According to Indonesian film critic Adrian Jonathan Pasaribu, the earliest post-independence films not only set an example of what Indonesia’s national cinema should be, but also established the Indonesian “us,” who fought against the imperialist “them”.
On paper this seemed like a defeat, but in Indonesian popular culture this offensive is remembered as an ideological tipping point in the struggle for independence, as a soldier in the film concludes: “The news of our attack will echo through the rest of the world, until it reaches the United Nations”.ĭuring Suharto’s New Order (1966-1968), Ismail was hailed as the “father of Indonesian cinema”, partly due to the nationalistic subjects of his work. They managed to regain control of the city, but after six hours they withdrew. After Yogyakarta was taken by Dutch soldiers during Operation Crow, Indonesian freedom fighters launched an offensive in the early morning of 1 March 1949. The choice to depict this particular offensive is remarkable from a Dutch perspective. In Enam Djam di Jogja he covered the 1949 siege of Yogyakarta known as the Serangan Umum 1 Maret 1949 (“General Offensive of 1 March 1949”). Darah dan doa may be the first film about the Indonesian National Revolution, but it has certainly not been the last. The film is considered the first Indonesian film and 30 March, the date the film first began shooting, has been declared Indonesia’s National Day of Film. A significant example is Usmar Ismail’s Darah dan doa about the Siliwangi Division, an elite division of the Indonesian army led by Captain Sudarto. These films were an essential part of the birth of the Indonesian film industry.
These films revolve in general around a group of freedom fighters who fight against the Dutch army: the emphasis in these films lies usually in Indonesian heroism and nationalist fervour.
Shortly after Indonesia’s independence in 1945, a first wave of war films about the struggle for independence appeared: the so-called film perjuangan or “struggle films”. The result, however, is composed of cultural objects from various national contexts. The international release of The East highlights that the remembrance of the Indonesian War of Independence in popular culture is becoming increasingly transnational. While the Netherlands is clearly still struggling to come to terms with its colonial legacy, Indonesians are widely using popular culture to remember the past-including the Indonesian War of Independence. In addition to being a crucial part of Indonesia’s history, in recent decades a vibrant popular culture has emerged around the occupation and the war of independence. From an Indonesian perspective that familiarity comes as no surprise. In an interview with Dutch television presenter Humberto Tan immediately after the online press screening of the film, lead actor Martijn Lakemeier said he was surprised to find out that Indonesian extras were so familiar with the events of the Indonesian War of Independence. Their mission was to crush a rebellion and reclaim a colony. The international trailer summarises it as follows: “At the end of WWII, The Dutch sent troops into Indonesia. Even before its release the film was disputed (predominantly by veterans and their descendants) and questioned for its veracity, as Westerling and his men used intimidation, violence and terror in a process that Westerling described as “pacifying the Celebes”. This new Dutch film about the Indonesian War of Independence (1945-1949) follows the war volunteer Johan de Vries (Martijn Lakemeier) as he arrives in Indonesia and joins a special forces unit led by “The Turk” (Marwan Kenzari), the historical and controversial figure Captain Raymond Westerling. On the 13 th of August 2021, four days before Indonesia celebrated its 76 th year of independence, Jim Taihuttu’s De Oost was released worldwide.