Laskar Pelangi The Movie

Last time I went to cinema was few months ago with almost all co-workers and family watching Forbidden Kingdom, a movie by Jet Li, it was our bank’s program buy 1 get 1 free ticket using debit card. So on Monday, 29^th September 2008, I went to cinema to watch local movie “Laskar Pelangi”. I arrived on 3 pm and got the ticket for 5 pm shows. They open 2 theaters and all were full for each shows (in total they got 8 shows a day for this movie).

Laskar Pelangi could be the most waited movie of the year in my country. Produced by Mira Lesmana and directed by Riri Reza, the 2 names are guarantee for high quality movie. This movie is inspired by a phenomenon best seller book with the same title written by Andrea Hirata. Andrea Hirata wrote tetralogy books based on true story of his life, so its kinda his memoir books. Laskar Pelangi is the first book out of four tetralogy books (tetralogy : Laskar Pelangi, Sang Pemimpi, Edensor and Maryamah Karpov – which will be released soon after the movie broadcasted). So amazing how Andrea put together one by one the pieces of puzzle in his life. I hope one day his books could be translated into English and share the world with the beauty of Melayu literature.

Basically the movie tells about Andrea’s childhood in Gantong Village, Belitung island, small island near Bangka island, used to be part of my province – Sumatera Selatan. The setting was on 1970’s, when Belitung was famous and rich for its nickel mining. The poverty was part of their life and education was not priority. Those poor kids were struggling for education and the only school accepted them as students was SD Muhammadiyah (SD=elementary school). They were taught with heart by the headmaster Mr. Harfan and the teacher Ms. Muslimah. That 2 people run the school which has only 10 students (since no one wants to study or to teach there !!) and known as Laskar Pelangi. Roughly, Laskar Pelangi can be translated as the rainbow troops. They were called as laskar pelangi because they like to climb Filicium tree to see the rainbow after rain.

From 10 characters of laskar pelangi kids in this movie, I think Mahar is the most outstanding. His unique style and eccentricity are the magnet. It was funny when he sang “Bunga Seroja” to cheers Andrea from broken hearted …lol. All of the 10 kids are originally native local kids of Belitung island, they are not professional actress or actors but their acting was natural. But other adults characters are famous actors. Ikranegara, Slamet Rahardjo, Jajang C. Noer, Alex Komang, Cut Mini, Lukman Sardi, Matias Mucus, Rieke Dyah Pitaloka, Tora Sudiro are just to name a few. The soundtrack of this movie is also supported by famous band and singers, like Nidji, Sherina and Ipang. Along the movie you’ll be entertained by nice music, finds laughter and tears.

Well…just like other “inspired by book movie” we cant expect too much, especially if you have read the books before watching the movie. However, in general this movie is worth watching. Different theme and unique story are the strength.