Arifin the playwright, director, artist

Arifin the playwright, director, artist

Long before he plunged into the country's movie industry in
the late 1970s, Arifin Chairin Noor was a consummate playwright
who led Teater Ketjil, a theater company famous for infusing an
indigenous quality into the art.

If playwright W.S. Rendra opened up the possibility of modern
theater for Indonesia, Arifin and his Teater Ketjil, literally
meaning small theater, infused an Indonesia flavor into theater.

Arifin wrote countless brilliant scripts for theater such as
Sumur Tanpa Dasar (Bottomless Well), Mega Mega (Cloud, Cloud),
Ozone and Dalam Bayangan Tuhan (In the Shadow of God), which won
accolades from critics for their pensive and poetic dialogs.
Arifin was also known for his economy with words as he could
present a grandiose idea or spiritual musings with three or four
words.

At first Arifin was hesitant to fully align himself with the
film industry and made a marginal contribution to the industry by
writing scripts for movies, a skill he had mastered well.

Three of his scripts, Pemberang (Hotheaded), Rio Anakku (Rio
My Son) and Sanrego won Citra awards for the best screenplay at
the Indonesian Film Festival (FFI) in the early 1970s.

Arifin shot his first film in 1978, Suci Sang Primadona (Suci
the Superstar), a heart-rending tale of a drama queen who used
her popularity to satisfy herself materially.

His characters were never black-and-white and each had its own
complexity. The film were nominated for the Citra award in
several categories but only went home with one Citra for best
actress.

In 1978, Arifin released Petualang, Petualang (Adventurer,
Adventurer). The film, which was originally titled Koruptor,
Koruptor, was soon banned by the government for its incisive
social criticism.

The film was given the go-ahead for screening only in 1984,
with a 319-meter cut by the Film Sensor Board (BSF).

In the 1980s, Arifin directed government-funded films that
focused on the country's history.

Despite its propagandist theme, the films, Serangan Fajar
(Pre-Dawn Raid), Pemberontakan G-30 S/PKI (The Rebellion of the
PKI's Sept. 30 Movement) and Jakarta 66 (Jakarta 1966) received
critical acclaim and won Citra awards.

Serangan was the first movie to use an aerial view of a battle
scene.

Arifin also carried his trademark poetic dialog into those
films. Little-known actress Suparmi won the best supporting role
at the 1982 FFI only for uttering one line from Arifin's script
`Laki-Laki itu Indah' (Men are Beautiful).

Afraid of being called a documentary film director, Arifin
made two feature films in the early 1990s, Taksi (Taxi) and Bibir
Mer (Mer's Lips), which both won dozens of Citra awards.

Looking back at Arifin's legacy, his long-time collaborator
Budi Setiawan said: "If only Arifin joined the film industry
earlier, he could have achieved more ground-breaking works," he
said. -- M. Taufiqurrahman