Came upon this documentary, Shape of the Moon, after my movie marathon 2 nights ago I think. I have this thing for anything showing what probably other people are going through in their real life. Movies that really got under your skin.
Something like slumbag millionaire and painted skin (the part where the hero said, “As a husband, how could I possibly give up on my wife?” and the one where Zhao Wei said “ You don’t know what love is.”)
Probably I wouldn’t stay on that channel if I didn’t realize that it is about Indonesia. After spending months and months in Indo once upon a time, can’t really blame myself for that interest.
The movie is mostly a slice-of-life piece on Indonesia itself, their daily struggles and the world they live in. It is a place where most of us wouldn’t even want to visit. Forget about Bali, that is different.
And so, there was this ordinary man who tries to make ends meet and his mother and his niece in the documentary – “uncle”, grandma and the niece.
“Uncle” was a Christian and he wants to married an Islamic woman. After much thought, he decided to convert. His mother, the grandma said he always falls for the wrong woman. Somehow, his wife only appeared once and that is in their wedding. The “mas kahwin” was only a gold necklace that weighs 6 gram. Well, it might considered as luxurious when you are really that poor.
One day, there was a fire in the town and all people came to help to put out the fire before the fire brigade arrived. Why? Because almost every houses are connected to each other. It is a crowded and dirty urban area, probably most of us and even them wouldn’t want to stay there as well but they have no choice. You don't put out the fire in time and you will lose your house as well.
The documentary also shows that the grandma is struck with a loan shark after she borrows money to get a new sofa. After months and months trying to clear the debt, the loan shark finally takes away their sofa because grandma still owe her 300,000 after paying 1.5 million.
I wasn’t sure about the initial amount borrowed though. And so, mother and son have quite a big argument over the matter. In the end, the mother decided to go back to her hometown because she has the feeling that she is too old for city life.
Back in the hometown, there was a part where they shift the whole house by tying bamboo around the house, like the one you always see four men carried a minister in an opiate in ancient China. Whole village came to help. "Tolong – menolong" is still an important concept in the suburban area.
That is pretty much everything I get to watch on the tv. It is such a waste that I didn’t manage to watch the whole thing.
Others things highlighted including the local newspapers warn of the threat of "Christianization". Basically, the whole thing is about how a family struggle to get through their daily life.
What I like about the whole show is the few phases of wisdom told by the “uncle” although he is uneducated. Poor people tend to understand life better than the rest of us.
“Politics are for those that rule the country, we should only concern about how to make a living and those farmers who grow our food.”
“Politics and religions should always be separate and religions are for us when we are dead.”
I only managed to recall two of them. We might not agree to all his views but when you are poor, you just have to be realistic.
I have seen people, married ones hiding in their house during Chinese New Year because they can save on the "ang pao" money. I have seen cases where people can only afford to buy new clothes for their children and they have to wore those they bought years ago. Yes, when you are that poor, CNY is all about spending money.
Those are the real poor ones and they do not care about politics. They wouldn’t have the time to argue whether BN or PKR should be the government when you can’t feed your own stomach. Their real concern would be what is the cheapest rice available in Tesco, the next time their children need new textbooks and the next bus fare hike.
Seeing how poor people struggle and actually living it is totally different.
For every Lim Goh Tong that make it big, there are thousands others didn’t make it and some are cleaning those toilets for him. I am sure everyone dream of making it big at some point of your life.
Life is unfair is all aspect.
Nothing dramatic happens the whole documentary but you know you have learnt a lot just by watching it although there is no hero saving the day this time.
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