Main cast: Tara Basro (Maya), Marissa Anita (Dini), Asmara Abigail (Ratih), Christine Hakim (Misni), Ario Bayu (Saptadi), and Zidni Hakim (Donowongso)
Director: Joko Anwar
Perempuan Tanah Jahanam, released as Impetigore in America to wide critical acclaim, amuses me in a way because, just like with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, it has people in that country acting like they had discovered this great, remarkable thing and they want everyone else to bask in their discovery.
The reality is that, for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, there are many movies in that genre being made in this part of the world every year, and there are folks here that will say that that movie in particular is a boring example of the Chinese martial arts movie. It’s just that many Americans were discovering that movie and that genre for the first time and, patting themselves in the back for being so enlightened that they could appreciate films from a different country, wanted everyone to realize this.
It’s the same with this movie. It contains every single Southeast Asian folk horror trope that it may as well be called Impeti-Kitchen Sink. I’m not sure why I am supposed to be bowled away by the “ingenuity” of this movie, when it reminds me so much of the horror movie boom that took place in this part of the world in the 1970s and 1980s.
Folks living in this part of the world and are fans of those movies can surely recite the tropes from memory: victims puking out centipedes or scorpions or nails, evil female witch doctors cackling like crazy, a convoluted backstory that involves adultery or pre-marital sex that culminated with an illegitimate child and the antics of an evil mother of one of the rutting couple, people (usually a woman in a sarong) running around being chased by some lunatics with a parang or golok or any other big sharp knife, and various forms of body horror.
Well, good news: this movie has most of these tropes. In fact, the best thing about this movie is its ability to evoke a sense of nostalgia where I am concerned.
After barely escaping a stalker that wants to kill her with a golok, tollbooth collector Maya and her friend Dini discover clues that Maya’s real name may be Rahayu, and a photo from Maya’s aunt suggests that Maya is born to a wealthy family (well, at least a family that has a big house) in this remote village called Harjosari. Somewhat naïvely, she and Dini decide to visit that village, hoping that the house is now Maya’s and they can sell it for lots of money.
This is where I am a bit confused, because while Maya and Dini sport cellphones and hence this movie likely takes place in the 21st century, Harjosari feels like something that stepped out from the 1940s. While Indonesia is a big country and there are no doubt many places that are still very provincial in nature, this village feels like an anachronistic mix of occasional modern props and antiquated one. Modern conveniences are restricted or allowed based on what the plot needs at a specific moment, making the whole setting feel very gimmicky.
At any rate, Maya soon discovers a ghastly secret: all babies born to this place have no skin, which is the reason why there are so many graves for newborns in the area. The local witch doctor Misni pegs the curse on Maya, due to some convoluted back story involving, yes, adultery and illegitimate children and the antics of an evil mother of one of the rutting couple, and the only way the curse can be lifted is if Maya were to be flayed and her skin used to make wayang kulit puppets.
So much for Maya’s dreams of being a homeowner in a lovely village!
Oh, and before I go on, I should point out that this movie has harm and death befalling newborns and even fetuses in their mother’s womb. This is not a movie to watch if you’re not keen on these things!
As I’ve said, I found much of this movie to be derivative of the folk horror films of this part of the world back in the 1970s and 1980s. I’m not ashamed to admit that I devoured those movies like a fat kid with chocolates, and it did cross my mind briefly now and then that I won’t mind seeing some folks I know being landed with those painful curses afflicted by witch doctors on their victims. Perempuan Tanah Jahanam, which doesn’t translate to Impetigore at all but rather something like Woman of a Damned Land, could have easily been a modernized remake of one of those films, and it’s fun to experience that twinge of nostalgia while I’m watching this thing. Many of those films are possibly impossible for me to rediscover these days, as those were the days before the Internet and I don’t even recall the titles by now to look them up. Hence, this movie is in a way a lovely trip along memory lane.
Having said that, the protagonist has barely any personality that makes me want to care for or root for her, the over the top evil witch doctor character is far more comedic than anything else, and while it is understandable that these folks want to kill innocent lives to end the curse of their babies born without skin, I find it hard to be sympathetic to the villagers. They are so passive, as if they had never considered or tried any alternative means to break the curse or maybe even not having children, sheesh, that they certainly deserve that lovely twist ending, a brutal one that can’t happen to a lovelier lot.
Do I like this movie? Well, I have fun watching this thing. However, it’s hardly remarkable to me because I’ve seen movies with the same tropes this one is packed with many times before. I feel that this is a polished homage, to put it nicely, than a good movie in its own right.
