A Purification Pod

The room by Riri Riza, who made the Indonesian national box office success of 2008, Laskar pelangi, is intended to give the impression that a cleansing ritual has just taken place or is about to. Riza also has a short film in this programme, part of the omnibus film Takut, and that also shows such a ritual. Titisan Naya (Incarnation of Naya) is about the cleansing ritual for a kris (an Indonesian dagger) that is important for a family. The film shows that even if you’re sceptical or unwilling in the face of such a ritual, it can still exert power over you.
Enter the room alone, that’s what the film maker wants. This is so the scent, the light and the sound can have their effect on the visitor undisturbed. In fact, the film maker wants to evoke a feeling that he himself remembers from ceremonies like this – performed all over Java and beyond, and occasionally in a mixture of Indonesian cultures. The idea of the visitor being alone is of course that you don’t feel alone. That there is something else in the room. The incense, the kris, the can of chicken blood and the other sacrifices are not there without reason. The essence of the cleansing ritual is that people confess their guilt to the surrounding ghosts in order to wash off their sins. The film maker wants to share his experience with rituals through the medium of this room. (GjZ)