Sharon Mae R. Calingasan

SITI FILM REVIEW “The sea gives us life and it also takes it back” (spoken by Siti’s mother-in-law) This film by Eddie Cahyono, which won various awards like “Best Scriptwriter” from the Shanghai International Film Festival and Best Performance for Silver Screen Award from Singapore International Film Festival, shot in black and white and with a couple of long scenes and camera angles that follow the movement of Siti and other characters, represents life in the fishing villages of Indonesia. But more so, it enjoins the viewers to observe closely the inner struggles of a woman beset with responsibilities that she was not prepared for. The sea is an integral part and an ever-present element in the film. For Siti, it was a constant reminder of the central events in her life. The sea gave them the food that they ate and gave income to her husband, but it also took back the life out of her husband, when tragedy struck and he was left an invalid who can’t even lift his limbs. A series of flashbacks dot the entirety of the film, with the sea as the ever-present backdrop; scenes of Siti, her husband and their son as they run and chase each other as well as of Siti welcoming her husband after he brings in the day’s catch. In the film we witness a woman who is a devoted mother, wife and daughter in law. Siti is an epitome of a person who is forced to resort to measures that compromise her dignity but with which she sets aside just so she can continue to provide for her family and to pay a long-standing debt of her husband. It is a situation that is hard to swallow, especially for a woman like Siti, who is used to being a wife and mother but not a breadwinner. What makes her situation unbearable though is the cold treatment she gets from her husband who knows what she does for a living during night time, while he lays in bed, at home, useless and immobile. The character of Siti, portrayed by Indonesian actress Sekar Sari is a very interesting one, a character of contrasts, who transforms from a tired mother cum diligent snack vendor by day to a fiery, seductive vixen at night as she sings and dances at a karaoke bar. In one scene, she vents her anger, confusion and anxiety on the laundry and as she tramples on the clothes she’s washing, one sees a woman who feels scorned, utterly confused and about to give up on everything. This desolation and desperation is emphasized in the black and white format of the movie, a seething reminder of the dullness of Siti’s existence after what happened to her husband, leaving all responsibilities and the latter’s debt on her shoulders. The only time Siti becomes quite jovial is when she’s with her son and with her friends, especially Sri, her co-worker at the karaoke joint. In fact, another memorable scene of this film would be that of Siti and Sri along the seaside, with the latter encouraging Siti to vent her anger to her husband, on her. Clearly, the theme of man versus himself is manifested all throughout the film. Her husband ignoring her, the debt she has to pay, the son and mother in law she has to take care of ; all these are pressing hard on Siti, in all her frailness and desperation. The attention she gets from a policeman named Gatot somehow adds to her confusion and struggle to keep herself sane, as he offers her marriage and an escape from the rut she’s in. But the character of Siti, who is devoted to her husband even as she is fed up and angry with his disregard towards her, chooses a different route to set herself free; not in the arms of another man who promises her the world but to a great force that beckons. To quote what her husband once told her: “There is no sadness in the sea, only happiness” and for Siti it was an utter freeing of herself from all the burdens of her unforgiving world.