By Nia Edwards-Behi
Garuda Power is a modest but passionate and highly entertaining documentary, charting the quiet rise and disastrous fall of Indonesian action cinema. Having premiered late last year at South Korea’s Busan International Film Festival, the film’s been doing the rounds at East Asian film festivals, and very recently in Europe. I really hope it hits the UK soon, as its fascinating subject matter and excellent execution deserves to be seen widely.
I can’t claim to know much, if anything, about Indonesian action cinema, except that I’ve seen both of The Raid films, and vaguely know the name Barry Prima. But it’s certainly something that interests me, as a fan more broadly of action cinema, martial arts, and slightly nonsensical films from the 70s and 80s. Garuda Power, then, is the perfect starter kit. Jam-packed with clips from what must be hundreds of films, this documentary is blissfully judicious with its presenter-to-camera moments, and instead emphasises interviews, narration and clips. The narration of the film is provided by Rudolf Puspa, representing something of a lonely spirit of the cinema, his segments shot in the Indonesian film archive and various abandoned cinemas. His narration is succinct and informative, without ever becoming dull.
This isn’t a documentary just for newbies like me, either. The film’s early section, which covers the earliest iterations of Indonesian cinema, via Dutch and Chinese productions, represents an area of film history that must be unfamiliar to a great many people, at least in the West. Though comprising a relatively brief section of the film, it’s fascinating and significant research and information.
Understandably the bulk of the film is dedicated to the heyday of Indonesian action cinema, starting from the late 60s, solidifying its own identity in the 70s, and reaching its peaks in the 80s. This is a whirlwind tour, and it sure is rip-roaring ride. One of Garuda Power’s strengths is that it not only talks to the directors, producers and stars of the era (even Barry Prima!), but it also includes contributions from Indonesian film critics, scholars and film societies. The chaps sat around their TV remembering their favourite films of the era are just as informative and entertaining as the pros of the industry. This balance is struck wonderfully by first-time filmmaker Bastian Meiresonne, and it’s to his credit that, for all his evident passion for the subject, he never appears on camera himself. Thankfully, the film isn’t all ‘wow, look how great everything was’, either. Indonesia’s hugely popular comic book industry provided much of the inspiration for some of the most successful films in the genre. One of the documentary’s most interesting contributors is Djair Warni, creator of the comic character Jaka Sembung. The character appeared in many films, and was portrayed by Barry Prima in the hugely successful film The Warrior in 1981. In this documentary, Djair strongly expresses his regret that his work was ever adapted for the big screen, due to the liberties taken with his work.
This sense of balance is evident at the film’s close, too. The Raid, surely the most well-known Indonesian action film, at least among modern audiences, is hailed as something of a blip, rather than a true triumph, following the catastrophic collapse of the film industry in Indonesia during the 90s. Garuda Power doesn’t take in The Raid 2, but given that film’s apparently disappointing box office returns, the conclusion would seem to still stand. A montage of the hundreds of cinemas which closed their doors during the 90s and 00s is a shocking sight, and it’s a shame then to think that a film as high-profile as The Raid hasn’t done more to reinvigorate the industry. But that’s not to say it’s such a specific sense of doom and gloom – the decline of cinemas is something of a global phenomenon, on varying scales, so I suppose it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise here.
All in all, Garuda Power is well-worth catching, and will surely appeal to anyone with an interest in different film cultures, and not just fans of action cinema. At a lean 77 minutes, Garuda Power is excellently paced, whizzing through decades of cinema without ever feeling superficial. If Meiresonne were to turn his attention to any other film subject he feels this passionate about, I would surely watch that too.
Garuda Power is currently screening at festivals around the world; visit the Facebook page for more info.