Esai:Belitong according to Laskar Pelangi

“Laskar Pelangi represents the other side of Indonesia. And it seems that our spectators had missed that kind of otherness” producer Mira Lesmana says. Why and how does the dynamic trio Riri Riza-Mira Lesmana-Salman Aristo (director, producer, scriptwriter, respectively) successfully depict Belitong in Laskar Pelangi (Rainbow Warrior)? I will elaborate it through two keywords: mental landscape and neorealist elements.

Mental Landscape

Mental landscape gives the soul of one city. The city depicted in a film is not merely a physical landscape with abstract identity, but it tells its stories and the activities. The spectators can immediately feel and understand that if a film set in Jakarta with its particular social problems, and it tells stories of people living in Jakarta. In short, it shows its certain “spiritual vitality” of the city.

It is notable film critic Andre Bazin who mentions “spiritual vitality” of one city on screen as an important aspect to depict mental landscape. This concept gives the soul and identity to one city so that the audiences are convinced with certain atmosphere and particular ambience of a city. Bazin uses it when he defends Rossellini’s Voyage to Italy. Bazin underlines that the recreated Naples on the film is not false, albeit it is not shot in the real Naples, because it has the quality of wholeness (including the geographical and social setting), and being “filtered” through the consciousness and the attitude of the main characters (Bazin 1972: 98-99). Through the main character’s awareness, the spectators can feel the wholeness and spiritual vitality of Naples.

In conclusion, amental landscape shows the “spiritual vitality” of one city on screen, construes something specific or certain indications referring that the city where the films are set is one particular city. And one aspect of the spiritual vitality is the reconstitution the city which supposedly signifying human achievement and progress.

Asrul Sani states that most of Indonesian films in his era are set in Jakarta, but actually they are not about Jakarta or its people, but rather about a large city with no name. He writes: “Jakarta is merely a set, a place for action because every story needs a setting” (Jufri (eds.) 1992: 23). Sani writes that the spectators rarely see anything specific or certain indications referring that the city where the films are set is Jakarta. Jakarta is only physical space completely voids the symbolic meaning (Jufri (eds.) 1992: 23). Sani writes that instead of the outer images or the physical aspect of life in the city, a mental landscape of Jakarta should be shown on screen. “For them, life is a physical expression. In fact, life is something more. There is a world of activity behind the buildings and beneath the skin of urban men” (Jufri (eds.) 1992: 26).

Sani states that the cities in Indonesian films are always pictured in stereotyped images, with highway full of cars and large and luxurious office building (Jufri (eds.) 1992: 24).One aspect of this kind of failure is that the filmmakers are not of an urban mind-frame; hence they do not get the spirit and the real condition and situation of urban life (Jufri et at (eds.) 1992: 23).

Sani mentions some examples on mental landscape, such as “…the fact that Jakarta is the meeting place for the people from all different sorts of ethnic and cultural backgrounds who are trying to find a social balance and in so doing producing a culture and social landscape that differs markedly from the respective regions in which they were raised” (Jufri (eds.) 1992: 25).

This lack of mental landscape happens, as Sani mentions, because the stories are not ones that originate in Jakarta, but only the offshoots of foreign films: a dramatic formula containing the attitudes and element found in foreign films about large urban areas (Jufri (eds.) 1992: 24).

Sani mentioned anomaly of Indonesian films that succeed to depict Jakarta and its resident not only as a physical but also a mental landscape which areSjuman Djaya’s Kerikil-Kerikil Tajam (Sharp Gravels) and Si Mamad, Arifin C Noer’s Yuyun Pasien Rumah Sakit Jiwa (Yuyun, Patient of a Mental Hospital) and Usmar Ismail’s Jakarta, the Big Village.

Laskar Pelangi belongs to anomaly cases. But, it is its unique credit, instead of Jakarta it shows the mental landscape of Belitong. The story is of the book which the film is based originates in Belitong. The novel writer, Andrea Hirata, is a Belitong-native, thus he knows exactly about the location and its people daily activities, problems, and stories. And the fact that the story is his semi-memoir strengthens its mental landscape. (a very rare cases in Indonesian cinema history! It successfully represents the other face of Indonesia) and its “spiritual vitality”. Location depicted in this film is not a nameless nowhere city.

There is no abstract identity in this film. The spectators can see the real locations and names such as SD Muhammadiyah Gantong, SD Timah, Manggar, Pantai Punai, Wisma Ria Lenggang 1, and PN Timah (some businessmen even arrange a “Laskar Pelangi” tour, such as www.belitungisland.com).

Surely, some of the places are not the real place, such as SD Muhammadiyah Gantong. But Riza and his art department crews recreated it as close as its reality. That is what mental landscape term all about. Hirata’s and the dynamic trio’s social awareness and educational consciousness reflected in the main characters’ awareness, consciousness and attitude strengthen the identity and wholeness of Belitong.

Some filmmakers use neorealism elements to reanimate the mental landscape, in order to make the film (including the location) closer to reality. And Riri Riza is one of them.

Neorealism elements

Italian Neorealism has several characteristics, but in fact, there is no manifesto of agreed aims and principles and no agreed method of filmmaking practice, only an array of negative convictions opposed to the formulaic depictions of commercial cinema and the belief that films should be a source of knowledge and reality (Hallam & Marshment 1988: 41)[1].

On discussion about the marks of neorealist films, many film scholars and critics describe neorealist films with some characteristics: the central characteristics consist of a method of filmmaking practice (location shooting and the use of nonprofessional actors), the attitude of the filmmakers (who aim to get close to their subject), their choice of subject matter (the loves of ordinary people, and as Bazin put it, “the concern with actual day-to-day events” (Bazin 1972: 20) and the ideological/political slant of the films (broadly left wing/liberal humanist) (Hallam & Marsment, 1988: 40).

Indeed, the term “neorealism” is not a simple and fixed definition. Film critic Mark Shiel writes that the realism of neorealism manifested itself in a distinctive visual style: preference for location filming, the use of nonprofessional actors, the avoidance of ornamental mise-en-scene, a preference for natural light, a freely-moving documentary style of photography, an non-interventionist approach to film directing and an avoidance of complex editing (Shiel 2006: 2). The neorealist city is more complex than it appears. For film scholar George Nowell-Smith, neorealism is above all a cinema of reconstruction, and its aesthetic in this respect follows its politics (Nowell-Smith 2001: 105). Accordingly, neorealist films do not declare “this is how things are”, but “this is how things were”. (Nowell-Smith 2001: 105). He illuminates two things on this matter. First, the films are a testimony to what the filmmaker saw at a particular time, and spectators watch it in other time. Second, the city is often a ruin, and the film states that the destruction and decoy should be restored (Nowell-Smith 2001: 105). Neorealist films also reveal poverty, unemployment and corruption in everyday life, and the effects on ordinary people, as a result of the social commitment and the political slant of the filmmakers (Hallam & Marshment 1988: 42).

Riri Riza uses neorealist elements to strengthen the mental landscape. Firstly, he used non-professional actors, a group of extremely talented Belitong-native young children. Mira Lesmana explains that they chose 12 little actor from Belitong is for the sense and taste of locality. “I cannot imagine if the characters of the children are played by Jakartans”, she says. Her second reason, she believes that great talents are not centered in Jakarta, but in other district such as Belitong.

As Bazin writes, in neorealist films, the use of nonprofessional actors is naturally chosen for their suitability for the part, either because they fit physically or because there is some parallelism between the roles and their lives (Bazin 1972: 24). Zulfanny (as Ikal) for example, was chosen because he looks like young Andrea Hirata, and he is the son of a poor watch seller in Tanjungpandang market, Belitong. Verry Yamarno (as Mahar) is a son of a tronton truck driver, and he loves to play guitar and kendang (traditional drums). Yoha Nugraha (as Kucai) is a son of a freelance worker and Elementary School’s officer. (Madina, Oktober 2008, p 18-19). For Harun case, there is interesting fact: Riza uses the read retarded boy to play retarded character. Those facts underline Bazin’s statement that, besides the faithfulness to everyday life in the scenario, the truth to his part in an actor is simply the basic materials of the aesthetic of neorealist films (Bazin 1972: 25). The Belitong ambience is embodied in those actors’s attitude and daily life, i.e. the dialect. Can we imagine if the children’s characters are played by Jakarta people such as Tora Sudiro and Rieke Dyah Pitaloka who cannot speak Melayu in good and fluent dialect? Or, how many months does it take to practice such kinds of embodied cultural gestures for non-Belitong young actors?

Secondly, it was shot on authentic location, in Belitong. Upon discussing the representation in a neorealistic way, Nowell-Smith mentions that one of the characteristics of neorealist films is location-shot, and the story happens in a place which is identifiable, very often named, and where the name may even form a part of the title (Nowell-Smith 2001: 101). And it can be touristic or shows aspects of cities which do not correspond to the audience’s pre-existing expectations (Nowell-Smith 2001: 101). Nowell-Smith also argues that shooting on location is either aesthetic or economic choice, or often mixtures.

Laskar Pelangi is set in real locations, Belitong, not set-up locations or in studio. The audience can feel that the ambience of certain spaces is closer to reality. The camera captures the atmosphere of minor details. The minor details construe, reconstitute and represent the mosaic of Belitong: the landscape, the beach, the fields, the market, the bicycles, Harimau’s chalk, and even some posters in class (KH Ahmad Dahlan, Buya Hamka, Rhoma Irama). Thus, it is a touristic experience for the spectators. The movie shows aspects of citiy which do not correspond to the audience’s pre-existing expectations.

How about other neorealist elements? Let me discuss them below.

The narrative technique applied in Laskar Pelangi is similar to Paisa (1946, a film by Roberto Rosselini one of neo-realist ‘founding fathers’) analyzed by Andre Bazin. Bazin writes that a film is always presented as a succession of fragments of imaged reality or a rectangular surface of given proportions, the ordering of the images and their duration on the screen determining its import (Bazin 1972: 30). And for Bazin, Paisa is the first film to resemble closely a collection of different short stories but “... their social, historical, and human foundation gives them a unity enough to constitute a collection perfectly homogeneous in its diversity” (Bazin 1972: 34). Bazin comments that in Paisa, the director “… chose these “facts” carefully while at the same time respecting their factual integrity” (Bazin 1972: 37) and “… manifest and equally concrete density” (Bazin 1972: 37).

Similar to Paisa, Laskar Pelangi is a multiplot film with stories about Ikal, Lintang, and Mahar, and other characters, including the stories of the minor details (stories of Bu Muslimah, Flo, etc) shown on screen. But their stories are interwoven and united by SD Muhammadiyah of Gantong and their educational and social issues or by, as Bazin puts it, “… their social, historical and human foundation.” Those fragments of stories become one entity.

On poverty as a theme, the film explains itself. We can witness how poor those children (and also their teachers) in daily life (at school, in their own houses, etc). Riza shows us the fragile, nearly-collapsed school building, flooded by the rains with leaky ceiling. When holiday comes, the students will work as labors. This kind of poverty sharpens when the movie compare it to luxury school called SD Timah, run by a Government owned company.

And, surely the spectators can feel the atmosphere of political slant and social commitment of the filmmakers. The city on screen is often a “ruin”, and the film states that “the destruction and decoy” should be restored (Nowell-Smith 2001: 105)--Riza puts chapter 31 of Indonesian Constitution at the end of the movie, it states: “every citizen has the right to education”. This movie is a statement of the filmmakers on educational condition. I argue that Laskar Pelangi’s aesthetic in this respect follows its politics (Nowell-Smith 2001: 105). And Riza and Mira (also Hirata) do not just declare “this is how things were”. (Nowell-Smith 2001: 105), but “this is how things are”, considering that the conditions in Indonesia are not very developing since 1979.

Bazin, Andre. What is Cinema Vol II. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1972.

Bondanella, Peter. Italian Cinema from Neorealism to the Present. New York: The Ungar Publishing Company, 1988.

Hallam, Julia and Margaret Marsment. Realism and Popular Cinema. Manchester & New York: Manchester University Press, 2000.

Jufri, Moch et al (ed). Indonesian Film Panorama. Jakarta: Permanent Committee of the Indonesian Film Festival, 1992.

Nowell-Smith, George. Cities: Real and Imagined in Mark Shiel & Tony Fitzmaurice (eds). Cinema and the City: Film and Urban Societies in a Global Context (Studies in Urban and Social Change). Oxford: Blackwell Publisher, 2001, p 99-108.

Overbey, David (ed). Springtime in Italy: A Reader on Neo-Realism. London: Talisman Books, 1978.

Shiel. Mark. Italian Neorealism, Rebuilding the Cinematic City. London & New York: Wallflower, 2006.

(Madina Magazine, Oktober 2008, p 18-19)

[1] Bazin, for example, compares Rossellini and De Sica. For him, Rossellini’s style is a way of seeing, and de Sica’s is primarily a way of feeling (Bazin: 1972, 62)