Idealism versus Commercialism in Indonesian Cinema: A Neverending Battle?
By Ekky Imanjaya
Editor of Rumahfilm.org, Jakarta

Japanese Period

During the Japanese occupation era (1942-1945), films were put under the control of Sendenbu (Propaganda Department), an independent department set up within the military government (Kurasawa 1991: 37)[7]. The Sendenbu also directly executed propaganda operations and founded another organization named Keimin Bunka Shidosho or Poesat Keboedajaan (Popular Education and Cultural Direction Center) in April 1943 (Kurasawa 1991: 37). One of its jobs was to educate and train Indonesian artists (Kurasawa 1991: 38). This was an important organization because for the first time, some Indonesian artists and intellectuals gathered in one organization, including writer Sanusi Pane, musician Simanjuntak, musician Raden Koesbini (Kurawasa 1991: 41) and playwright Usmar Ismail and Djadug Djajakusuma (Kurasawa 1991: 55).

The Japanese-run company, Nippon Eigasha, held the monopoly over film production. None of the Chinese-owned studios was allowed to operate, and only “indigenous” Indonesians such as Inoe Perbatasari, Raden Arifin, and Roestam Soetan Palindih were permitted to work in the Japanese-owned studio (Said 1991: 32; Heider 1991: 16).

In this era, with film supplies stalled, cinemas had to rerun the Western and local films. In April 1943, the number of cinemas in Java decreased drastically to 117. Most of the films were about propaganda of Japanese Occupation Government such as Keseberang (Across the Sea), Berdjoeang (Struggle), and Amat Heiho (Amat, the Volunteer Soldier) (Said 1991: 33). The first feature film to be screened was Kemakmoeran (Prosperity), in January 1944 (Kurasawa 1991: 53). Some of the cinema formats were mobile-cinema (Kurasawa 1991: 58).

It was during this phase that many Indonesian artists, especially Usmar Ismail, learned about film. They gathered in the Cultural Center organized by Japanese. Djadug Djajakusuma, a friend of Ismail, states that: “Our interest in filmmaking was stimulated by two concurrent factors. One was the frequent visits of Andjar Asmara to our office and the second was the discovery of a bookcase full of materials dealing with the artistic and technical aspects of movie making which the Dutch had left behind” (quoted in Said 1991: 34). Ismail and his friends realized that film could be used as a means of social communication, the important aspect of the idealistic group of filmaking. Ismail says:

The new atmosphere during the Japanese Occupation stimulated growth and change in the content as well as the techniques of filmmaking. It was under the Japanese that people became aware of the function of film as a means of social communication. Also of note during this period was the awakening of the (Indonesian) language...film began to mature and to be infused with a greater sense of national consciousness” (quoted in Said 1991: 34).

Andjar Asmara was the figure who influenced Ismail and his friends to enter filmmaking world. He was a journalist of Doenia Film (Indonesian edition for Filmland) and later became a playwright and one of the first indigenous filmmakers and film critics. (Usmar Ismail’s first experience in his filmmaking career was when he worked as co-director for Andjar Asmara’s films, under South Pacific Cinema, a Dutch-run company). Andjar Asmara sat as the chairperson of juries in the first Indonesian Film Festival, 1955. He learned from Japanese’s propaganda films, and then transfered the knowledge to Ismail, that film would become an important tool to educate the masses, a concept that had been unthinkable before The War (Said 1991: 35).

One of the most important things in this era is that Ismail and his friends learned to make films systematically, both in the preparatory stage and during the actual shooting, whereas when working with Chinese film companies they felt haunted by the need to keep cost down, etc. (Said 1991: 34; Kurasawa 1991: 55). And, as prominent writer Armjn Pane states, the language used in the dialogues of the film became very fluent and was no longer bahasa Melayu-Tionghoa (Sino-Malay dialect) but a more correct form (Kurasawa 1991: 55).

The convergence of opinion on filmmaking between Asmara and Ismail brought the two together in a cooperative venture that lasted well into the post-Japanese occupation era. In 1948, when Asmara made movies for South Pacific Film, he offered Ismail the job of assistant director (Said 1991: 36).

After the Japanese surrendered, the department was taken over by the government of the Republic Indonesia and its facilities were put under the control of the Directorate of Movies and Communication of the Department of Information (Kurasawa 1991: 55).

[7] For further information about Indonesian cinema in Japanese years, see: Kurasawa, Aiko. “Films as Propaganda Media on Java under the Japanese, 1942-1945” in JapaneseCulturalPolicies in SoutheastAsiaduringWorldWar. Basingstoke [etc.]: Macmillan, 1991, 37)