Lawuh Boled and the Picture of a Real-Life Class Struggle

A short film is a form of medium that is honest; with its time limit, it gives the filmmaker freedom and creativity to turn it into something according to what they wish and what they have meant in the first place directly. Since it has less interventions if compared with feature films where there are more investors and parties included in the making, short films are able to bring out the message that the filmmakers would like to point out with the most suitable form for both the audience and the filmmaker.  In this essay, I would like to bring out how a short film is able to bring out the issues of class struggle and the abuse of power within the authority of the society. Here, I am going to use the film Lawuh Boled (Misyatun, 2012) as my study case. I will also point out the political and economic relationship of the film with the society in which Lawuh Boled portrays and how this film points them out.

Cassava, Structural Poverty and the Abuse of Power

"Power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely." - Lord Acton

Lawuh Boled (English: Side Dish: Cassava) is a film made by a group of students from SMK Negeri 1 Rembang, Purbalingga, Central Java. It tells about Sutimah, an illiterate woman who was not able to get her raskin or beras miskin (the rice for poor people provided by the Government) since she took the wrong coupon with someone else's name written on it. Her Pak RT (neighborhood leader) did not help her in getting the right coupon because he was busy with his own personal phone call while Sutimah asked for his assistance. Because of this, Sutimah could not provide her daughter rice for that day's food and must stick with boiled cassava. 

Behind the scenes of Lawuh Boled. 

Bowo Leksono, the Founding Father of Cinema Lovers Community (CLC), a film community in Purbalingga in which Misyatun and her friends got their film education, pointed out why cassava is chosen as the side dish. "Simply because it's the cheapest food. In Java, it is how the identity is pointed out: when you eat cassava, then you are poor," he said, in an interview with detikHOT during the South to South Film Festival Awarding Night. Misyatun, the director and producer of the film, also pointed out that this film is related very much with her real life experience. "My mother's name is Sutimah, and once she was not able to get her raskin because she was illiterate and not being helped by her Pak RT to get the right coupon. The people at the Balai Desa (Village Hall) also did not help her with her situation, although actually they could, if they would."

From the explanation above, I can tell directly that this is a problem of the abuse of power by the authority, which brings unfortunate circumstances to the people. The word power itself is derived from the Latin word potere, which means "to be able". Power itself is described as being able to achieve what one desires using the physical, intellectual or even the combination of both forces. The source of power varies from wealth, position, knowledge, skills, expertise and information. In the film Lawuh Boled, the Pak RT who has power abused his power for his own benefits, leaving Sutimah with the consequence of not getting the rice that should have been hers. 

Lawuh Boled winning Best Short Film at the South to South Film Festival 2014.

Bowo admitted that the problem in which Lawuh Boled portrays is the problem that is very much related with political issue. In an interview with Windu Jusuf from Cinema Poetica, an Indonesian website that discusses critical thoughts on world cinema and film culture, Bowo explained on why many of CLC films are about politics. "I always give them freedom in making whatever they want. But when they come to me and talk about their ideas, then they are able to connect their stories with the social contexts. When you talk about poverty, you talk about politics: why are people poor? This is not about fate. They must be able to answer the question. There will be a long discussion. Okay, so poverty happens because of corruption and so on and so forth. They got this conclusion after they directly get in touch with the society." Research and downfield are the keys on doing so. CLC also believes that through film screenings, and not just filmmaking, people are able to get their political education. 

Lawuh Boled brings out the point of structural poverty, where, exactly like what Bowo said, poverty happens not because of fate but because the wrack of the system. This is a very simple yet close-with-real-life-experience example of authoritarians who abuse their power in the lowest level, which is the RT or the neighborhood. This problem then points out a question that can kick all people in the Government: how is it possible that our whole Government can govern the people well and clean, when the lowest level of the Government itself is already dilapidated? Just because of this simple action of Pak RT not assisting Sutimah to get the right coupon and instead is busy with his personal phone call, a family is not being able to get their right for rice and must stick with cassava instead, the cheapest food that even symbols poverty. This clearly shows structural poverty, where the happening of the poverty itself is much supported by the dilapidated system of the Government, in this case one person who abuses his power for his own benefit.

This film is so powerful that it is said after this film was screened for public, one Kepala Desa (Headman) must face his resignation due to his blunders. Lawuh Boled also won a lot of short film awards, where the judges always pointed out the same thing: this film is able to bring out the issue of class struggle and politics without having to sound and look preachy. It clearly shows how a short film is able to bring out social and political issues within the society honestly and actually bring an action after that. In this era in which democracy is being highly appreciated and everyone is free to contend, this is one of the most effective forms of medium that people can use to speak up and protest: film, in its audiovisual medium, gives more chances and opportunities to bring out the values that we need to bring out.

Resources:
http://cinemapoetica.com/clc-purbalingga-edukasi-film-edukasi-politik/
http://hot.detik.com/movie/read/2014/03/19/113346/2530185/229/film-lawuh-boled-kritik-siswa-sma-atas-krisis-pangan-di-desa
http://jaff-filmfest.org/2013-lawuh-boled-indonesia/