Despite the progress and the impact of the feminist movement during the latest years, the circumstances of women in various places of the world are still dire, to say the least, with the blights of patriarchy still being quite evident. The anger that the fact inevitably has resulted in is captured in all its tense glory in Jeremias Nyangoen debut, “Women from Rote Island”.
Women from Rote Island is screening at New York Asian Film Festival
As the movie begins, it has been nine days since the death of Abraham, and the funeral has not commenced yet, since his wife, Orpha, insists that his last wish, of his daughter Martha attending the process, needs to be fulfilled. As Martha is late returning from Malaysia where she was working at a palm oil plantation, the whole household, which seems to consist almost exclusively of women, is in turmoil, with Orpha holding the funeral back by sheer grit. Eventually, Martha does return, to the joy of her mother and sister Bertha, and the funeral finally commences.
It seems, though, that the trauma the young woman suffered in Malaysia has taken a toll to her overall mentality, while her torments are soon revealed to be far from over. In the meantime, her family tries to help her but in the setting they inhabit, they are proven helpless and tragedy keeps knocking on their door.
In a documentary-like style, particularly due to the extensive use of tracking shots and shaky camera, which reminds of Brillante Mendoza’s style, Jeremias Nyangoen definitely succeeds in creating an atmosphere of tension, within which, his comments are presented in quite impactful fashion. The scene where Orpha goes to the market and has a young boy pressing his penis against her butt, and the fact that when she tells what happened is actually told off for going alone or not sending a man to do it, is quite indicative of the whole situation.
This aspect actually permeates the movie, with the overwhelming majority of male characters, despite their age, appearing as creeps, with the treatment that obviously mentally handicapped Martha is experiencing adding even more to the comment. And if the peeping, the touching, and the constant effort to exploit were not enough, the fact that in such a small community, there are serial rapists, essentially turns the whole thing to a hellish setting. Even more since the results particularly in two instances are utterly shocking and horrendous.
Also shocking is what happens when the time for punishment arrives, with the reactions of everybody involved being brutally realistic. Lastly, the last scenes, among the most powerful in the movie, give both a message of hope in resistance and highlight how difficult change is in such a setting.
Another rather appealing aspect here concerns the visuals, and particularly how the beauty of the area, particularly in the scenes on the beach and the fields, is juxtaposed with the horrible events that take place. DP Joseph Christoforus Fofid captures both instances with the same artistry, in a rather impressive effort. The capturing of the local customs in documentary style is also good, adding another level to the narrative of the movie. Beck’s editing results in a rather fast pace that suits the aesthetics of the movie while being an integral part of the tension.
Jeremias Nyangoen picked only locals for the cast, in order to retain the authenticity of the island’s ways and particularly its dialect, with the result definitely going in his favor. Irma Novita Rihi as Martha and Merlinda Dessy Adoe as Orpa are the ones that stand out in the most demanding roles, but the whole cast does an excellent job.
Occasionally the script may go a bit too far, but considering that the story here is just a medium in order for the comments to be presented as eloquently as possible, this is a flaw that can be easily ignored. As a whole, “Women from Rote Island” is an excellent movie, another testament to the progress of Indonesian cinema.
