How does a silent movie ‘talk’ in the modern era?
Written by Rahma Yulita | Read in Indonesian
Long before the modern Indonesian movie landscape took shape, in 1926, the first Indonesian silent movie was released.
Titled “Loetoeng Kasaroeng”, the film, directed by Dutch-Javanese George Krugers, then became the benchmark for the government in developing the Dutch East Indies art of filmmaking.
At that time, public enthusiasm towards the movie industry was very high, following the introduction of Hollywood films into Dutch East Indies since the 19th century.
The term silent movie may have sounded slightly foreign in this day and age. However, for movie enthusiasts of the 1800s, silent movies were a novelty.
New discoveries gave birth to interesting innovations. Driven by the increasing public interest which, in turn, made huge profits, the movie industry started to gain prominence by presenting various breakthroughs.
1895-1906 was a time when silent movies created a strong foundation for the formation of the film studios of today, as well as introducing stars whose names became world-famous.
The making of silent movies in their early years was simple, such as being filmed in one shot with a fixed, nonmoving camera. The production process was oftentimes done by only one person and several assistants. The movie’s duration was also short, usually only several minutes.
Like many other things that had their heyday, the popularity of silent movies started to decline along with the advancement of technology. Various genres then emerged and made their own mark in the Indonesian film industry.
Despite their ‘antique’ feel, silent movies still inspire today's directors. One of them is French director Michel Hazanavicius for his film “The Artist” (2011).
“I watched a lot of silent movies. It’s a very specific way of writing, which is more of a challenge than the directing. You have to describe images. It’s easier to shoot them,” Michel said in an interview with IndieWire back in 2011.
“A lot of people think of silent movies as just clowns doing slapstick. It’s difficult to have them think of it as another way to tell the story,” he added.
“Samsara” revives silent movie with new colours
The year 2024 could be said to be the year for the Indonesian movie industry to show its capabilities. Many excellent movies were created and rekindled public interest in the industry. Once again, silent movies inspired today’s directors and the genre was brought back to life.
Indonesian film enthusiasts may be familiar with "Samsara", a silent movie adorned with touches of past and modern elements, creating an interesting futuristic blend.
Directed by Garin Nugroho and produced by Gita Fara, the black-and-white silent movie has big names such as Juliet Widyasari Burnett and Ario Bayu as the main leads. The story combines romance and black magic with Balinese mythology as the background.
One of the most interesting aspects in “Samsara” is how it presents innovation with the combination of gamelan and electronic music.
This becomes the movie’s main selling point, considering music is a very important element to bring a silent movie to life as it acts as the storytelling and the ‘dialogue’.
"Music [in silent movies] plays a role to create the drama and at the same time builds the atmosphere. So, in silent movies, the role of music is huge, as big as Ario Bayu's silent role. Images and music are like a coin whose right and left sides are equally important in silent movies," the director told TFR in 2024.
The composers, Kasimyn of Gabber Modus Operandi and I Wayan Sudirana, cleverly combined gamelan music and electronic music as the movie’s main ‘dialogue’.
I Wayan Sudirana saw "Samsara" as a very good opportunity. "When I received the offer to create a collaboration between gamelan and electronics, this was an opportunity that I had to seize seriously so that I could create a vision about the future of gamelan music, one of which is thanks to ‘Samsara’," he said.
“Samsara” may have come in black-and-white and set in the 1930s, but Kasimyn wanted to give the movie a futuristic feel; not being limited to classical compositions, but also bringing fresh compositions in this modern era.
"We treated it as science-fiction. There were indeed classic compositions, such as when they got married," Kasimyn explained, “but there was a point where we tried to juggle what gamelan can do, what electronics can do and what vocalists can do. It was a very science-fiction approach, really.”
Garin saw that the musical collaboration in “Samsara” gave a new colour to both Indonesian movie and music industries, as there is still a stereotype about gamelan–that it is not suitable as movie scores.
"In fact, gamelan in our cultural heritage accompanies plays, dramas and others. But the question is 'Can gamelan accompany contemporary life?' Yes, it can, why not? The stereotype makes it seem like gamelan cannot survive in the movie industry. Now, our movie industry is at its peak, how come we don't have room for innovation?"
Presented in a cine-concert format
“Samsara” also attracted audience with its cine-concert presentation, where they watched the 1.5-hour black-and-white silent movie on the screen, accompanied by live gamelan and electronic music performance.
The cine-concert performance was not only played in Indonesia, but also in other countries such as Singapore and Australia, which drew thousands of viewers. Its opening tickets at the Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival (JAFF) were sold out in a short time.
Thanks to this success, "Samsara" brought home 4 Citra awards at the 2024 Indonesian Film Festival for the categories of Best Costume Design, Best Music, Best Cinematography and Best Director.
The perhaps unimaginable achievement of “Samsara” certainly gives a breath of fresh air for the once waning genre.
Now, the question is, will silent movies be reborn as a new trend in the future?
