By Brahmanto Anindito
After hollow decades, finally Indonesia produced a well executed martial arts movie. Great! I have done with comedy-sex and horror genres here. Thanks to writer-director Gareth Huw Evans. Merantau is Indonesian traditional martial arts, pencak silat-based movie. Story set on Sumatra and Jakarta’s today, with Iko Uwais, a silat practitioner and newcomer in showbiz, as the main role.
The picture was shot in Bukit Tinggi and Jakarta, from November 2008 to February 2009. It’s a long period of production, huge budget too. But it paid off. The film was previewed internationally through Festival de Cannes 2009. And the producer has been promoting it to be screened in other countries. So far so good.
What does Merantau look like? I’ve watched the trailer. Hope I was wrong, but the actions similar to Jackie Chan’s “parkours”. And the fighting technique reminds me of Tony Jaa’s muay thai. I can hardly see where the pencak silat’s sense is.
However, you must know that Gareth, the writer-director from the Wales, isn’t newbie in pencak silat domain. He has known this Indonesian martial art since 2005. Gareth even made a documentary film about it.
Pencak silat is grappling and standing fight at the same time. Like an MMA (Mix Martial Art) which keeps on evolve. So no wonder if there are similarities with other martial arts. Elbow-knee’s attack à la muay thai, lock-antilock à la jiu jitsu, punch-kick à la kung fu, and so on. Especially with muay thai that was born in South-east Asia too.
The story goes that in Minangkabau, West Sumatra, Yuda (Iko Uwais) a trained practitioner of Silat Harimau is in the final preparations to begin his merantau, an old rites-of-passage. Every young man in the community has to leave his comfort village and make a name for himself in the big city like Jakarta.
That’s the meaning of “merantau”, to emigrate for a better living. After a series of setbacks leave Yuda homeless and uncertain about his new future, a chance come across results in him defending the orphaned Astri (Sisca Jessica) from becoming victim of human trafficking business. This is where the fight scenes begin.
Wait a minute! Is it just me who feel the typical Tony Jaa’s movies plot here? Don’t get me wrong, Tony Jaa’s motion pictures are my favorite, especially because it raises the Thailand culture rather than Bangkok’s modernity themes. Nevertheless, it tends to show off merely the action, with less drama crafting.
Well, ok, it’s not fair to judge a film only by watch the trailer. So my comment stops here. Now, I am looking forward Merantau on Indonesia’s theatres. Later, on August.
RANGKUMAN
Setelah sekitar 20 tahun, akhirnya muncul juga film aksi Indonesia yang bisa dibanggakan. Walaupun film Indonesia, sutradara dan penulisnya, Gareth Huw Evans, bule Wales. Syuting film Merantau dilakukan di Bukit Tinggi dan Jakarta, mulai 4 November 2008 hingga akhir Februari 2009. Merantau telah dipertontonkan di Festival Film Cannes dan menjadi satu-satunya film Indonesia yang diputar di sana. Merantau berlatar belakang kehidupan pendekar muda Minang, Yuda, yang baru merantau ke Jakarta. Di sana Yuda harus berurusan dengan sindikat perdagangan manusia. Banyak adegan silat di sini. Tapi jangan berharap unsur pencak silatnya kental. Ini pencak silat yang sudah dipermak untuk kepentingan showbiz.
waaaa…makaci inponya. kayaknya sih bagus, untuk ukuran pilem indo maksudnya. dan ngeliat dari websitenya, kayaknya pilem ini dibikin dengan persiapan yang bagus ya. nggak kayak pilem2 indo (esp. horor, cinta2an sma) yang gak jelas itu.
sayang, pilem tentang salah satu budata indonesia malah dibikin bukan oleh warga negara indonesia. kebanyakan crew nya malah bukan orang indonesia. sedih…
untung koreografi nya dibikin sama orang indonesia sendiri. kalau nggak, maluuuu….
Yo’i, Put. Kenapa selalu harus orang luar yg repot2 menggali potensi budaya kita? Kenapa kita sendiri nggak merasa negeri ini besar dan memiliki banyak eksotisme yg bisa diangkat sbg cerita?
“Ya kan gue udah angkat sosok2 hantu asli Indonesia,” celetuk sineas mainstream di Indonesia.
You’re welcome.
Era Berry Prima lagi, nih. Tapi dari koreografi fighting-nya, kliatannya oks banget. Premiere Agustus, yah?
Cheers,
Aleena
Thx, Aleena. Kyknya ini jauh lbh keren dibanding film silat jaman Barry Prima dulu. Terutama koreografinya. Yap, premier Agustus.
I dun recall how I got here LOL but cool blog
Hahaha, thanks for (accidentally) coming. By the way, I love watch muay thai on film. Hope I learn this martial art one day.
saya movie freak neh. kayaknya keren. soalnya film indo jarang yang ber_genre Action. coba liat trailernya ah! ada kan!
dari pada film horor. cinta. horor. cinta!
Thanks, Windy & Ariez. Trailer-nya ada kok di postingan ini jg. Tinggal tonton (asal punya Flash Player).
cacad g iso di download
Hahaha, pancene g ono download2an nang kene, Mas.
i see pencak silat movie trailer it so nice but it must be very nice if ti is a historical pencak movie.
Zhark, you mean Pencak movie like Indonesian movies in 80-90s? Yeah, it’s nice, but unfortunately is not trending anymore here. In the future, who knows?