Change Your Image
kevintin
Reviews
Penyalin Cahaya (2021)
The first half was more interesting
I almost felt like the film had to censor itself for the audience or the government. There was a turning point in the film, when Sur found the photos of the Milky Way. Many of the characters turned 180 degrees after that point. Sur, Amin, Tariq, Rama. But especially Tariq and Rama.
The film is almost a meta for its theme itself. Girl has a little too much fun once in her life, she gets shamed, so she MUST blame something. Anything. That seems to be the moral of the story. Because good girls don't get drunk and have fun in their culture. Except Sur did, a second time at Amin's place, and could have easily taken photos of herself.
In fact, just because Rama suddenly became a Me Too perpetrator starting from Act II, Sur's photos were still taken from her phone and still likely uploaded by her, and they weren't even close to the photos Rama took. Yes Sur was vindicated in feeling that something not-right occurred that night. But that rationally wouldn't get her scholarship back.
The story told in the first half was the story of people feeling pressured to be perfect and what it does to them. That's a much more interesting exploration than Rama going completely bonkers. Did Rama really spread the evidence everywhere that he was a molester? What was in it for him to do that? And again, the nutso shown at the end of the film just isn't the same person as the empathic introvert from the beginning of the film. Not the same character at all.
I guess in Indonesian culture there's no room to learn and grow from mistakes, take responsibility and becoming better human beings for it.