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Merah Putih (2009)

Drama | 108 minutes
2,78 29 votes

Genre: Drama / War

Duration: 108 minuten

Alternative title: Red and White

Country: Indonesia

Directed by: Yadi Sugandi

Stars: Rahayu Saraswati and Lukman Sardi

IMDb score: 6,1 (386)

Releasedate: 13 August 2009

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Merah Putih plot

When the Japanese are expelled from Indonesia and the Germans from the Netherlands at the end of the Second World War, the Dutch think about taking up their former role as colonial rulers again. The Indonesians who hoped for independence react with armed resistance, after which the Dutch lack reasonableness not to bring the ailing population to reason without some violence. In the longer term, Europeans seem unable to stop the freedom struggle.

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avatar van Donkerwoud

Donkerwoud

  • 8660 messages
  • 3940 votes

This war film has it all: melodramatic heroism, schematic representation of good and evil and an overriding sense of nationalism. It is not so much a good film as an interesting look at how the current Indonesian generation is shaking off their collective war trauma. It's time for the Dutch to pay more attention to this with full-fledged cinema! Great one-liner by the way: 'What do they smell like? Milk or cheese'

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original

avatar van blurp194

blurp194

  • 5489 messages
  • 4190 votes

Shame.

I had hoped for a really good, strong film with a clearly Indonesian view of the war of independence in which it was clearly explained that we Dutch were doing something so, so wrong in this - because it is irrefutable that that was the case, even if it is still the case after a year. or seventy might be hard to admit.

But the movie I was hoping for isn't this one. Despite the apparently astronomical budget - at least by Indonesian standards - the production values are rather flat. The offending belandas speak broken Afrikaans - perhaps understandable that the makers preferred not to spend their hard-earned budget on real Dutchmen, but still. The fighting suits and other military details really don't look like much either.

Perhaps most importantly - the story makes absolutely no sense. Would have added some politics, would have added some of the confusion of the situation at the moment, with all parties wanting to play their role, from British, Dutch, Americans, up to and including all the people from all the islands. And if that was too ambitious, then do something that will at least produce beautiful images. Or music that underlines the ideal of independence, instead of a weak Western symphony orchestra.

But perhaps I should remember before everything else that I am not the target group - in fact, I am half a world and a few hundred years away. The whole point of the film is that Indonesia is becoming independent, and the story apparently hits home in Indonesia. Perhaps the message is simply that it is not up to us to judge that, they can do that themselves there.

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original