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Analysis of Prescribed text
Background to the film Untuk Rena
- Notes on author and director
- Contextual background
- Synopsis
- Setting
- Characters
- Cultural/vocabulary notes
Notes on author and director
| Director | Riri Riza |
| Writer | Key Mangunsong |
| Starring | Maudi Ayunda Surya Saputra Karlina Inawati Nobuyuki Suzuki Raja Khalil Gibran Sally Ann Gething Afifah Isykarima Aldy Zulfikar |
| Studio | Miles Film |
| Runtime | 104 min. |
| Year of production | 2005 |
| Website | http://www.untukrena.com  |
Mohammad Rivai Riza, better known as Riri Riza, was born on 7 October 1970 in Makassar, South Sulawesi. He is a talented young Indonesian director, script writer and film producer. He directed his first film Kuldesak in 1999. He graduated from the Institute of Art, Jakarta and often works collaborately with his colleague, Mira Lesmana in making films.
The films he has directed include Gie (2005), which won the Best Asian Feature Film in 2006 at the Singapore International Film Festival and won the Special Jury Award in the Asia-Pacific Film Festival in 2006. Petualangan Sherina (2000) won the Special Jury Award at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival and Eliana,Eliana (2002) won the FIPRESCI Prize and the Young Cinema Award in 2002 and was nominated for the Silver Screen Award for Best Asia Feature Film in the Singapore International Film Festival. It also won the Dragon and Tigers Award – Special Citation at the Vancouver International Film Festival 2002. Kuldesak (1999) was nominated for the Silver Screen Award for Best Asian Feature Film at the Singapore International Film Festival in 1999.
Contextual background
According to Riri Riza, the director of Untuk Rena, this film was created in response to the tsunami tragedy that devastated Aceh and other places in Indonesia on 26th December 2004. The director knew lots of families that were torn apart as a result of the tragedy and felt called upon to tell the common story of happiness suddenly shattered, and to portray how this experience had affected people. The tsunami is certainly referred to in the film, but Riri says that he has tried to illustrate the happiness, ups and downs, friendship as well as love that we can all experience. The conflicts that arise in the film are part of daily life. The writer Key Mangunsong notes that the film certainly concerns a shattered family but it also presents a broader concept of family than the traditional nuclear family. It shows that when tragedy strikes, more people respond to the tragedy as if they were family members of the people affected.
Although not originally planned for release on Lebaran, this turned out to be a very suitable date for its first showing. The film was hastily made in 10 months and released on the Lebaran holiday in October 2005. It was intended for family viewing and is packaged to be light and appealing to children but, as in many children’s films, it touches on complex issues.
Synopsis
Untuk Rena is a film about an 11 year-old girl, Rena, who has lived in Rumah Matahari orphanage since she was three. The Rumah Matahari orphanage is a peaceful and fun-filled place. In the orphanage Rena looks out for her younger ‘siblings’, often creating trouble whenever a married couple comes to adopt one of the children.
As the holy month of Ramadhan approaches, a mysterious guest, Yudha, arrives at the orphanage. With the arrival of Yudha, Rena becomes very suspicious and concerned that Yudha might take away one of her younger ‘brothers’ or ‘sisters’. Rena even warns them to be suspicious of Yudha. However, as Yudha continues to return to the orphanage every weekend, he slowly develops a close relationship with the children. The atmosphere at Rumah Matahari begins to change.
Setting
The film is set at one of the orphanages in Cibadak, a small town about one hour’s drive to the west of Bandung in West Java.
Characters
Family tree
| Bu Rosi | The previous (late) owner/director of Rumah Matahari orphanage |
| Bu Tia | The current owner/director of Rumah Matahari orphanage |
| Yudha | Bu Tia’s cousin |
| Pak Narendra | The older brother of Bu Rosi |
| Bu Narendra | The wife of Pak Narendra |
| Ichiki San | Japanese boss of a company in Indonesia |
| Rena | A child in Rumah Matahari orphanage |
| Topan | A child in Rumah Matahari orphanage |
| Hamdani | The youngest child in Rumah Matahari orphanage |
| Kenni | A child in Rumah Matahari orphanage |
| Sri | A child in Rumah Matahari orphanage |
| Nana | A child in Rumah Matahari who was adopted |
| Bi Asih | The servant who works in Rumah Matahari |
| Pak Sutan | A story teller in the market |
Untuk Rena
Cultural/Vocabulary notes
The following are some explanations of cultural references in the film Untuk Rena.
| Reference | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Agam | male (Acehnese) |
| Alaikum Salam | response to greetings |
| Alhamdulilah | Praise be to God (Arabic) |
| Assalamulaikum | Arabic greetings |
| Astagafirulahalasim | Oh, My God (Arabic) |
| Aya naon? | What’s up? (Sundanese) |
| bahari | sea, ocean |
| beken | famous (from Dutch) |
| Bi | term of address for an older female (Sundanese) equivalent to Bu |
| Bu De | term of address for the older sister of father/mother (Javanese) |
| Den | Javanese honorific title for males or females from Raden |
| gawir | escarpment (Sundanese) |
| Hom-pi-lah hom-pim-pah | Children’s game played by at least three children. They play by singing and flipping their hands, leaving their hands either palm down or palm up. The odd one out wins. |
| Ilahi | God, Divine Being |
| inong | female (Acehnese) |
| imsak | time for praying (Muslim) at around 4 am |
| Jang | from Ujang, mate(Sundanese), like Bang/Bung for Javanese |
| Kak | term used to address someone slightly older than the speaker |
| kapalo-palo | Oh, dear! (expression of complaint) (Acehnese) |
| kuah | soup or broth to eat with rice |
| mah | particle (Sundanese) like sih |
| mangga | please (Sundanese) |
| Mas | term of address for young Javanese males (means kakak) |
| Nak | term of address used by an older person to someone of the younger generation (from anak) |
| ngabuburit | killing time by walking/going around while waiting for the time to break the fast (Sundanese) |
| ngaji | reading the Koran |
| nkut | fish (Acehnese) |
| nuhun | thank you (Sundanese) |
| nylimpet | tricky, hard to find, like a maze |
| Om | term of address for older males |
| origami | the art of paper folding (Japanese) |
| Pak De | term of address for the older brother of father/mother (Javanese) |
| punten | excuse me (Sundanese) |
| Ramadhan/ bulan puasa | Holy month for Muslims when they fast for 30 days |
| sahur | time for the last meal (at approximately 4 am) before fasting the whole day |
| San | term of address showing respect (Japanese) |
| Sang | honorific particle used before the noun (to make it a proper noun) |
| Si | particle used before the noun (to make it a proper noun) |
| sok, atuh | just go ahead |
| Suban Allah | Holy God |
| subuh | dawn |
| tek | particle (Sundanese) like kan |
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