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| Indonesian cinema and the rise of a new noir | Indonesian cinema and the rise of a new noir |
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| Anwar Congo is many things: a gangster, an animal lover, a mass murderer, a grandad. He's also – having begun his criminal career scalping tickets outside a Sumatran cinema – a film buff. So when, in Joshua Oppenheimer's extraordinary documentary The Act of Killing, Congo is asked to stage re-enactments of the executions of Indonesian communists in which he participated in the 1960s, the results are cinematic: pure film noir, in fact. He and his fellow bootboys transform themselves into sharp-suited enforcers, righteous faces glaring from under the awning of a fedora. Their interrogation technique is all Marlowe tough-talk: "So it's great to be a communist, huh?" | Anwar Congo is many things: a gangster, an animal lover, a mass murderer, a grandad. He's also – having begun his criminal career scalping tickets outside a Sumatran cinema – a film buff. So when, in Joshua Oppenheimer's extraordinary documentary The Act of Killing, Congo is asked to stage re-enactments of the executions of Indonesian communists in which he participated in the 1960s, the results are cinematic: pure film noir, in fact. He and his fellow bootboys transform themselves into sharp-suited enforcers, righteous faces glaring from under the awning of a fedora. Their interrogation technique is all Marlowe tough-talk: "So it's great to be a communist, huh?" |
| Well, maybe their patter has a way to go. But the compromised universe of film noir is how Congo and his Hollywood-inspired associates choose to dress up their part in purges which, across Indonesia, claimed an estimated half a million lives. The impact of images and representation might seem like the most trivial of the issues (a major historical injustice, present-day Indonesian corruption, the foundation of the state through violence, the authorship of history) on show in The Act of Killing. But there's a twist. The movie playing in Congo's head is now getting a remake from his fellow countrymen: noir shot through with cynicism about Indonesian society is also re-emerging as a form in the country's fast-maturing film scene. | Well, maybe their patter has a way to go. But the compromised universe of film noir is how Congo and his Hollywood-inspired associates choose to dress up their part in purges which, across Indonesia, claimed an estimated half a million lives. The impact of images and representation might seem like the most trivial of the issues (a major historical injustice, present-day Indonesian corruption, the foundation of the state through violence, the authorship of history) on show in The Act of Killing. But there's a twist. The movie playing in Congo's head is now getting a remake from his fellow countrymen: noir shot through with cynicism about Indonesian society is also re-emerging as a form in the country's fast-maturing film scene. |
| Belenggu, a dazed, sophisticated 2012 horror hybrid showing at this year's Terracotta Asian film festival (which has a special strand devoted to Indonesia), draws on Donnie Darko and David Lynch for its tale of a neurotic family man. In a similar shadowy, paranoiac vein is 2009's The Forbidden Door, about a bourgeois sculptor unearthing a ghastly secret, by Joko Anwar, one of the commercially sharp directors now at the forefront of the scene; his 2007 film, Kala, was a direct homage to 40s gumshoe noir. | Belenggu, a dazed, sophisticated 2012 horror hybrid showing at this year's Terracotta Asian film festival (which has a special strand devoted to Indonesia), draws on Donnie Darko and David Lynch for its tale of a neurotic family man. In a similar shadowy, paranoiac vein is 2009's The Forbidden Door, about a bourgeois sculptor unearthing a ghastly secret, by Joko Anwar, one of the commercially sharp directors now at the forefront of the scene; his 2007 film, Kala, was a direct homage to 40s gumshoe noir. |
| These works aren't quite bold enough to confront specific instances of real-life corruption in Indonesia like The Act of Killing does; judging by the amount of "anonymous" contributions on Oppenheimer's credits roll, that is much easier for an outsider. But the new Indonesian noir is still notable for being drenched by an atmosphere of bone-deep venality seeping out from institutions to poison people's psyches, the weather, everything. Rain-lashed Jakarta is such a forsaken place in both Belenggu and The Forbidden Door that the protagonists are shepherded into diminishing circles, finally unable to trust even themselves. | These works aren't quite bold enough to confront specific instances of real-life corruption in Indonesia like The Act of Killing does; judging by the amount of "anonymous" contributions on Oppenheimer's credits roll, that is much easier for an outsider. But the new Indonesian noir is still notable for being drenched by an atmosphere of bone-deep venality seeping out from institutions to poison people's psyches, the weather, everything. Rain-lashed Jakarta is such a forsaken place in both Belenggu and The Forbidden Door that the protagonists are shepherded into diminishing circles, finally unable to trust even themselves. |
| Twas ever thus in vintage noir, of course – where corruption always reigned. It was the genius of American capitalism that, with the help of gifted European emigres such as Fritz Lang and Otto Preminger, it gave birth to a genre that sold its dark side back to the world. While Hollywood was elsewhere pumping out westerns and comedies lionising manifest destiny and the consumer way of life, this grubby, grabby little genre – the most American of all, according to Roger Ebert – slipped into the shadows of US individualism, in search of the crooks and the kooks (often the same person). Noir beautified these casualties – a romanticism obviously appealing to the likes of Congo. | Twas ever thus in vintage noir, of course – where corruption always reigned. It was the genius of American capitalism that, with the help of gifted European emigres such as Fritz Lang and Otto Preminger, it gave birth to a genre that sold its dark side back to the world. While Hollywood was elsewhere pumping out westerns and comedies lionising manifest destiny and the consumer way of life, this grubby, grabby little genre – the most American of all, according to Roger Ebert – slipped into the shadows of US individualism, in search of the crooks and the kooks (often the same person). Noir beautified these casualties – a romanticism obviously appealing to the likes of Congo. |
| This ambiguous twilight zone is a dangerous place nowadays for film-makers – noir can be so seductive it can easily slip into an exercise in retro detail. Indonesia, with plenty of its own problems, might be tempted to pull the same trick as 40s America: harness the genre's dark power to propel its commercial cinema. But it needs to go beyond glamorous surfaces and postures to fully transplant it into the new terrain. Anwar's Kala is the most successful example so far, with its indignant plotline about the shady origins of an unnamed republic (inspired by real-life rumours about a gold hoard belonging to the country's first president, Sukarno). As it gets drawn into the jungle, with its careful, hardboiled mannerisms constantly on the verge of unravelling into something more primitive, it feels like noir has one foot in something new and pungent. | This ambiguous twilight zone is a dangerous place nowadays for film-makers – noir can be so seductive it can easily slip into an exercise in retro detail. Indonesia, with plenty of its own problems, might be tempted to pull the same trick as 40s America: harness the genre's dark power to propel its commercial cinema. But it needs to go beyond glamorous surfaces and postures to fully transplant it into the new terrain. Anwar's Kala is the most successful example so far, with its indignant plotline about the shady origins of an unnamed republic (inspired by real-life rumours about a gold hoard belonging to the country's first president, Sukarno). As it gets drawn into the jungle, with its careful, hardboiled mannerisms constantly on the verge of unravelling into something more primitive, it feels like noir has one foot in something new and pungent. |
| But even more than the grand conspiracies, it's personal territory that holds the greatest promise for Indonesian noir. The genre was always at its most successful when it touched on the frailty and temptation inside everyone. The American films were populated by weary molls and petty insurance scamsters, inept adulterers and ordinary Joes with a past – everyday folk taking short cuts and inevitably paying the piper. | But even more than the grand conspiracies, it's personal territory that holds the greatest promise for Indonesian noir. The genre was always at its most successful when it touched on the frailty and temptation inside everyone. The American films were populated by weary molls and petty insurance scamsters, inept adulterers and ordinary Joes with a past – everyday folk taking short cuts and inevitably paying the piper. |
| And it's just those sorts of insecurities that, as he stages his past misdemeanours in The Act of Killing, catch up with Anwar Congo. There's a moment when the muezzin outside interrupts the murderous mood that he and his fellow actors are cooking up for their opening scene, and they wait to resume filming. Their kitsch is suddenly electrified by something profound; it's like God, the voice of judgment lilting down, is teaching them noir's true depths. Congo is irritated, and rants about his disdain for human rights. But something is happening to him. Later, playing a communist himself in another menacing interrogation, he seems to break down, and a redemption of sorts begins. | And it's just those sorts of insecurities that, as he stages his past misdemeanours in The Act of Killing, catch up with Anwar Congo. There's a moment when the muezzin outside interrupts the murderous mood that he and his fellow actors are cooking up for their opening scene, and they wait to resume filming. Their kitsch is suddenly electrified by something profound; it's like God, the voice of judgment lilting down, is teaching them noir's true depths. Congo is irritated, and rants about his disdain for human rights. But something is happening to him. Later, playing a communist himself in another menacing interrogation, he seems to break down, and a redemption of sorts begins. |
| It's clear that the conscience of the killer has been caught through envisioning and staging these tacky scenes. The one-time king of the noir underworld is now caught in the whirlpool. Oppenheimer has managed to pinpoint a moment where cinema and the real world touch, and create heat. The question of representation, and what it can achieve, doesn't look so dumb after all. | It's clear that the conscience of the killer has been caught through envisioning and staging these tacky scenes. The one-time king of the noir underworld is now caught in the whirlpool. Oppenheimer has managed to pinpoint a moment where cinema and the real world touch, and create heat. The question of representation, and what it can achieve, doesn't look so dumb after all. |
| • The Terracotta film festival starts tomorrow. Belenggu screens as part of its horror all-nighter on Friday. Details: terracottafestival.com. The Act of Killing is out on 28 June. | • The Terracotta film festival starts tomorrow. Belenggu screens as part of its horror all-nighter on Friday. Details: terracottafestival.com. The Act of Killing is out on 28 June. |
| • Next week's After Hollywood will look at the abandoned-Earth trope. Which global cinematic stories would you like to see covered in the column? Let us know in the comments below. | • Next week's After Hollywood will look at the abandoned-Earth trope. Which global cinematic stories would you like to see covered in the column? Let us know in the comments below. |
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