I heart JIFFEST

As an avid (quality) movie goers I welcome JIFEST very much. Happy that the show still go on despite the financial crisis.

I am kind of occupied with work and not managed to get all the ticket I want. Already watch two movies and hopefully will see at least two more.


The french movie "Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis" is a real gem. The audience is filled with laughter during the screening. It is a buddy movie that smartly exploit the regional differences (accent, attitude, climate, food etc) in France betweem the aristocratic south and the easy going north.

It is even considered a punishment to be transfer to the north region, mostly due to colder climate but also for the lowbrow culture. When a southerner get transfer to north, he turnout to hate it much less than he thought he will.

Indonesia could use more of this movie types to accept and celebrate our differences though laughter.

The second movie I watched was "Where in the world is Osama bin Laden." Morgan Spurlock, the director, narrator and leading character, is known for his stunt documentary style when he gain weight by eating only McDonald in "Supersize Me." He did it again in a (true) role as prospective wanting to be sure his soon-to-be born son live in a safer world without OBL.

He traveled to Marocco, Egypy, Israel, Palestine, Afganistan and Pakistan to interview people and find bin laden. He tried to be funny, sometime too hard with cartoon Mortal-kombat-like clips, and managed to get some good laugh. But the real strength is when he expose that the Moslem has no problem with American, it is the american conduct that support Israel and invade Afghan/Iraq.

The real peace is within. To be safer and prevent more recruit for OBL, America need to change its conduct to win the heart and mind of the moslem. In the end, people want peace and better livelihood for themselves and their family. To be treated with respect and feel we matter.

Obama said that he will change American conduct abroad by the principle of Dignity First. Hope he walk the talk.

The Female Verses

The Love Verses (Ayat-Ayat Cinta) should be entitled The Female Verses (Ayat-Ayat Wanita) instead

Why do I come to that conclusion and what is the meaning? Let me start from the strong point and weak points of the book before going to the movie. I will not recite the content of the book (there is a very good summary here) and this review is meant for those who already watch it.

I have been telling to my friends that has read the book that it is practically a classic fairy tale storyline. If a man is pure of heart and act nobly, even though poor and not from royal blood, then he will get rich and marry beautiful girl(s).

There are some plot holes that need to be explained. How Fahri learned German is minor detailed but crucial to the plot, Aisha got even more impressed by him because of it. Pesantren in Indonesia usually only teach Arabic and English, some also do Japanese. One line to explain it would be sufficient but I did not found it in the book.

The idea that Fahri would not touch Maria even to save her life, thus a marriage is the only way out, is preposterous. He is supposed to be an Al-Azhar post grad student that knows one of Fiqh principles (Ushul Fiqh) where emergency cancels out forbiddance. Furthermore, the fact that Maria is married to Fahri supposed to weaken his court testimony since of course a wife want his husband not to be in jail.

The strong point of the book is how it used the story as a vehicle for important messages. The message to be good to other people even though (or especially to) people of different religion are certainly in need of emphasis these days. Weren’t Rasulullah SAw known to be a trusted and high moral person that is kind to everyone and even to animals.

Now to the movie.

Director have to select which scene to include in movie due to time limitations. Too bad that the movie leave out the camaraderie of Fahri with his housemates as well as between Maria’s family. This weaken the argument that Fahri is one man deserve to be love by numerous girls. There is only a short scene where he supposed to be a student leader (I presumed in Indonesian Student Society (PPI) Mesir). In the opening scene, which is not in the book, lead us to conclude that Fahri is a rather careless person not to back up his important data and clueless on computer virus. His overall depiction is not one that is as mature and confidence as one would expect after reading the book.

The other scenes not included are explanations on how Nurul (the sufferer and accuser one not the Indonesian one) is supposed to be exchange while baby in the hospital. The movie cut to the end where Nurul is reunited with her family without proper explanations. I think viewers that had not read the book (there was one sitting behind me) would have a hard time to understand it. Furthermore, Nurul’s hair supposed to be blonde and it is a hard evidence that lead Fahri to conclude she is not biological sun of the rude Sudanese (forgot the name) but it is not mention at all in the movie.

So why I still give the move four stars out of five?

The movie has few very touching moments (Hai orang yg berhati lembut….Mesir dan Sungai Nil….) that just linger on my mind after the movie ends.

One such moment is when Aisha left the rooms in tears when Fahri married to Maria in the hospital. She is the one pushing for the marriage to free her husband but when the moment come the heart and the head goes to different directions. The scene elegantly showed that even though done by good people for good reason, polygamy is a hard thing to do and certainly not meant for everyone. The message is subtle but superbly delivers (more so than the in-your-face Berbagi Suami in my opinion).

The other creative path that the director has granted himself is the lengthening of Maria’s life after the court end. In the book she died promptly afterward. Again the leaning is on the difficulty of polygamy. The dilemma Fahri faced when he was asked the first time which room (and which wife) he prefer to sleep in was both hilarious and revealing, especially when finally he decide to sleep alone. There are also some scenes where he is having headache on bringing the two wives together.

The movie also depicts strong points on how Fahri is married to one girl which is smarter than he is and the other is richer than him. The girls do the proposing (at least make their family to do so), take most of initiatives and do the sacrificing while he stumble and mumble. The scene where he explained the strong status of women in Islam to an American journalist is a strong one and delivers the message.

This movie is a thinly guised campaign on the role of woman in society within (the authors understanding in) the framework of Islam, how they could be and should be. That is why the movie should be entitled The Female Verses.