Of the films I've seen at Fantastic Fest this year, none has surprised me more than Merantau, the first martial arts film to come out of Indonesia in some 15 years. I took my own advice and skipped Opening Night film Gentlemen Broncos and saw this instead. Based on immediate reactions after Broncos let out and people were shuttled over to The Highball from the Paramount Theater downtown, I didn't miss much.
Merantau is a rural Indonesian rite of passage wherein youths from areas like Sumatra go into the big city (Jakarta) and must survive unaided by their family. Yuda lives a simple, quiet agrarian life in the country picking produce. He practices the Indonesian martial art discipline of Silat, which to my eye is predominantly comprised of a dance of elbows, grapples, and kicks. Yuda arrives in Jakarta and finds trouble almost immediately. His problems multiply exponentially when he meets a disadvantaged girl and her little brother, but he remains pure of heart and purpose. He eventually runs into a couple of guys who speak thickly-accented english who traffic in women. Going much further gets into plot telegraphing.
Early in the film, I realized something I hadn't really given much thought to going in: Indonesia has a predominantly Muslim population. As a result, Merantau presents one of the more genuine and positive portrayals of Islam that I've seen...since I last saw a film made by a Muslim. I find that American friends and acquaintances who are only acquainted with Christianity and tiny bit of Judaism don't realize just how similar in fundamental precepts Islam is to what they know. I've heard a number of Christian friends, moderate to hard-core evangelical, compare heroes in martial arts films to Christ to the point that they interpret the narrative as What Would Jesus Punch If He Had To? The cultural debate that could erupt from this movie would be fascinating.
Merantau apparently went through a needed shave-down from its original Indonesian cut. As Twitchfilm's Todd Brown put it in his intro last Thursday night, it lost "about 27 minutes of Indonesian family drama to get to the kicking and punching more quickly." It appears to be much better for it.
I was moved to slap something together quickly the evening I saw it, but I thought better of that, wanting to stew over it a bit since it was the first film of many I'd see this week. Not only has it maintained its place as one of my favorites of the festival, but it's one of the more compelling and powerful martial arts films I've seen. The oft-used comparison of martial arts is to dance, but here the choreography is so precise that it never loses you nor does it feel phony or "on wires". Quite to the contrary, it looks as if lots of stunt fighters got really, really hurt "taking a bump" for authenticity.
I watch lots of martial arts films, and this is the rare one that even non-enthusiasts will get something out of, rest assured. Even I did not expect the movie to go where it eventually did until the final half hour or so, but even then, I didn't think I'd find myself experiencing an emotional catharsis in its closing minutes. Merantau approaches patiently for much of its runtime, appearing to be a run-of-the-mill fighter-on-a-quest movie, but it then sneaks up, grabs, and throws you before you realize what's happened. It would truly be a shame if a specialty distributor doesn't pick this one up.
Those still at Fantastic Fest have one more chance to see it closing Thursday at 1:45pm. It's up against Hausu (vintage Japanese insanity) and Kaifeck Murder. No offense to either of those movies, see this one instead.