dunia menulisinema

Director & Scriptwriter: Akhlis Suryapati
Casts: WS Rendra, Ardina Rasti, Annika Kuyper, Soultan Saladin, Tina Astari, Iswar Kelana, Nizar Zulmi, Brata Sentosa, Egy Massadiah

Back in two to three decades ago, quite a handful of Indonesian films were shot outside Jakarta, and they featured local actors in quite prominent roles. In the past few years, not many were able to afford and accommodate such luxury. As such, the new Indonesian film Lari dari Blora (Runaway from Blora), which also marks a directorial debut of ex-journalist Akhlis Suryapati, could be something to look forward to, since most of the scenes were shot in the title-city Blora, Pati, Rembang and Jepara, all of which are in Central Java. The location backdrop is indeed needed to support the core of the story: An American girl working in a foreign NGO, Cynthia (Annika Kuyper), visits a village located in the border of Pati and Blora to do her research on the cultural life of Samin in the village. Little does she know that at the time of her arrival, two inmates runaway from prison and stay in the same village to hide. Meanwhile, the villagers are trapped in the middle of rivalry between a teacher named Ramadian (Iswar Kelana), who wants to educate the villagers, and the Village Head (Soultan Saladin), who wants to preserve the tradition, so that the village remains a cultural preservation site. Thus, foreign tourists and researchers alike will come to the village and their arrivals bring quite a decent amount of income to the village. As the clash is getting more intense, romance blossoms between the teacher and the researcher, while the villagers receive certain consequences from having the two inmates in their land.