Assignment #1—"Tilik" Review

• Describe the setting of the film

The film portrays the journey of a group of women who want to visit the mayoress in the hospital. To have the ‘first-hand’ experience of their journey, the setting of the film is located at the back of the truck, where the group is located.

• Describe and evaluate the characters in the film and what they represent

The characters in the film represent the general personality of Indonesians. There are several characters that stood out in the film. These include Bu Tejo, Yu Ning, and the other ibu-ibu.

In the film, Bu Tejo represents the type of person who enjoys gossiping and evaluating other people’s life. This could be seen from the start to the end of the film when Bu Tejo constantly talks about the character named Dian. As the film continues, it could be seen that she often creates rumours or theories about Dian, which developed from when she opens Facebook. From the information she gained, she could manipulate the existing data as supporting statements for her theories. Another characteristic that could be seen is using one’s statements as a way to make fun of themselves. An example of this could be found in the pictures below.

Yu Ning is the type of person who doesn’t believe in rumours. Throughout the film, it is clear that she dislikes gossiping and disagrees with the way people easily create and spread baseless information from the things they see on the internet and real-life without clear context and understanding. However, Yu Ning could also be described as naive and have blind faith as she became disappointed when things Bu Tejo said are partially true.

As for the other characters, the general characteristic that they represent is the concept of ‘herd mentality’ which could be commonly and easily identified. From the film, it is clear that they constantly agree with Bu Tejo’s arguments and theories, though they might not think the same. Another personality they portray is being a bootlicker. Bu Tejo could be considered as a person with power in the film. As a result, the other characters always stay by Bu Tejo’s side in the arguments.

• Describe and evaluate the social commentary of the film

There are several issues that are shown in the film. Some of the issues shown include law abuse, information manipulation, gossiping, and name-calling. The film “Tilik” shows the general idea of how the law is constantly abused. This issue could be seen when the police stop the truck. Since the truck is not meant to carry a group of people at the back, it is clear that they intentionally break the rules/law. However, they still get mad when caught and fought back.

Information manipulation and taking things out of context could also be seen in the film. This could be seen when Bu Tejo talks about how she saw Dian vomiting, in which she immediately concludes that Dian is pregnant. Another part of it was when she judged Dian’s lifestyle from what she saw on the internet and immediately called her a homewrecker just because she heard the story of Dian with an old man in a mall together. This also leads to the next issue, which is name-calling.

As stated before, Bu Tejo heard the story of Dian with an old man. From that, she immediately called Dian a homewrecker without having a clear picture or cross-checking the information about what was actually happening.

• Analyse how the film impacts your understanding of Indonesian culture.

The film clearly portrays Indonesians' general image, understanding and culture. It shows how data, information, and the internet are often used and viewed as trustworthy sources. This leads to people not cross-checking the information they gained, and spreading false information, which could cause a negative impact in the future. The film also shows how Indonesians generally act when they got caught for not following the law that has been placed. Instead of facing the consequences, they began to fight back.

Throughout the film, the characters continuously gossip, talk about Dian and judge her lifestyle from what they have seen before. It shows how some Indonesians still stick to their older and more traditional ways and values, though it may not be the best. Moreover, the characters show how people could be quite loose-tongued, which leads to name-calling.