'Homeland' confusing, but shows promise
'Homeland' confusing, but shows promise
Tantri Yuliandini, Jakarta
It is a simple concept that ran away with itself and got too
ambitious. This was a shame, for in itself it was an ambitious
idea that had unexpectedly found the light of day.
It is Homeland, Indonesia's first fully three-dimensional,
animated, feature-length movie, created by Studio Kasatmata, a
group of university students and recent graduates from
Yogyakarta.
In essence, the story of Homeland is about a boy in search of
a place to call home. That sounds like a lame story, which was
probably what the writer, Gangsar Waskito, thought when he
inserted all that other stuff about sinking ships, four warring
civilizations, and the "whosoever pulleth out this sword from
this stone" Arthurian legend.
Only, he put in too much, and with a running time of only 90
minutes, it was not long enough to explain all the disjointed
fragments in the story.
The movie begins with a narration about four warring nations
-- Cougar Halmahera, Bobolonia, Artik, and Tiritonia -- which,
after three days of intense fighting, decide to call a truce and
build the castle of peace, Castle Utopia.
High atop the castle is a sword embedded in crystal, with the
legend that says the next king of Utopia would be someone who
could pull out the sword.
The movie then cuts to the next scene, the sinking of Atlas --
a state-of-the-art, high-tech trading ship in the middle of
nowhere.
Like any good captain, Sal is forced to go down with his ship,
but not before blasting away his only son, Bumi, on a pod to
safety.
The pod lands on a pristine beach, and Bumi -- his name
meaning "earth" -- is left marooned with only his backpack and
violin.
After playing a tribute to the perished sailors, Bumi sets off
to find his father's legacy -- none other than Castle Utopia,
which Sal has bought for his planned retirement.
An Alice in Wonderland moment ensues with Bumi falling down,
not a rabbit hole, but a tree root. After which he witnesses a
fight between some black boars and a Diablo-like monster.
During this time, the audience is forced to put up with Bumi
talking and grunting to himself.
There is a very good reason why the garrulous Donkey in Shrek
was introduced at the beginning of the movie. It was the same
reason for having Dory the blue tang fish along in the quest for
Finding Nemo. The reason is that it is not fun watching a cartoon
character talk or even think aloud to himself.
In both Shrek and Finding Nemo, Donkey and Dory's chatty
personalities allow the main characters an excuse for
conversation, as well as providing both movies with comic relief.
In Homeland there is no such relief, because even when Bumi
finally finds another character to interact with, the creators of
the movie decided that it could only grunt and snort!
After watching the fight that indicates an intention to save
the monster when it falls over a cliff, Bumi sets out and finds
himself in a field of monster mushrooms. The Diablo-like monster
saves Bumi from the mushrooms and conveniently drops him atop
Castle Utopia, where Bumi names him after Sal's ship, Atlas.
With no curiosity at all about the sword in the crystal, Bumi
makes the castle his home and befriends the Bobolonians who are
on a school excursion there. He later meets with a gypsy girl,
Serene, and her pet panda, Abraham.
One of the highlights of the movie is the interaction between
characters of the gypsy tribe, Trinitas. Dubbed by three members
of the famed comedy group Project Pop, the banter between
Trinitas's leader -- coquettish hippopotamus Simione (voiced by
Tika Panggabean) -- rocker dog Jimmo (Yossi), and tombstone ghost
Dantes (Udjo) provide a fresh break for an otherwise slow-moving
story.
A year passes in a calm and oh-so-boring happy-happy
atmosphere. Bumi is still not in the least curious about the
magic sword embedded atop his castle (making me seriously
question his education and upbringing).
On an excursion with Atlas, Bumi encounters General Nino, the
Cougar Halmahera general with Bob Marley hair.
The ease with which the characters in this movie befriend Bumi
is simply astounding. Even the cougar-riding General Nino, who is
the antagonist in the movie.
The friendly General Nino, however, has an ulterior motive. He
is there scouting the land to conquer Castle Utopia for the glory
of the Cougar Halmahera (probably because they cannot afford to
buy it off Sal). Only, he believes that Bumi is the next king of
Utopia (because he is naive, trusting, innocent and gullible?).
So the battle begins between the Cougars and the Castle Utopia
household -- consisting of Bumi, the Bobs, Serene, the Trinitas
and Atlas. It ends with a showdown between General Nino and Bumi,
in true Matrix fashion.
Homeland's animation is worth mentioning. It shows genuine
talent and promise of what Studio Kasatmata has to offer.
Landscapes are well thought out, and characters are unique and
conspicuous enough to be marketed as merchandise, particularly
the trio Trinitas.
Unlike the slapstick comedy shorts such as Kelolodhen (2002)
and Loud Me Loud (2002), which Studio Kasatmata was already
familiar with, a feature-length movie is new territory for the
group.
Gangsar Waskito, Homeland's script writer and director,
admitted that the original length of the movie was about two
hours. Due to time constraints, many of the movies' explanatory
elements were sacrificed, he said.
Furnished with Rp 150 million (about US$17,241) in prize money
from the Visi Anak Bangsa Award they won last year, these 12
youths successfully gave us a glimpse of what young Indonesians
are capable of when given an opportunity.
Despite its shortcomings, Homeland is a laudable effort from
our own, homegrown young animators. We await Kasatmata's future
endeavors with bated breath.
Homeland will tour 12 cities across Indonesia beginning May 7,
mainly in university campuses, and will be shown in Jakarta on
June 19, 2004, at Pusat Perfilman Haji Usmar Ismail (PPHUI) on
Jl. Rasuna Said, Kuningan, South Jakarta. For a complete schedule
please visit http://homeland.kapanlagi.com.