Propaganda films don't always have to suck

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Propaganda films are usually made on the assumption that they are the means by which the intended messages can reach the audience in the first instance, and all artistic considerations must therefore take a backseat.

However, some directors reject this conventional wisdom and shoot films that might still be considered art, while at the same time pleasing their benefactors.

One need only point to Penumpasan Pemberontakan G-30 S/PKI (The Crushing of the PKI Sept. 30 Movement), from renowned director and playwright Arifin C. Noor as an example of how a propaganda film can still win critical acclaim.

Hollywood never runs out of good films that could nonetheless be regarded as propaganda. Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down was a fine example of the glorification of war and warlike sentiment while Francis Ford Coppolla's Apocalypse Now serves well the opposite aim of denouncing war.

The challenge to filmmakers of blending propaganda with art has inspired scores of young artists from the Jakarta Institute of Arts (IKJ) to produce a film that shines in spite of its propagandist theme.

The film, Srengenge (Sun, in Javanese) is the result of a project funded by the Jakarta office of the International Labor Organization (ILO). It aims to raise awareness on the need to address properly the exploitation of child laborers.

Recently launched during celebrations of National Children's Day, Srengenge, directed by third-year IKJ student Emil Heradi, is a short feature film that manages to tread a fine line between art house and propaganda, without looking or sounding like the latter.

Chronicling a brief moment in the life of Marsih -- the lead character played with great candor by fellow student Rahmadita Maharani -- the film delves into the exploitation of domestic child laborers commonly found in rural Java.

Through meticulously rendered camerawork, the film manages to portray the (s)exploitation and violence that befalls the lead character with subtlety and without resorting to graphic scenes.

Heradi has mastered the craft of using symbolism in delivering his messages and has effectively done so in the 30-minute film.

In what could be judged as its finest moment, the director has shot a scene in which the activities of the movie's villain, Sudrun, are likened to the exploitation of a child laborer via the image of a calf being milked.

Sudrun is the one who persuades Marsih to leave her home and work for a rich family in his village. It is also ironic that such words of wisdom come from the mouth of sexually harassed Marsih.

Against the prevailing trend of fast-paced editing and the overabundance of glossy pictures constantly beamed from the small screen, Heradi has composed the film as one long shot after another to capture perfectly the movie's morose atmosphere.

As if to distance itself from the Jakarta-centered film industry, all dialog in the film uses Javanese.

The film revolves around Marsih's longing to pursue higher education, an aspiration soon met with resistance by her employer.

"What's the use of education for a maid like you?" the employer asks, near the film's end.

Commenting on the film, head of the IKJ film department Marsellius Sumarno said that the country's entertainment industry should produce more films that focus on unemployment, repression of women and equality between humans rather than cashing in on hatred-laden films, as shown on television.

"We need to provide a counterweight to such dumbed-down television programming," he said.