Stand van de sterren

The final part of Leonard Retel Helmrich’s Indonesia trilogy, which earned him his second top prize at IDFA and the Special Jury Prize at Sundance, begins and ends in the village to which Rumidjah Sjamsuddin moved back at the end of part two. At heart of the film, however, is a prolonged stay with her children and grandchildren in Jakarta.

Rumidjah’s eldest son is now unable to work due to disability, the result of an accident while working as a bus driver. Her youngest son seems to be getting his life back on track with a job as a neighborhood manager, although he still can’t stop gambling: fighting fish are his latest obsession. His wife Sri runs a food stall from home, but all in all they barely make ends meet and that causes tension. Everyone’s hopes are pinned on granddaughter Tari, who has just finished high school and wants to go to college.

Through all the family’s ups and downs, once again masterfully captured with a keen eye for the events unfolding around the central figures, the filmmaker portrays a society in the grip of global capitalism, in which the mosque now plays a central role in social and economic life.