Open Society

Open Society: My quick take on Indonesian Movie “Photocopier” (Netflix)

Sometimes, by chance, you come across a classic film; "Photocopier" is one such film that surprised me. This Indonesian film (in Bhasha) with English subtitles is now available on Netflix. "Watch it," is my one-word verdict on this film.

This could be my second favorite Indonesian film (the first was an octave-high action drama called "Raid, The Redemption"). The film is set in Jakarta, where a college theater group's drama "Medusa and Perseus" is chosen for competition in Kyoto, Japan. During the celebration party, a girl from the group realizes that her drink was spiked and that she was probably molested later on because her "drunk" selfies are all over social media. Her college scholarship is revoked, and her family shuns her for her immoral behavior; however, she is determined to find out who did it to her. She was able to identify the perpetrator of the crime using her primitive hacking skills.

The film has deservedly won numerous awards at various film festivals (probably because of its international acclaim, Netflix would have bought this movie). Its intriguing title "photocopier" is a metaphor for "Open Society," and the college theater group is putting on a production of Medusa and Perseus, in which Medusa also serves as a metaphor for all those beautiful women who, once cornered, go on to become monstrous. The director has used these metaphors very effectively in the plot, which exposes the social underbelly of Jakarta's class divide.

It's an arty film that you'll see at film festivals. As a result, if you enjoy such films,’to dekhna to banata hai bhidu’.