Darling revisits Bali to document a healing community

Rita A. Widiadana The Jakarta Post Kuta, Bali

A few years ago, John Darling thought he was going to die of the hemochromatosis he suffered.

With too much iron in his body, the once prolific Australian filmmaker could do nothing but read and watch movies in his hometown, Canberra.

Then came news about the terror attack in Kuta, Bali, on the night of Oct. 12, 2002, killing 202 people, 80 of whom were Australian nationals.

"I was very shocked and devastated to hear about such a horrible tragedy. Bali has always been in my heart. It is like a second home to me," said Darling, who lived in Bali between l969 and l986.

In the early 1970s, Darling lived with the family of renowned Balinese artist I Gusti Nyoman Lempad in Banjar Taman, a village in Ubud.

"I used to grow my own rice, have a cow and cooked my own food with a traditional stove. Bali was really, really beautiful and peaceful," recalled Darling.

Although Bali has been changing socially and physically, Darling said he still admired the Balinese.

"I think this is an unusual people with an unusual culture, Perhaps the best living culture in the world," he said.

The fond memory of the Island of the Gods kept haunting him. "I haven't been to Bali for the last five years because of my health condition," Darling said.

The bombing and the grief of the victims and their families rekindled the ailing filmmaker, inspiring him to make another documentary film.

"For me, it was a miracle. I thought I could never make another film. Thanks also to new drugs and, of course, my wife Sarah for encouraging me to do this project," said Darling, affectionately gesturing toward his wife, who is also his production manager.

"I might be wrong, but in my knowledge, there are no other foreigners outside Indonesia who have made as many documentary films on Bali and Indonesia as I have," he said.

Darling has produced and directed a lifetime's worth of documentaries, including Below the Wind, a film on the Aboriginal people of Arnhem Land, recounting a visit from old friends -- the Sama Bajo of Indonesia -- who came south to look for trepang, or sea cucumber.

He also co-produced and co-directed Bali Hash (l989), Bali Triptych, a series of 3 films (l987), and Lempad of Bali (1980), which he directed and co-produced with the late Lorne Blair. He also co-produced Living with Dragons (l994-95) with Blair, a film about the lives of the people of Komodo island, East Nusa Tenggara.

All of his documentaries have been aired by prestigious television stations around the world.

A month after the bombings, Darling and his family went to Bali in November 2002, attending the Pamarisudha Karipubhaya mass purification ceremony to ward off evil spirits and to purify the island.

"I was so worried that I would not be able to portray such an immense tragedy adequately. I owe so much to my Balinese and Australian friends," he said.

He calls his most recent film The Healing of Bali. "Bali and its people are certainly not healed yet. They are still sad and angry," he said. "But they could control themselves. I saw a lot of wisdom, a collective wisdom within the Balinese community."

Through his film, he wants to tell the Indonesian and Balinese perspective on the tragedy, a story the world does not know. "It was a terrible experience for them, yet they did not get enough coverage, especially from international media," Darling said.

In the almost one-hour documentary, he focuses on the lives of the victims after the bombing.

"Documentary films are about personalizing people and places so the audience gains first-hand information on how these people cope with their grief, their hopelessness, their expectations and their new lives."

The film focuses mostly on Indonesian and Balinese victims and a few Australian survivors, families and doctors.

"I decided to do (this film) because Australian televisions have run so many films about the Bali bombing. They always deal with stories about the bomb and Australians," he said.

The project is actually a family effort: His children helped him with the research, and his wife acted as his production and personal manager.

As seeking funding from the Australian government would be time consuming and stressful, Darling decided to work jointly with local company PADI Film and its executive producer Gary Hayes.

"I've invested more than A$30,000 in this film," Darling said.

The documentarian is especially animated when he talks about the ongoing project.

"I have always been close to all the film people in Indonesia, from the older generation including the late Teguh Karya, Slamet Rahardjo, Garin Nughroho and Christine Hakim, to rising stars like Mira Lesmana," he said.

According to Darling, producing this film has been easier in regards its technical aspects than his previous projects.

"We're using digital cameras, which make it quite easy to edit and touch up the film," he noted.

In the past, he had to shoot every scene himself and afterwards, had to bring the entire film back to Australia for editing, sound mixing and post-production.

The Healing of Bali features bombing survivors as well as volunteer Haji Bambang, former Chief Investigator Gen. I Made Mangku Pastika and many others.

"I profiled Haji Bambang, whom I knew as a child roaming Kuta beach. I used to play chess with him," said Darling.

Most importantly, the documentary exposes the genuine friendship that exists between the Balinese, Javanese and other people of different cultural and religious backgrounds.

"Many Westerners do not have any idea of what was happening behind the tragedy. A lot of media coverage only saw things flat, in black and white," Darling said.

He hopes the documentary film will be broadcast on television in Australia. "I hope I can sell it to SBS and see it screened on Oct. 12, the first anniversary of the bombing," he said.

Darling also has plans to offer the film to American TV stations, BBC and other stations worldwide.