months worth of experience, I've seen enough to make judgments on Indonesia productions. I would rate them as sloppy without proper plot and storyline. In fact, it seems to me that the director just wants to extend the sinetron to as many episodes as possible gleefully ignoring the storyline, what with a series of ridiculous climaxes that are matched with equally amusing anti-climaxes which leave the audience lost in a jungle-of-a-story without an end in sight (maybe that is the reason its called drama). There is no focus on any characters at all and the best way to describe it is like getting on a rollercoaster ride. The ride gains momentum, plunges at break-neck speed, moves, twists and turns to a series of highs and lows before stopping abruptly. At the end of it all, try as hard as you can but still you couldn't grasp the story because there is nothing to hold on to in the first place.

After making those conclusions, I naturally assumed that the movies would be no better. I was wrong though and 2 Indonesian movies I watched these past 2 days changed my mind.

The first is Janji Joni (Joni's promise). It is a simple story of how a movie-reel delivery boy tries to make good his promise of never being late by delivering the movie reels to the cinemas punctually. On one unfortunate day, the movie reels were stolen and he had to journey all over the city just to recover the reels so that the audience won't be left watching a blank screen in the theater. It is a very simple story, too simple perhaps, but therein lies the magic. The whole movie is shot within the time frame of a single afternoon. I don't recall and in fact can't recall any movies which has such a short time limit. Usually movies have stories that happen over a number of days, weeks, months or even years. This movie is different. With some lame-but-funny jokes and scenes as spice, this is actually a breath of fresh air as compared to other movies that I've watched thus far, the kind of classic-but-entertaining movie that I thought was long gone. Kudos for this show! This was one of the shows featured in some international show festival if I am not wrong and it rightly deserves its place in that festival.

The second movie is a 180 degrees opposite of Janji Joni's light tone. The title is Exskul. This show deals with the highly taboo topic of violence in school. Almost like the shootings in America, this show is about a school kid who is depressed because he is bullied by the spoilt kids of powerful figures in the school . Feeling helpless, angry and armed with a gun, he finally decided to have revenge against the group of students who bullied him by taking them hostage in the school. While the movie certainly can be improved in terms of its cinematography, the storyline is there. Its solid, touching and thought-stirring. The message is all too simple to read and clearly brought out to raise awareness among the audience against in-school bullying. This movie won some award despite plagiarism concerns. Well, even if its plagiarised, its one hell of a nice movie.

Now after recommending 2 Indonesian movies, I wonder at the potential of Indonesian film makers and actually hunger for more local movies. However there is one rule of thumb which should never be forgotten - do your research, get your reviews. That is the safest way of ensuring yourself an enjoyable time watching any movie!