Saturday, July 16, 2016

Gonjang-ganjing!

Tadi pagi ngecek hape buat update berita penyerangan di Nice, tahu-tahu malah baca berita tentang plot kudeta di Turki. Astaghfirullah, ini berita buruk kok terus-menerus gini ya? Dan di jaman sekarang, di dunia modern ala demokrasi, kok bisa Turki yang udah 'setengah Eropa' masih terancam kudeta militer. Bener-bener bikin gak habis pikir, dunia sedang penuh gejolak.

Sekitar dua tahun lalu kalau gak salah, di pinggir sungai di kampus pas di London, makan siang sama temen-temen seangkatan, temen Perancis bilang, kok rasanya was-was ya, di Eropa sedang terjadi banyak pergerakan yang belum tahu arahnya ke mana. Seolah-olah peta politik dunia sedang berubah drastis. Yang pasti ini bukan sesuatu yang gak ada asal-muasalnya. Perang di Irak dan munculnya ISIS, berdirinya European Union yang membebaskan pergerakan seluruh warga Eropa ke negara manapun di benua tersebut, krisis karena kondisi ekonomi Yunani, itu semua ternyata masih permulaan. Masuk 2015, imigrasi ke Eropa meningkat. Dan permasalahannya bahkan bukan dari banyaknya orang yang masuk ke Eropa karena perang di negara mereka (1. inget di tahun 1938, warga Eropa keturunan Yahudi pun harus bermigrasi karena tekanan Nazi Jerman, dan salah satu efek dari imigrasi yang tak terbendung menjadi salah satu penyebab holocaust 2. adanya kemungkinan bahwa gak semua yang bermigrasi ke Eropa adalah korban perang, tapi oportunis yang mencoba peruntungan nasib di Eropa), tapi gap sosial baik di dalam negara-negara yang tiba-tiba dipenuhi warga asing, kesan negatif yang lekat dengan Islam = teroris, membuat politik masyarakat makin terpecah-belah. Di beberapa tahun belakangan bahkan, partai-partai ideologi far right yang biasanya gak populer memperoleh makin banyak suara.


Ayah, sekitar 3 tahun lalu di Spice Market di Istanbul. 

Lalu muncul kejadian terorisme di Paris akhir tahun lalu. Simbol kehidupan orang Eropa diserang, menumbuhkan rasa takut yang membuat mereka merasa kehidupan damai mereka tercerabut. Seminggu setelah penangkapan pelaku teror di Paris, metro dan bandara Belgia juga ikut diserang. Yang cukup menarik adalah, kasus di Belgia misalnya, bukan hanya pihak intelijen Turki udah menginformasikan potensi munculnya kejadian ini, banyak media yang akhirnya menghighlight ketidakmampuan polisi Belgia buat mengantisipasi kejadian penyerangan ini. Temen orang Cina yang tinggal di Belgia cukup lama juga menghighlight gimana kurang sigapnya polisi Belgia. Gue baca tentang kepolisian di sana yang memang pendanaannya kurang kuat. Dan lihat sendiri kotanya kalau dibandingkan sama Jerman misalnya. Daerah yang dilanda kemiskinan dibiarkan tumbuh jadi ghetto, dsb. Pun ketika diperiksa lebih mendalam, pelaku teror di negara-negara tersebut masih warga sana yang lahir dan besar di sana (bukan imigran yang suka dijadiin argumen orang-orang ultra kanan sebagai ISIS selundupan). Apa mungkin radikalisasi orang-orang ini disebabkan salah satunya karena ketimpangan sosial?

Di Austria, orang-orang ultra kanan bikin pertemuan untuk mempertemukan partai-partai seideologi di Eropa. Ugh bikin gue bergidik. Di Amerika, dua kandidat yang maju ke pencalonan presiden satu punya kecenderungan suka perang, satu buka-bukaan bigot, rasis, dan islamofobik. Plus, hasil poling sejauh ini menunjukkan kalau Clinton dan Trump gak jauh banyak popularitasnya. Tapi sembari deg-degan menanti hasil pemilu di sana, kita malah dikejutkan dengan berita lepasnya Inggris dari Uni Eropa! Pas gue baca beritanya, memang iya, sebagian yang memilih lepas dari EU ya memang orang-orang rasis aja, yang gak suka misalnya sama orang Polandia (lagi-lagi efek bebasnya pergerakan warga se-benua Eropa) membikin pendapatan mereka menurun (argumennya, orang-orang Polandia bersedia dibayar lebih rendah untuk pekerjaan yang sama dibanding warga Inggris lokal, akibatnya gaji minimum juga makin rendah) atau bahkan, warga Inggris lokalnya malah gak bisa mencari pekerjaan yang layak. Tapi sebagian yang memutuskan untuk lepas dari EU juga adalah orang-orang yang sudah muak sama pemerintahan yang gak representatif, jadi untuk bilang 'f**k you' ke status quo, akhirnya mereka memilih untuk lepas dari EU. Efek ke depannya bagaimana? Ada yang bilang, ini bakal memicu referendum ulang dari Skotlandia untuk lepas dari UK dan masuk ke EU. Uni Eropa yang pastinya masih sakit hati (apalagi melihat kebodohan orang-orang dari partai UKIP di parlemen EU. ugh.) mana mau memudahkan UK untuk transaksi ekonomi dan bisnis dengan Eropa. Tapi melihat banyaknya orang-orang dari pihak kampanye Brexit masuk ke pemerintahan baru di bawah Theresa May, jelas ini bikin kita juga bergidik. Apakah Inggris akan semakin menuju ideologi Ultra Kanan? Semoga nggak. Tapi dengan atmosfer belakangan, siapa yang tahu.

Sementara itu, Turki terus-menerus mengalami peristiwa terorisme, bus-bus di Ankara dan Istanbul dibom, terus baru-baru ini bandara Istanbul juga diserang. Di pihak Turki sendiri, bukan hanya efek dari dekatnya perbatasan dengan Syria yang memungkinkan penyelundupan orang-orang ISIS, tapi mereka sendiri punya konflik internal dengan orang-orang Kurdi yang membuat situasi pertikaian internal makin kompleks. ISIS pun makin ganas, ngebom di pasar Irak yang isinya ibu-ibu dan anak-anak, ngebunuh ratusan, hanya beberapa hari sebelum lebaran... Astaghfirullah. Belum lagi penyerangan-penyerangan di Saudi Arabia (pas gue pikir-pikir, ISIS ini memang gak beragama ya. Penyebab mereka bisa sampai menyerang SA bahkan deket mesjid Nabawi, ngebunuh petugas keamanan yang sedang berbuka puasa, astaghfirullah ... mungkin karena SA jadi ally Barat dalam perang melawan ISIS).

Lalu, piala Eropa berlalu tanpa insiden berarti (well, berantemnya hoolligan Inggris vs Rusia vs Perancis memang nunjukin kebodohan manusia sifatnya memang universal, apapun latar belakang kulturnya ya. ugh). Tau-tau kejadian di Orlando. Pelakunya muslim lagi. Walau kejadian penembakan di Amerika bukan cerita yang bikin shock lagi (ih...), tapi ya gimana ini gak bikin orang tambah prejudice sama benci sama Islam? Walaupun ternyata si pelakunya ini memang psikopat galau yang butuh pengakuan diri. Konflik batin karena dia sendiri homoseksual. Terus, kejadian lagi di Nice. Ya Allah... Korban pertamanya dikabarkan seorang ibu-ibu muslim yang berdiri paling deket ketika truk-nya masuk ke kawasan promenade. Puluhan orang meninggal. Walaupun reaksi pertama "ah teroris lagi", setelah informasi dikumpulkan (gak pernah masuk pengawasan polisi sebagai korban radikalisasi, disinyalir bukan muslim taat, pelaku kdrt pula), kok kayaknya si pelaku ini melakukan aksi terornya sendirian dikarenakan depresi, total psikopat, yang mengingatkan gue kejadian Germanwings yang pelakunya juga psikopat yang butuh pengakuan publik. Tapi nama depannya aja udah Muhammad, ya bakal dikoneksi lagi dengan Islam = teror.

Terus, tadi pagi, Turki yang sudah bergejolak dari tahun lalu (tapi kalau baca novel-novelnya Orhan Pamuk, kayaknya this super enchanting country memang terus-terusan bergejolak 100 tahun terakhir ya? Efek posisi barangkali), pemerintahan resminya malah terancam kudeta. Ya ampun... apalagi ini? Gue bukan penggemar fanatik Erdogan, karena walau banyak hal yang dia lakukan sepertinya bener, tapi kalau denger pendapat temen-temen Turki atau baca artikel Al Jazeera dsb, ya dia gak 100% pemimpin sempurna (kebebasan pers yang dikekang, rencana Erdogan untuk merubah konstitusi, dan emang orang-orang gak pada baca ya berita minggu lalu rencana kerjasama dia dengan negara uhuk uhuk). Yang jadi permasalahan bagi gue, kalau pemerintahan Turki sampai kena kudeta, gimana antisipasi konflik lokal yang belum selesai? Kamp-kamp imigran (yang dipakai Erdogan untuk negosiasi dengan EU), perbatasannya dengan Syria, rencana Turki untuk masuk EU, dsb, apa yang bakal terjadi? (temen Turki pun berteori, kudeta ini direncanakan pihak pemerintah untuk semakin mengokohkan posisi mereka di mata rakyat)

Sebelum gue pulang, temen gue nanya, kenapa gak berusaha aja tinggal di Berlin. Gue bilang, 'kayaknya di Indonesia lebih damai negaranya'. Kata temen India, tapi terorisme kan bisa terjadi di mana aja. Iya, tapi setidaknya, gue gak harus mengalami rasisme balik. Dan Indonesia (insya Allah) kan gak masuk hitungan untuk harus diterorisasi (alhamdulillah kejadian teror di Jakarta terakhir berhasil digagalkan dan warga Jakarta yang sudah keras kehidupannya mengambil hikmahnya dengan bercanda terhadap situasi yang berlangsung). Terus, walau Indonesia gak sempurna, kayak kata teh Ika, buang sampah aja masih gak bisa, tapi mudah-mudahan negara satu ini jauh dari konflik-konflik Barat vs Timur di atas sana. Gusti Allah, semoga negara satu ini tentram dan damai. Jauh dari konflik antar negara seperti di benua Eropa sana. Semoga rakyatnya makin pinter-pinter dan pada dicukupkan rezekinya. Semoga yang berbeda agama tetap saling menghargai dan memahami satu sama lain. Semoga yang mampu gak lupa untuk membantu yang kurang.

Inti tulisan ini apa ya? Intinya gue pengen menuliskan sebagian hasil pengamatan gue beberapa bulan terakhir ini sih. Ke depannya, kita masih musti liat gimana peristiwa-peristiwanya bakal unfolded. Mudah-mudahan gak ada perubahan yang terlalu dramatis, sementara itu gue menunggu 2NE1 buat ngeluarin album baru untuk menghibur isi kepala gue dari semua kejadian-kejadian tragis belakangan.

ps: ada dua buku yang esensial untuk memahami gonjang-ganjing ini, setidaknya gue selalu teringat sama kedua buku ini: (1) Grapes of Wrath yang menceritakan krisis ekonomi di US (2) A Strangeness in My Mind yang menceritakan kondisi politik Turki di background cerita.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Movie Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Movie Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, 2016, dir: Burr Steers. 

I'll go on full spoiler in this review! Sorry! But you for sure know the storyline of Pride and Prejudice, right? 

I don't know which scene was more appealing to me. Seeing the Bennet girls went into battle to fight zombies? Watching them putting on their blades and guns attached to their undergarments? Watching Mr. Darcy suffered being headlocked by Liz's legs after confessing his love to her? Seeing sweet sweet Jane without fear took out her small dagger to kill a zombie running towards her? I don't know, but I like them all!


This movie was adapted from a book under the same title, written by Seth Grahame-Smith with Jane Austen as the co-writer. When I saw the book on display a couple of times back in Dussman, I always thought, it'll be quite a cheesy easy gothic story kind of book. I'm sorry, but I'm still hurting after a renowned (late) writer took Pride and Prejudice into an investigative crime novel, Death Comes at Pemberley, and absolutely botched it. So I take extra caution to read any extra adaptation of Jane's book.


So I also didn't bother when the movie was out. Remember the 1999 version of Mansfield Park? Where the movie writer or the director decided to infuse Jane Austen's character into Fanny Price? The shy, closed, Fanny Price turned into another Elizabeth Bennet. What a shame. And until now, we still haven't got a proper Mansfield Park adaptation. Oh look, when it comes to Jane I always rattle out from my original plan.


Anyways, so with caution did I watch the movie. The Rotten Tomatoes rating was not very good, so I expect nothing, actually. But it turns out to be quite and enjoyable take of the novel. So Great Britain was infected by a plague which turns people into zombies, and so people on that Island after years of attack had to learn to defend themselves, including the amazing Bennet girls who, unlike most people who'd learn martial art in Japan, studied in Shaolin temple in China. So the rest of the story was pretty much like Pride and Prejudice (even with scenes which remind me of the 2005 adaptation: the cleaning up the house when the Bennets left Netherfield, Liz entered the dining room to visit her ill sister, and the room where Darcy (almost) confessed his feelings to Liz). And plenty of scenes took the original script from Jane's book. But it also in a way, felt quite original and fresh. Like some of the reviewers (of the book), saying that the zombie story was infused nicely to the original P & P plot, this also applies in the movie.


I checked the plot of the book, and it seems quite different to the adapted screenplay, so I think I can still read it and feel surprised. But it was really a fun watch to see my favorite characters got involved with zombie war. The Bennet girls felt more badass in this adaptation, and gosh seeing Jane and Liz taking out their swords to fight is just sooo exciting! So although the movie might not be the best of the best, it is still a very entertaining one. And I'd suggest it to fellow Jane Austen's lover who would agree that Jane's sense of humor would appreciate this. Because, really, it's so funny and entertaining to see Liz cut off a zombie's head in front of the love of her life!! Would non-Jane Austen fan love it? I'm not so sure, because the fun part is seeing how the characters from the original story got their own twisted story line. But I can't really tell, because I'm really biased :P

Ah, and I decided to watch this movie because of Condro. So here goes my review, Condro :D



"Liz, let's spend the rest of our lives hunting zombies together. Do you like the idea of it?"

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Movie Review: Independence Day: Resurgence

Movie Review: Independence Day 2: Resurgence, 2016, dir: Roland Emmerich.

I had a hunch that when they have Liam Hemsworth in the trailer, despite the awe-making scenes, this movie might simply be an easy going summer flick that you shouldn't let your brain think too much. But it was bad and in the end made me think too much out of passionate disappointment.

This review will be on full spoiler, so move forward with caution!

I didn't watch the first movie. I didn't know why, I mean I watched Jurassic Park which is the other revolutionary movie in terms of special effect around that era, but didn't bat an eye on this one. So I spent the hours before watching it reading through the original storyline.

Oh my God, the movie was filled with 'why aren't they thinking straight?' moments which is just mind goggling for me. First was the first alien ship which was already mentioned to be looking 'not intimidating' but they blew it anyways. Wow. You see, the movie said that after the attack from 20 years ago, the world has created cutting edge technologies due to learning alien ships landed on earth, etc. But... they can't make a comprehensively thought over decision? Why attack something which doesn't look intimidating? ('because the writers can't find better reason for the story to move forward!' said me in the background)


the alien ship

Second, the scene where they scanned the landed (bigger) alien ship, and found heat center in the middle of the ship, suggesting 'ah this is the mother alien, if we kill her, the-similar-to-beehive-community will for sure destroyed'. I immediately thought, THIS IS OBVIOUSLY A TRAP, but the movie dragged another 10 minutes or something to show, and act surprised, OH WELL THIS IS A TRAP! Why? How can high level military personnel, experienced scientists, came to such decision SO SO EASY. Gah. I felt insulted.

And then the typical 'I'll sacrifice' scene plus the 'We will overcome this together' speech close to the ending which was shot so cheesy-ly, I cringed, like how does the actor able to even say these words? If you wanna use it, use it well! See for example, Pacific Rim, scene: Marshal Pentecost giving his final speech. That's the way to deliver this over-used type of scene! Gah.

And although I love seeing Maika Monroe on the screen, I wish there were more to it. Liam Hemsworth's scene where he pissed the aliens by literally pissing WAS ABSOLUTELY stupid, the conflict between Liam and Jessie Usher's character was so standard I don't know why it matters. Plus, Jessie Usher's character is also handsome and has this sweetness in his face, why not have him date Maika's character if you need to add ((an) unnecessary) a love scene.

I told my husband, 'Maybe, the producers of the movie thought that they are sick of complicated storyline during the last few years, so they thought 'Hey, let's make an oversimplified movie, just for fun', so they make this one, where everybody ended up being happily ever after and now 'let's hunt the villainous alien with this cutting edge technology' aka let's make this a new franchise and make more movies and hence more money' GAAH (if it's good, keep it coming. but if it's not, why spent all those money to make bad quality movie -- this one must be expensive, just look at the CGI and special effects).

And so... I'll watch the first movie, maybe I'll know something more?

The fun thing about this movie experience is because I went to watch it with Bizki, his older brother Agah, his younger brother and the younger brother's wife Ihsan and Dania, for the first time hanging out as a big family (usually it's just me and my sis and sometimes with mbak Dian ;D). And I get to spend the evening before the movie walking around CiWalk which I rarely go to when I was studying in Bandung because I didn't have money to hang out in the cafes, etc (I usually go to the shopping mall where they have the cheapest movie tickets). And I had my first Bakmie GM. And I get to spend the evening discussing about movies with Bizki and Agah. Found out that Ciwalk is a pretty cool place, looking like a forest with building structures with plenty of restaurants and cafes. I mean, it's so futuristic for me, so I enjoyed it a lot. So yeah, the movie was pretty crappy, but I had some fun time :D And I guess that's more important :)

Movie Review: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Ultimate Edition)

Movie review: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Ultimate Edition), 2016, dir: Zack Snyder

Batman v Superman was one of the last movies I watched in Berlin before going home to Jakarta. I didn't like it at that time, for me there were plenty of times when I feel like the story got botched and edited in a bit of a messy way. Then, last week another movie goer (whom I trusted) posted in his Facebook that the Ultimate Edition, with the extra ~ 30 minutes is out, and it really made the film better. So I hunt it down and finally got to watch it last night with Bizki.

This will be a total spoiler review, because I need to get to the details, so... sorry!

I was happily surprised to find out that yes, the film now makes more sense. For example, one of the arguments from the movie critics about the movie is the lack of acting on the side of Henry Cavill/Superman. As if he was in the movie only to be shown as the Messiah figure with no relevance. I myself, and I guess as mentioned in the movie critics by the time the movie was out, thought that there are plenty of story going on on the side of Batman, but there wasn't much on Superman side. Well, the Ultimate Edition gave a balanced view of the two sides fighting. We already knew Batman's motivation in hating Superman, but why is Superman trying to pursue Batman back, and this edition explained it.


the Trinity

Another scene which makes me absolutely confused was when Batman was aftering the kryptonite moved by Luthor's thugs. Suddenly, Superman came unto Batman to tell him to back off. I was so confused, why? Don't you know that Batman is hunting the kryptonite? Well, again, it was explained by the apparent sadism of Batman towards the criminals in Gotham, which message didn't delivered that well in the original version, but understandable from the Ultimate Edition.

There is also the scene about the suicide bomber. It wasn't suicide after all! It totally changed the mood of the movie. Lois's investigation which made her realize that the bomber wasn't doing it as a suicide attempt, and also the added scene where the woman from Nairomi  was explained to be giving false testimony, well that gives a lot of weight not just to Lois's role in the movie, but also explained the on going motive and conspiracy behind the accusations of Superman being the vigilante. Oh and the scene where Superman helped people after the 'suicide' bombing? Was it there, or was it added? Because that gives that 'missing' humanistic side of Superman.

Oh and one other thing is... JENA MALONE'S SCENES!! HOW DARE ONE CUT OUT HER SCENES, COMPLETELY OUT OF THE MOVIE! Really, it's not that long, but her character was important, adds to Lois's investigation, and it's JENA MALONE! (i love her because of the Hunger Games :p).

As some people said, this version is the original vision of Zack Snyder, which makes sense because it's really wrapped up much better. Connectivity between the scenes, background story to explain the motivation of the characters, all makes it a better story. As mentioned by that movie goer friend, this also has something to do with the need to get a PG-13 rating for the movie rather than the R rating for the Ultimate Edition. The film is already pretty long with 151 minutes of running time. This edition made it extended up to 181 minutes, so this might be one of the other reasons why the movie got cut (I'm leaning more towards the rating thing. Big studios would get more money if it's PG-13 rating rather than an R one).

But yeah, so glad that this version was out. Can't wait for Wonder Woman's full movie. Some people complained about the abundance of super heroes movies these days, but I'm a happy fan to have all these sci-fi stories flying around, so just give it to us, please please please!!