Humans always cling to their attachments of their own possessions. In Andrew Bachtiar\u2019s MOKSA (Remarkable Journey To The End, 2020), Mbah Sapto tries to get away from all these worldly possessions, he prepares himself to surrender. He believes it is the way to reach Moksa. It becomes his sole purpose. No one can stop him.<\/p>\n The film\u2019s ending is pretty much an open ending. Does Mbah Sapto feel fulfilled? Did he reach Moksa? I tried to find the answers through details of Mbah Sapto\u2019s personal paintings, his odd rebirth in the forest, and sudden appearances of guardians and devilish monsters that fight each other. He believes that something better awaits him and he will have to surrender.<\/p>\n I can not help projecting myself as Mbah Sapto. I have an eternal awareness as an outsider, who came out of nowhere. I found these are hard to commit but reachable. All my life, I felt the sense to surrender, followed by detaching myself from my situations and problems, hoping for a better next phase.<\/p>\n “Be patient, you’ll just need to adapt, in Java you can be a successful person.”<\/em><\/p>\n I think it\u2019s the best line in the film Maria Ado\u2019e (Poor Maria, 2020) directed by Gleinda Stefany. It\u2019s such an ironic statement. Most people perhaps have heard similar advice like Maria got from her mother. Be patient and adapt. When you fail, just repeat, be patient and adapt.<\/p>\n Maria\u2019s inevitable sufferings from moving around to escape bullying based on skin color is a common case in Indonesia. Maria\u2019s visual characteristics define the root of every problem she has.<\/p>\n Maria keeps getting brainwashed by roommates who bad-mouthing her. She pulled off nonsense actions to get respect from her roommates. She denies her own identity. Be patient and adapt is easier to speak than done. Adapting requires both parties to be involved. Adapting requires tolerance.<\/p>\n I’m 22 years old, spent more than half of my life at school with approximately a total of more than 150 former classmates. I just realized that I have had only one Chinese-Indonesian classmate, ever. That’s Cancan. He is my college mate. We study film at the same university in Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n It\u2019s interesting to see Stefanus Cancan\u2019s Angpao (2020) selected in this program. Michael had to memorize family relationship names to get the red envelope with a money gift \u201cAngpao\u201d in Chinese New Year. I received \u201cangpao\u201d during Eid Mubarak but gladly I don\u2019t have to memorize kinship titles in foreign languages. I\u2019ve never heard about this custom before. I appreciate the programmer\u2019s pick on this film, as it brings new knowledge for me about Chinese Indonesian tradition that I know nothing of.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Tresno Waranggono portrays society’s interest affects a person’s decision-making process, to the point where there is no freedom to determine what is best even for themselves.<\/p>\n Ambar identifies herself as shemale, living in suburban Sragen, Central Java. Fitri Mursidah invites us to see Ambar daily activities while listening to her life stories and statements regarding her circumstances as shemale. Unsurprisingly, she has a lot of difficulties embracing who she truly is.<\/p>\n I love the taste of insurgence, but I don’t see it coming in this film. This is where things get hard for an individual. How the crowd slowly devours one individual freedom, until one blend in with the surrounding, detached from their self-identity.<\/p>\n The setting of the film (ABRI Masuk Desa, directed by Bowo Leksono) was the 1997 Election, somewhere in Purbalingga, Central Java. The devil is in disguise. Fajar, a student, went back to his hometown with rumors and threats lingering around him. He knew the current stakes. From Fajar\u2019s point of view, social force was designed to keep the mob intact. Rebelling was one of the trends to search for true independence and fairness. Only God knows how many ways they were being silenced.<\/p>\n Indonesian reformation (1997) and ABRI Masuk Desa are known unknown terms to my generation. I\u2019ve heard about terms in school but paying very little attention to the topic. I studied in a Moslem-centered high school. The school obligates all moslem students to wear hijab. At first, I resisted, voiced my rights of feeling comfortable in the way I dressed. They lectured me with Quran’s verses. I started to get pressured into being expelled from school. At the end, I obeyed.<\/p>\n Seeing Fajar in this film, I was hoping he would rebel against the force. Turns out the crowd devours him. All his hard work and determination fade as he walks away from his village. Outsiders rebelled and got repressed.<\/p>\n Eventually, how do we define outsiders? I think There\u2019s no need to define them. As an outsider myself, I think being treated equally is the most important. It just feels nice to be able to interact, collaborate, and complement each other without any invisible wall of judgment separating us apart.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/minikino.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/moksa-still-artikel.webp\")
<\/a>Outsiders Adapt<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/a>Outsiders = Foreign<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/a>Outsiders are not Free<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/a>Rebellious Outsiders That Got Repressed<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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