How do you define cultural identity? No matter what official documents say, any given person may or may not feel part of a nationality. It’s a tricky matter, a game of social interactions and self-respect. For director Edwin, who is ethnically Chinese but living in Indonesia, his characters’ struggle „to be Indonesian” is a puzzle made up of time and memories, historical TV footage and pop songs, religion and sport, domination and defence. His debut feature Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly (Babi buta yang ingin terbang) won the FIPRESCI Award at the 2009 International Film Festival Rotterdam for its bizarre yet deeply emotional and humanistic view of a dramatic social issue in the country he lives in: hostility towards the Chinese community.

An absurdly enthusiastic TV reporter introduces us to Linda (Ladya Cheryll), „the girl who eats firecrackers”. After being warned not to try this at home, we watch her light an explosive resembling a hotdog. Later on, a childhood flashback takes the viewer to the beginning: back then she used to light firecrackers and throw them around because they were believed to chase away evil spirits. Self-defence was perfectly justified, as her friend Cahyono (Carlo Genta) was constantly bullied for looking Chinese, even though he was not. We don’t find out exactly when she relocated the target, but we do assume that the evil spirits have become internalised and very, very personal. Not exactly surprising, we might say when we get to know her parents.

A badminton game ends at equal points when a child in the public asks which one of the players is the Indonesian. Choosing this sport is not arbitrary: the Chinese are known to be the best at it. Even so, Verawati (Elizabeth Maria) decides to quit. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers: a Christian TV show points out the main message of the film, just a few moments before being silenced by Halim (Pong Harjatmo), Verawati’s husband, who announces that he wants to convert to Islam. The „Indonesia” sports T-shirt she wears catches our eye, overshadowing the disappointment on her face. For him, this is one more step on the stairway to the almighty status of being Indonesian. A less shocking one however, compared to his failed DIY plastic surgery attempt to make his eyes look „right”.

Now a blind dentist, Halim is working his manual magic in a patient’s mouth when one of the film’s repetitive elements kicks in: Stevie Wonder’s worn-out hit I Just Called to Say I Love You. This song becomes irritating as we keep hearing it throughout the story, sung by each of the main characters. Its obsessive cheesy pop sweetness fades away when the young Cahyono adds it to a karaoke video. No one says I Love You when the song is paired with clips from the 1996-1999 anti-Chinese riots in Jakarta.

As a child, Linda used to spend time with her grandfather, a man who enjoyed playing pool and telling stories about the many times he changed his name. The girl decides to call him opa (grandfather in Dutch), giving the film an opportunity to remember a past in which Chinese were favoured: the Dutch colonial era (sixteenth to nineteenth centuries). These are among the few more settling moments in the film, together with the symbolic images of a pig in a field.

Edwin’s views on the ethnic majority are made explicit through a rich couple who enter Halim’s practice. The two Indonesian men are contradictory: tenderness shared by a luxurious pool meets corruption and fetishism. After the first half of the film, which mixes the funny with the disturbing, what better way to show that the Chinese are abused than in a gay threesome involving a military uniform? The dentist has a good motivation to shut up and swallow: he would do anything to help his lover Salma (Andhara Early), who enters a music contest despite her questionable vocal abilities.

This film is, however, more than just awkward, surreal humour. The intricate chronology prevents us from empathising with any of the characters, so that we can remain analytical. In a country where the majority shows intolerance, it’s no surprise that the Chinese do their best to be what they are not, and the title warns us that they will always fail. Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly is an idiom meaning impossibility, but it’s also worth noting that Indonesians, mainly Muslim, leave pork to the Chinese stomach. The different stories that build up the film are sewn together by a strong feeling of alienation and subtle cultural references to match.

After previous exercises in storytelling with a few indie shorts, Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly is an intriguing and promising feature debut for the 32-year-old director, who has been selected by the Cinéfondation to participate in this year’s L’Atelier during the Cannes Film Festival and develop his second feature film project, Postcards from the Zoo.

By Andreea Dobre (Romania)


READ AN INTERVIEW WITH EDWIN