Ernest Hariyanto, editor, co-producer; Meita Eriska, sound recordist; Levy Santoso, sound design & mixing; Dadang SH Pranoto, music scorer.[Jakarta]: DesaKota Productions; distributed by Miles Films, 2013.
1 DVD (107 mins.) Rp100,000. In Indonesian, with English subtitles. Url: http://www.jalananmovie.com
The title of this beautifully crafted documentary refers to being on the street as well as the pathway of life. It focuses on the lives and aspirations of three musicians in their late twenties or early thirties: Boni Putera, “Ho” Bambang Sri Mulyono and Titi Juwariyah, who make a living from busking on buses and in other public spaces in Jakarta, Indonesia’s bustling capital of over 12 million people. The filmmakers follow the three characters over a considerable period of time, during which life-changing events happen to each of them. The documentary provides details about their work, living conditions, and family and private life, including their ideas about themselves and their surroundings. It is an intimate portrait of life in post-authoritarian Indonesia, where some things have changed, but many others have remained the same.
The movie starts with Boni, who lives with his wife and family in a sewage tunnel. Ho, who regularly performs with Boni, is single and without permanent accommodation. Titi lives with her jobless husband and their son at her mother-in-law’s, in a devout Islamic environment. Insight is provided into the buskers’ poor financial situation. In Titi’s case, US$10 of her average earnings of US$40 per month goes to cigarettes for her husband, another US$10 to groceries, and US$20 to school fees for her son and medicine for her ill father in her home village. Ho’s earnings are barely enough for his daily meals. Some of his minimal savings are spent on occasional girlfriends and prostitutes. Boni considers himself fortunate, because he and his family have had fresh water for free for years, after accidently hitting a hole in a pipe of the Jakarta water company.
Throughout the movie, the viewer learns more about the background of the three characters. Boni has been on the streets of Jakarta since he was a child. Ho comes from Purworejo in Central Java and Titi from a small village in East Java. Their opportunities for education were severely limited. At a young age, Boni, who can read but not write, felt morally obliged to help his mother with work instead of going to school. Titi comes from a family of seven children, of whom only two finished junior high school. She left her home village for Jakarta, in order to find a living and not be a burden to her parents. All three share a great passion for music, and enjoy the sense of freedom and artistic fulfilment provided by their work. Especially for Titi, who has three young children in three different locations, it is not easy to combine her lifestyle as a busker with family life.
At some point in the documentary, the three characters are faced with dramatic turning points in their lives. Boni’s sewage tunnel is hit by floods. He and his family manage to restore their dwelling, but are eventually evicted by the municipality and forced to find another place. Ho is arrested by the police for busking and not carrying an ID. On the positive side, he finds love with a young widow, whom he will later marry. Titi is divorced by her abusive husband because of her unconventional lifestyle and irregular working hours, and forced to separate from her youngest child. Nevertheless, she manages to complete senior high school, and fulfil the dream of her father, who dies only a couple of days before her graduation. The exceptional optimism of the characters is moving and inspirational, and reflects the resilience of Indonesia’s lower socio-economic class.
What is refreshing about this documentary is the space it provides for its characters to show and tell about their own lives as well as Indonesian society more broadly. Their narratives are not interrupted by questions or voice-overs by the filmmakers, who also visually stay out of sight. Boni, Ho and Titi show who they are and tell what they think in a clearly confident manner, using both down-to-earth language and poetic lyrics and expressions. The documentary breaks with stereotypes about class, gender and religion, and focuses on aspects of Indonesian society that are rarely shown in the national and international mainstream media. To a certain extent, although different in style, it follows the example of the early documentaries about workers and street children of renowned Indonesian film director Garin Nugroho. At the same time, it shares some of the visual and story-telling techniques promoted by contemporary youth and video communities like Kampung Halaman.
Jalanan illustrates the fascinating, but also often disturbing, complexity and diversity of contemporary Indonesia. The busker songs and performances, with their highly topical as well as personal qualities, are the highlight of the movie. Some of the other remarkable visual and narrative aspects include Boni seeking entertainment by strolling around and visiting a bathroom in a luxurious shopping mall; Ho referring to politicians participating in an anti-corruption demonstration as hypocrites; Titi and one of her classmates struggling with their exam preparations; Boni painting a Hyatt hotel sign on his restored sewage dwelling; Ho courting his wife-to-be by inviting her to a Padang restaurant; Titi’s father recounting nationalistic songs and education systems from Dutch, Japanese and post-Independence times; Ho performing songs in and about jail, and Titi performing Islamic songs in order to appeal to women wearing headscarfs.
Although the behaviour and speech of the characters feels authentic, the act of being filmed must have intensified their self-reflections and impacted on their personal decision making. The documentary style confirms the power of the camera, and triggers numerous ethical questions. It may have caused Titi to reflect on her divorce, while also encouraging her to return to study. It gives attention to Ho being sent to prison, but may also have steered his quest for a wife. It may have contributed to Boni giving in to forced eviction, and directed him to find better accommodation for himself and his family. The filmmakers may consider creating a video or website about the negotiations with their characters about the film-making process itself, as a complement to their remarkable and highly recommended documentary.
Edwin Jurrïens
University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia
pp. 977-979