Cinema
November 1828
Teguh Karya · 1979
Synopsis
During the Java War, when Prince Diponegoro raises the country against colonial power, a Dutch troop occupies a village in the centre of the island, suspected of helping Sentot Prawirodirdjo, one of the Javanese leaders. Captain de Borst wants to know where he is hiding; the village head points to the elder Kromoludiro, who is arrested, locked up in his own house and tortured to make him talk. The religious teacher sends a pupil to find Sentot, and Lieutenant van Aken, a mestizo, secretly sympathises with the villagers.
Context
The film cost about two hundred and forty million rupiah, double an ordinary production and a record at the time, spent mostly on sets and props faithful to history. The director took his performers from his Teater Populer and filmed the two camps in two different ways: the colonial army in the manner of Dutch group portraits and Western theatre, the Javanese according to local traditions. Wanning Sun reads in it an echo of the filmmaker's Chinese origins, through his mixed-race officers.
Who it is for
In Indonesian and Dutch, running over two hours; Deanne Schultz judges that it gives enough points of reference to those who know little of the history of Java.
Prizes and reception
Best film and best director at the 1979 festival, it was the first Indonesian film to be noticed abroad and is still regarded as a classic.