Indonesian Movie Review | Marlina The Killer in Four Acts
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Hello Friends in Gems Community
Let me introduce myself, I'm @fianna from Indonesia, hopefully, I can join this community and share movie reviews from Indonesia.
As an initial introduction to this community, I tried to introduce and review one of the Indonesian films that had been shown in foreign cinemas, let's pay attention.
Marlina The Killer in Four Acts is one of the Indonesian films that present a spectacle carrying the western genre, directed by Mouly Surya of Indonesian nationality. With a genre that rarely appears in Indonesian films, this film tells Marlina's struggle in seeking justice divided into four rounds, namely The Robbery, The Journey, The Confession, and The Birth.
Marlina as the main character gave a dilemma to the audience. Do we have to like or fear her? At the beginning of the film, Marlina arrives with bandits who frankly say they will rob and rape her. Living with her deceased husband who had been living in a house far from the settlement, Marlina had to rack my brain to be able to overcome the situation. She rebelled and finally took one of the bandit's heads to the police station to ask for justice.
When seeing the bandits' treatment of Marlina, of course we will be concerned and want Marlina to be able to reciprocate that treatment. However, when she uses a fairly cruel way to avenge her, on the one hand, we become afraid of what she can do.
Marsha Timothy played the role of Marlina very well. Each dialogue is conveyed with facial expressions and gestures that successfully convey what Marlina feels in this film. No wonder if she managed to get the best actress award at the Sitges International Film Festival through her role as Marlina.
The film is fairly minimal in dialogue, but each dialogue is very contained and also interesting. Each dialogue delivered in the local language of Sumba succeeded in developing a film theme, namely the struggle of women. Whether it's spoken from a man's perspective, or from a woman's point of view.
Disgust, anger, and hatred arose when bandits spoke in disparaging and insulting female characters. Not to mention, the physical violence they committed. But, this film does not only feature the oppression of women. Every dialogue and action that was undertaken, in particular, by female players also reflects that they are strong and can do what they want.
The film Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts by Mouly Surya is very dense, filled with the natural beauty of Sumba, slick cinematography, catchy music, and the acting of the players full of emotion.
This collaboration film with four other countries, namely France, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, has been screened internationally and was nominated at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.
The film also presents an intense story without much drama or dialogue, coupled with players who speak the Sumba accent that makes this film worth watching.
Overall, Marlina the Killer in the Four Chapters tells about the courage and role of women in life, coupled with the large number of men who objectify women and feel superior.
In addition, cinematography that showcases Sumba's astonishing natural beauty with the savanna expanse as far as the eye can see likens the desert setting in western films. And of course, the machete that is the mainstay weapon in this film likens the gun outlaw.
The weakness of this film lies in the relatively slow pace. This makes the film feel less dense because many scenes are spent with an "exhibition" of views of the country of Sumba. However, the slow pace is not annoying because it is covered by strong stories and sensitive social issues raised.
Well, that is one of my reviews and introductions in this community, hopefully getting a warm welcome and returning to be able to display film reviews, especially from Indonesia, so that can share and add information to me personally. You are curious about this film, please watch the trailer below