'Berdongeng Peri' provides respite from trashy TV diet

'Berdongeng Peri' provides respite from trashy TV diet

By Tam Notosusanto

JAKARTA (JP): Kids, musicals and the issue of storytelling.
They are what actor-director Harry Suharyadi is into these days.
After last year's award-winning Mencari Pelangi, (Looking for the
Rainbow), his television film about young children in pursuit of
"method storytelling", the 30-year-old Jakarta Art Institute
graduate ventures into similar terrain with his latest,
Berdongeng Peri (Telling Stories of the Fairies).

The film was shown as part of ANteve's anniversary program
back in January, and is rerun tonight, Friday, July 23, at 8 p.m.
in conjunction with National Children's Day. It's only fitting,
because Peri is a story of the friendship between two girls from
different classes in society.

At first glance, the film looks like a dead ringer for Mencari
Pelangi, because of the theme (kids and storytelling) and its
musical numbers. But mostly it's because of Rimarsha Nugrafitra,
that button-nosed, curly-haired moppet, for the second time
donning shabby clothes to play yet another street urchin in
Suharyadi's imagination.

The similarities end there. Peri is a well-paced, more
enjoyable piece that is not as ambitious and less confusing than
Mencari Pelangi. It may still have the misguided desire to become
a musical film, but at least it gives the impression of a more
stable, accomplished work.

It tells of Sintia (Laken Amanda), an elementary-school
student from a well-to-do family and Asih (Rimarsha Nugrafitra),
an uneducated cigarette vendor, who meet one day when Asih helps
Sintia retrieve a small jewelry box belonging to her teacher that
was snatched by a pickpocket. The girls quickly become friends,
spending time together and visiting each other's homes. Sintia
tells Asih stories, particularly The Little Match Girl, which
Sintia will be performing in a school play and which she expects
her new best friend will attend.

Suharyadi, who wrote the screenplay with Adi Nugroho
(Kuldesak), uses familiar elements in the main characters:
Sintia is the lonely child whose only apparent companion is her
loyal chauffeur (Krisno Bossa); she is a child whose parents
never seem to be around, and who is evidently still traumatized
by the recent death of her much-loved grandmother (Ibu Kasur).
Meanwhile, Asih is the solitary orphan who frequents the streets
and lives in a shack all by herself. This provides the basis of
Berdongeng Peri's simple, linear plot.

But the film is really one rife with derivatives. The bandit
boss Bulo (Indra Safera), for example, reminds us of Fagin, that
unforgettable ruffian from Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist.
Safera's Bulo is as wickedly funny, and he sings and dances his
way into his role the way Fagin steals scenes from the title
character of the popular musical Oliver! Bulo's goons themselves
could have been taken straight from the disaster-prone thieves
from the Home Alone movies, while Unique Prisilla's benevolent,
soft-spoken fairy is not unlike the one who brings life into
Pinocchio in the Disney animated classic. And there's the
question of the tale of The Little Match Girl itself, which is
not attributed to Hans Christian Andersen's original source at
all in the credits, and is used by Suharyadi and Nugroho as a
parallel for Asih's life.

Suharyadi may have been quite busy borrowing stuff from all
over, especially Western stuff, giving hints of his cultural
influence (the film's credit title is even alternately written in
English and Indonesian).

But this film does not conceal his cinematic creativity. His
effective use of extreme close-ups of Bulo's face, for instance,
magnifies the gangster's menacing qualities, particularly
supported by Safera's superb villainous interpretation, which is
surprising considering this is the guy we know as the flamboyant
talk-show host of Korek si Indra. Shots of the children's
swinging legs as we hear voice-overs of them conversing and the
swift editing style of Suharyadi and Puri Chrisanty also are
skillful choices that help enhance the film's overall look.

The regrettable aspect of the film is, of course, the musical
segments. The four-minute scene of Bulo's gang dancing and
croaking through a song near the film's beginning is utterly
excisable, while Amanda and Nugrafitra should have been directed
to a vocal instructor before they were even given the sheets of
Thoersi Argeswara's splendid song. It's a shame, because
Argeswara has done an excellent job in composing the film's
score, adding to the enjoyment of watching this film, even if he
is not justifiably served by the actors.

Overall, Berdongeng Peri is a nice little film that, as
Mencari Pelangi did, provides relief from all the junk our local
television serves. It may have flaws and may not be a thoroughly
engaging film, but at least it's not too dumb or offensive for
this weekend's family viewing.