Filem Tak Mengharuskan Percakapan

JAKARTA, ARKIPEL, Forum Lenteng — Siang hari, sekitar pukul 13.00 WIB, 15 September, 2014, pacar saya mengirim SMS: “Aku duduk di jajaran ke lima dari belakang.” Ya, hari itu kami berjanji akan menyaksikan filem berjudul Suite Habana, karya Fernando Pérez dari Kuba Filem ini salah satu dari dua filem yang dikurasi oleh Ronny Agustinus, dalam Program Kuratorial di ARKIPEL Electoral Risk – Jakarta International Documentary & Experimental Film Festival 2014, dengan tema kurasi “Di Luar Sinema Ketiga”.

Saya segera menyusul pacar saya yang sudah berada duluan di studio. Ketika memasuki Studio 1 XXI, Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM), saya bertemu Ronny Agustinus yang berlari-lari kecil. “Maaf, saya terlambat. Macet!” katanya. Kami berdua pun segera masuk ke dalam studio untuk menyaksikan filem yang sudah berjalan sekitar 20 menit (berdasarkan keterangan yang saya dengar dari penjaga buku tamu).

Saya dan Ronny duduk di barisan bangku kelima dari belakang. Ronny memilih tempat duduk di ujung, sedangkan saya di sebelah pacar saya itu.

Filem Suite Habana, berjalan dengan ‘tenang’. Saya menunggu-nunggu adanya percakapan, tapi tak kunjung ada. Ketika saya memeriksa katalog di tengah-tengah ruang gelap, ternyata memang disebutkan filem ini tanpa dialog. Hanya ada sedikit suara dari mulut ketika seorang badut tampil untuk menghibur anak-anak. Awalnya, saya sulit memahami alur cerita ini, meskipun terkesima dengan bidikan-bidikan kamera di filem itu yang tampil begitu sederhana: sama sekali tak eksotis di mata saya. Namun, semakin menyimak filem tersebut, saya baru menyadari bahwa walau tanpa narasi dan tanpa dialog, filem ini tetap berdialog dengan penonton melalui konstruksi visual image-nya.

Lagi-lagi, saya menemukan sifat puitik dalam filem, yakni ketika komposisi atau susunan gambar hadir di filem itu dengan penempatan yang terukur, tanpa menuntut atau mengharuskan ‘kejelasan naratif’ dari aspek susunannya, tetapi dapat mengetuk relung terdalam pemikiran kita tentang hidup manusia, di tengah masyarakat, dalam menjalani hari-harinya untuk bertahan dari krisis di tengah-tengah desakan pengaruh ‘kekuasaan’ baru pasca runtuhnya rezim terdahulu. Pada rangkaian kegiatan sehari-hari yang berganti-ganti dari tokoh yang satu ke tokoh yang lain inilah, saya mencerna tentang mimpi orang-orang di Havana: menjalani hidup dengan tenang dan tentram.

Gaya bahasa filem seperti ini justru menarik, dan dapat menjadi referensi penting bagi masyarakat di Indonesia yang masih terbiasa dengan penyampaian naratif filem yang bergantung pada dialog antartokoh di dalam ceritanya. Filem ini, jelas sekali, mengajarkan kita bahwa filem adalah visual, dan dalam pengemasan ide/isu-nya, filem tak mengharuskan sebuah percakapan.

Ketika filem usai dan lampu studio dinyalakan, saya mendengar suara-suara penonton berseru, “Harusnya ada diskusi, nih!”. Tapi memang tak ada diskusi hari itu. Ketika saya sibuk memeriksa begitu banyak pesan di ponsel saya, saya tak menyadari para penonton yang lain telah meninggalkan studio.

“Lho, kok sepi?” seru saya.

“Udah pada keluar,” kata pacar saya. “Yuk, kita harus segera pergi!”

Film Does Not Always Require Conversation

JAKARTA, ARKIPEL, Forum Lenteng — During the day, around 13:00 pm, 15 September, 2014, my girlfriend sent a text: “I sat in the fifth seat from behind.” Yes, the day that we promised to watch the film titled Suite Habana by Fernando Pérez from Cuba. This film was one of two films curated by Ronny Agustinus, for the Curatorial Program named “Beyond the Third Cinema” in the ARKIPEL Electoral Risk – Jakarta International Documentary & Experimental Film Festival 2014.

I immediately followed my girlfriend who had been first in the studio. When entering the Studio 1 of XXI, Taman Ismail Marzuki (Ismail Marzuki Park or TIM—red), I met Ronny Augustinus who jogged. “Sorry I’m late. Traffic jam!” he said. We both immediately went into the studio to watch the film which had been running for about 20 minutes (based on the infromation I had heard from the guest greeter).

Ronny and I sat in the fifth row from the back. Ronny chose a seat at far left, while I was at my girlfriend’s side.

The film of Suite Habana was running ‘quietly’. I was waiting for any conversation, but still not there. When I checked the catalog in the middle of the dark room, it was indeed mentioned that this film didn’t have any dialogue. There was little noise from the mouth when a clown appeared to entertain the children. Initially I found it difficult to understand this storyline, though I was impressed with the shots in this film that appeared so simple: not exotic at all in my eyes. However, the longer I listened to the film; I realized that even without narration and with no dialogue, the film remains a ‘dialogue’ with the audience through its construction of visual image.

Again, I found the poetic nature of the film, when the composition of the image was present in the film with a measured placement, without demanding or requiring any ‘clear narrative’ of the aspects of its structure, but it still able to knock the deepest recesses of our thoughts about human life, in society, in their daily lives to survive the crisis in the middle of the insistence from the influence of ‘new powers’ after the post-collapse of the previous regime. In a series of daily activities that kept changing from one figure to another figure here, I digested about the dreams of those in Havana: to live in peace and at ease.

Such stylistic film is actually interesting, and could be an important reference for audiences in Indonesia who are still unfamiliar with the delivery of the narrative film that relies on dialogue between the characters in the story. This film, obviously, teaches us that film is visual; packaging its ideas/issues doesn’t always require a conversation.

When the film ended and the studio lights turned on, I heard the voices of the audience called out, “There should be a discussion, right?!”

But there was no discussion that day. When I was busy checking out so many messages on my cell phone, I did not realize the rest of the audience had left the studio.

“Why? So quiet?” I exclaimed.

“Everybody has left,” said my girlfriend. “Come on, we gotta go!”