Ca-bau-kan

This movie must had been good, or better if it has a better director (who understands old Javanese language's dialect and can choose which scene is which), much much better actors (once again who are at least convincing as chinese-Javanese-Indonesian who lived on those period), a better script writer.

the ones who doesn't understand Javanese language might think it's okay, but all the dialect and wording are mostly wrong and too modern (they should have better reaserach on it). the main actor even can't give a real impression as a Chinese who also speaks 30's Javanese language.

I've read the novel and it's much much better than the movie, even I can say that the movie can't capture the novel at all.

the only things that help is the costume and the cinematography.

so if they say it should be on the Oscar's line, well they are mistaken. this is not that good, even some of us can't bare when watch it on TV, but I do praise the spirit of making it.

When I saw this movie in the cinema (to confirm I did not watch this on tv and it has never been on tv yet!) i started with high expectations. It seems that finally the Chinese community in Indonesia receives some recognition after being discriminated for ages and still being discriminated in many areas of life in Indonesia today. The movie tells us about a woman who goes back to Indonesia to find out about her parents: who they were , what they did. The movie starts with the worst scene of the whole film...she meets with supposed relatives, a bunch of young actors, full with make-up to make them look old. It is the worst thing of the movie, but luckely it is only for a couple of minutes so we can forget about this asap. The story in itself is interesting: a young prostitute gets saved by one of her customers, a Chinese businesman, to the dislike of many others who see him as a treath for their business. Happiness seems to be found till the moment the man gets arrested for making false banknotes. He escapes later to Thailand, and while his ennemies think he is death, he is preparing to come back and fight the Japanese who occupied Indonesia. But not only his old enemies are there, he also made new enemies and the supposedly happy ending soon becomes a sad ending. At moments, the movie is very interesting, with backflashes in black and white, and the leading actor (Salim) is doing a great job. However, the lack of experiences by the other actors, and the terrible way they articulate everything they say, makes this movie to one of the less interesting movies of the last years made by Indonesians. The book though is very interesting, and it could have been a great movie. However, it is not a bad movie, and at times entertaining and showing us much about Indonesian-Chinese culture and history. if you get a chance, rent the VCD and watch it (it only lasted a short time in the cinema).

This is one of the highest rated Indonesian movie in recent year (or all time). Some said is was the first ever Indonesian movie to pass the first stage of Academy Award foreign language movie category selection. The story is supposedly a flashback of a Indonesian women adopted by a Dutch family live in Holland, she come back to Indonesia to find out everything about her biological parents. But the story line rather confusing, making audience cant really follow the flow of the story. not a good job in the editing room i would say. The main attraction in this picture is the art direction. the photography is surprisingly beautifull. I'm not sure about the budget but the way they create Indonesia in the early 30's till the 60's is amazing. I can't help but keep asking myself where did they find the old train. The acting is not spectacular but is above average. The film run too long and it make viewing boring in some part, but overall is was a decent piece of movie.

This is the first Indonesian movie ever to be shortlisted for Oscar under foreign language picture category. Too bad it didn't make it to the final nominations list. I've seen this movie and some other nominated foreign movies and I feel that this one should make the list instead of the overrated "Hero".

I bought the VCD because they didn't have it on DVD format. I hope they will release this on DVD just like "Ada Apa Dengan Cinta?".

"Ca-bau-kan" tells a story of a "concubine". It revolves around the Chinese community at that time. The setting and acting are believable, but the ending was a bit abrupt. But still it's better than "Hero", which was nominated just because it's "artistic"!

Nevertheless, "Ca-bau-kan" is one of the best Indonesian movies of all time!