PINTU TERLARANG: A New Film by Joko Anwar

Yes, Folks.

As predicted, we had to go through another fight at the censorship board. Those were the days when we were very very worried. Would it pass the censorship? How many scenes they were gonna cut? Would they pass the movie at all? Me and Lala my producer were phoning each other every hour. Most of the times we could only say “I’m worried” to each other. We were like those two kids from Hansel and Gretel. We were trying to be brave and convince each other that everything was gonna be okay. And it wasn’t okay at all.

We weren’t just worried about the violent scenes, but the whole movie because it could be the most politically-incorrect film ever found here. Dotty, my post-production producer, called me and Lala the day after we submitted the film to the board. She was trying to be cheerful but we knew she was also very worried.

“They loved the film,” Dotty said in a phone call.

“Does that mean they’re gonna pass it?” Lala and I asked.

“We don’t know about that. But they said they loved the film.” Dotty said.

We didn’t know whether we should be happy to hear that or not because they could just try to smooth-talk us. You know, like a sweet talk before a stab in the heart. A kiss before dying. “I love you, but I’m sorry i have to kill you”, or something. From what we heard, there were a lot of arguments in the screening room at the board they had to watch the movie three times in one day to make a decision. Then finally called us to have a meeting.

They said they had to cut the scenes where someone being slit in the throat. They said the scene thought people how to slit someone’s throat. I said “Huh? Don’t people already know how to slit a throat? Just put a knife of someone’s throat, give some pressure to it, and slit.” We even slit throats of many animals every year and celebrate it. But well, yeah, we could understand if that scene was cut so we let it go (not before a fight, of course. I mean, movie violence is different that real life violence. There’s an interesting video on Tarantino on this subject. Watch it. It’s very interesting).

But one of the things that puzzled us was that they were initially gonna cut a scene with the priest. Why? Because the priest says “There’s no hell.” Why? Because they said “We are a nation of religious people. And religious people believe that hell exists.” Well, ummm… I don’t know, Ma’am. I’ve never been there. Have you?” But they finally let the scene stay in the picture.

They also cut several seconds of the marital rape scene. Not because it’s violent or shocking (as you may already know, the shot used wide angle and it was almost in silhouette). But because, they said, “The shot would be better if it’s shorter.” Huh? So they’re not just a censorship board, but they are also the board of film aesthetics. Oh, excuse me, I forgot that the board members are also those who used to make films. I think they got a word for them. Starting with the letter “h”.

Oh, well. We ended up witnessing 15 meters of our film being cut in front of our own eyes.

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Read my past posting on censorship on my blog.