page_title: Darah dan Doa
section_title: Production
hierarchical_section_title: Darah dan Doa / Production
caption_attribution_description: English: Indonesian director Usmar Ismail
context_page_description: Darah dan Doa is a 1950 Indonesian war film directed and produced by Usmar Ismail. Telling the story of the Siliwangi Division and its leader Captain Sudarto on a march to West Java, Darah dan Doa is often cited as the first "Indonesian" film, and the film's first day of shooting – 30 March – is celebrated in Indonesia as National Film Day.
  Produced on a budget of 350,000 rupiah and intended to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival, financial difficulties led production of Darah dan Doa to almost stop before the director received financial backing. After raising controversy for its subject material, the film underwent censorship and was finally released to commercial failure. Retrospective analysis has, however, been more positive, and Ismail has been dubbed the "father of Indonesian film".
context_section_description: Darah dan Doa was directed by Usmar Ismail, a former soldier who had previously served as assistant director on Andjar Asmara's Gadis Desa (Village Maiden) and directed two films on his own, Tjitra (Image) and Harta Karun (Treasure; all 1949). Creative control for these works, all of which were produced for the Dutch-sponsored South Pacific Film Corporation (SPFC), was held by cameraman A.A. Denninghoff-Stelling; Ismail served more as a dialogue coach. When the Netherlands recognised Indonesia's independence following several months of conferences in 1949, Ismail and other SPFC staff discussed establishing their own studio, though steps were not taken to do so until the following year. For his first production, Ismail chose to adapt a short story by the poet Sitor Situmorang, which the latter man had brought to him; Ismail later wrote that he considered it interesting because it "honestly told the story of a man without descending into cheap propaganda". 
  Crew for the production consisted of cameraman Max Tera, a former SPFC employee, with makeup by Rancha', artistic design by Basuki Resobowo, G. R. W. Sinsu on music, and Sjawaludin and E. Sambas responsible for the sound effects. Ismail, using his military connections, received technical assistance from various members of the Indonesian Army, particularly Captain Sadono. The film's cast mostly consisted of newcomers who had responded to newspaper advertisements, a conscious decision by Ismail who was searching for "new faces with fresh talent" Ismail adapted this technique from Italian directors such as Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio De Sica. Ultimately Del Juzar, a law student, was cast as Sudarto, with other spots going to Ella Bergen, Faridah, Aedy Muward, Awaluddin Djamin, Rd Ismail, Suzana, Muradi, and Rosihan Anwar.
  Twenty-nine years old, Ismail began shooting on 30 March 1950 in Subang, West Java. The following day he established his own studio, Perfini, to produce the film. Unlike his earlier films, Ismail had severe technical limitations. Though Tjitra had cost 67,500 rupiah, when the filming of Darah dan Doa began Ismail had only collected 30,000 – more than half of which was spent to rent the SPFC (since renamed Produksi Film Negara [State Film Company, or PFN]) studios and facilities. For their trip to Subang, the cast and crew rented a decrepit microbus; filming was completed using an aged ("decades-old") Akeley camera; and the crew had to hold more than one role.
  Human factors also led to delays in production. Ismail and the other crew members attempted to achieve realism by ensuring everything in the film was as it was in life, a decision which he later recanted after realising that "film was truly the art of make-believe, making people believe something, creating a new reality from what is." Cast-wise, three actors (including the lead, Del Juzar), competed for the affections of Faridah, leading to frictions between the actors. The cast also argued about interpretations of their roles, with Ismail insisting on them following his direction.
  During filming, Ismail typed his shooting scripts every night, expanding on the source material. After each day of filming had concluded, Ismail sent the results back to PFN in Jakarta and obtained rush prints which he screened for the cast and crew. One such showing spurred a deal between Ismail and local cinema owner Tong Kim Mew, in attendance at the time: Tong would lend funds the production, heavily in debt (Ismail notes that, by this point, they had not paid their lodgings in "a while"), needed, while Ismail would allow Tong to handle distribution. This funding allowed the crew to finish shooting, including further scenes in Purwakarta. Upon returning to Jakarta, Ismail and the crew found that some of the footage was unusable, as the "story did not work". As such, additional footage was shot in West Javan mountains, including Mounts Lawu and Gede. Other scenes were filmed at the banks of Citarum River. Ultimately the film cost 350,000 rupiah (then approximately $90,000 USD), over three times that of an average co
caption: Usmar Ismail, the film's director and producer
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