‘Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts’: Women Refuse to Lose
By: Achmad Muchtar
Tags: Feminism, Indonesian Film, Film Reviews, Mouly Surya, Marlina

Marlina (Marsha Timothy) rides a horse to the police station carrying Markus’ head in ‘Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts’ (Photo: Cinesurya & Kaninga Pictures)

STRUGGLE marginalized or marginalized people always steal the show. Usually they are depicted as powerless over the social structures that confine them. As if being a miserable human being can be a sad drama. ‘Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts’ tells of marginal humans, namely women, who seem to be a group that must lose in the confines of their social culture. As if from birth, women must carry out their nature like that. Women must accept everything like that. In ‘Marlina’, Mouly Surya wants to sue about gender injustice like that, which is very detrimental for her as a woman.

From the first few minutes, ‘Marlina’ presented Sumba, which looked beautiful because of its vast landscape like the area in Texas, United States, but was actually dry. The distance between the houses was so far away that on a vast expanse of savanna, it was not surprising that there was only one tiny house. This is what makes Marlina (Marsha Timothy), a widow, unable to move when the head of the robber, Markus (Egi Fedly), plans to rob and rape her openly. Markus suddenly entered as an unwelcome guest. This seems to illustrate that in a patriarchal world, men are free to touch women. As a guest, Markus is free to ask for dishes because he identifies himself as a guest.

In Indonesian culture, in particular, guests are kings. They must be treated as best they can. Because of that, as a female figure, who actually has to be able to cook as her nature serves men, Marlina did not refuse when Markus wanted to make dinner in the form of chicken soup. Especially when Markus said that he was not alone because there were six more robbers to come. Even when Markus said that he was going to rape her, Marlina seemed helpless. Marlina could have run, but it was nevertheless done considering that although the landscape outside was very wide, actually it was squeezing. If only Marlina ran to avoid rape against herself, she could not run far because it was certain that Markus and his friends could quickly catch up her. Moreover, transportation in that area is minimal, depicted with people waiting for a passing truck in these scenes from the film. One of the proper ways to avoid rape of her is to poison them.

Marlina knew, as a widow who lived alone in a house, she could not be free from danger. Hence, she even prepared saga fruit as poison in the dresser in his room. Four robbers arrived waiting for dinner in the living room, which also contained the mummy of Marlina’s husband. Markus enters Marlina’s room. As the head of the robber, he wanted to be served in a special way. In earnest, Marlina prepared dinner dishes. While he was cooking, two robbers came again, stealing his livestock, including cows, pigs and chickens. They transported it somewhere. Marlina still gave up. Only five people were left at Marlina’s house.

Four people in the living room have been poisoned successfully, while Markus has not been poisoned because the food is suddenly dropped when Markus wakes up in Marlina’s room. At that moment Markus wanted to rape Marlina. Marlina did not move. Markus managed to rape Marlina and this is where the physical rape took place. When Markus felt good, Marlina immediately grabbed Markus’ machete, and cut off Mark’s head after he ejaculated. Here, an interpretation can be drawn that if women want to “win” from men, they must serve him to the utmost satisfaction, because at such times, men are usually off guard so that they are easily resisted or fall.

In order to get justice for what has happened to her, Marlina intended to go to the police station which was located very far away, with evidence in the form of the robber’s head, Markus. While waiting for transportation to arrive, Marlina meets her best friend, Novi (Dea Panendra), who is 10 months pregnant. Initially, Novi wanted to invite Marlina to go with her, including to church to do confession. However, Marlina loudly stated that she was a victim and she did not feel guilty at all. Marlina still wants to seek justice by visiting the police station, an institution that is trusted by Marlina to be the protector and enforcer of justice for something that has happened and will happen to her. Contradiction occurs, Marlina, who feels innocent, is always haunted by Markus without a head. This indicates the level of women’s sensitivity and Marlina’s position as a human being. However, Marlina is a human being, who knows that chopping off a human’s head is an inhuman act. The ghost of Markus’ headless body was as if it were. There was a sign that in Marlina, there was still a feeling of regret for her actions.

After achieving her goal, Marlina was still uncertain. Will he come to the police station with evidence or not. This is where women lose again. Arriving at the police station, instead of immediately accepting the action, Marlina had to wait for the police who were playing ping pong. And, again, Marlina also had to lose after she learned that her hopes of getting justice were still hampered. The complicated bureaucracy, the unavailability of tools due to the isolation, and the sluggish laws dealing with rape cases made Marlina, who was impatient, made her think again. Moreover, two other robbers were still out there targeting Markus’ head back.

Marlina is cornered again after learning that one of the robbers has threatened the life of her best friend, Novi, who is held captive in her house. In facing the various trials that must be faced, Marlina can only accept them. Even if he could not contain it, he would spit it out in a female way, namely crying. Then, only other women can understand women. In this film, a female character is presented through a child character named Topan, who has the same name as Marlina’s son who has died, who then embraces her as a symbol of solidarity. The same thing happened in the last act: “Baby Cry”, through the adult female character named Novi. This makes it clear that the only people who understand the human figure as female are only women.

‘Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts’ (2017) premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival in the Directors’ Fortnight session in May 2017. After that, the film has traveled to various international film festivals, such as the Melbourne International Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Busan International Film Festival, to Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival which won Marsha Timothy as Best Actress, beating Nicole Kidman. It is undeniable, Marsha Timothy did play brilliantly in this film. He managed to show a bitter face, hesitated, and resigned. Praise also goes to the newcomer actress, Dea Panendra, who played well. It could not be ignored that Egy Fedly’s acting, although the portion was short, was striking. Also most of the other players.

In the acting department, ‘Marlina’ is very good. This was accompanied by quite good cinematography. The nature of Sumba is beautifully presented by choosing the right color palette, as well as long artistic shots. When observed, there is no camera movement at all. In that sense, the scenes are presented with a static or still camera, in the sense that the object is moving. The music score of this film is also very melodious, which voices bitterness as well as doubts, which if you pay attention can also remind you of western films.

This is what makes film critic from Variety, Maggie Lee, say that ‘Marlina’ is a satay western genre film. This makes ‘Marlina’ comparable to other international films that were previously popular with genres that are coincided with the name of typical food, such as spaghetti western from Italy, with the films ‘Django’ (1966) and ‘The Good, The Bad and the Ugly’ (1966). It’s just that, in ‘Marlina’, there is no shooting action like in western films. ‘Marlina’ is more into the drama genre. Some of these things will make ‘Marlina’ a film that will become a classic for many years to come.

As a film, ‘Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts’ (2017) is very strong in terms of content, in terms of what it wants to convey. About the struggle to fight gender injustice. Also about the fate of marginalized people. Including the bureaucracy in this country which is difficult. However, ‘Marlina’ seems to be more of a personal work than Mouly Surya. In the film, Mouly Surya cut down all the male characters. As if men were not given the opportunity to “talk”. Apart from that, ‘Marlina’ actually managed to convey loudly about the injustices experienced by women.

In this film, women are depicted as weak and helpless with a vortex of a patriarchal environment. ‘Marlina’ struggled to fight back, even in inhuman ways. This is a suit against their marginalized people, who seem to have been born to be dominated by men. Mouly Surya, the director, voiced very feminism. Plus the good acting of the players. Also, technically this film is top quality. Sumba’s exotic landscapes are presented artistically, including the selection of a charming color palette. The music score is also really melodious. This film indeed makes Indonesian films at the top level in cinema offerings. What an amazing film. []

* First published in Indonesian titled “Marlina si Pembunuh dalam Empat Babak: Perempuan Menolak Kalah” on Konde.co, 2017