A tale of love and faith at Jiffest

Ary Hermawan ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 12/05/2008 11:44 AM  |  Lifestyle

Sara is a Jehovah's Witness who falls in love with Teis, an atheist who, according to her beliefs, will not survive the Armageddon and have an eternal life with God.

Brian is an Australian Goth puppeteer who crosses continents and cultures to marry Amber, a devout Pakistani Muslim.

These couples are divided by faith, but connected by love. Amid their agony, they have to answer the unfair question: "Do you love me more than you love God?"

Sara is the protagonist in the Danish film Worlds Apart, and Brian is the central figure in the Australian documentary Donkey in Lahore.

The films, which look at how the wall of faith divides people and how it may now start to crumble, are among the international films that will screen at The Jakarta International Film Festival.

Worlds Apart is Denmark's official submission for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 81st Academy Awards next year.

Directed by Niels Arden Oplev, the film has won kudos not only from journalists and film critics, but also from former members of the Jehovah Witnesses, a Christian denomination that believes in the imminence of Judgment Day.

Oplev did extensive research on the Jehovah's Witnesses community in Denmark to present a truthful picture of their faith and way of life. The film is based on a true story.

Oplev got the idea to explore the theme after reading a newspaper story about a girl named Tabita who was separated from her father because of the faith.

He was fascinated by Tabita's story -- a story not unlike that of many young people around the world where the dominance of traditional faith is being questioned and challenged.

"As a filmmaker, I'm in a phase now where a story's emotions are very important, plus I'm interested in religious stories," Oplev says in an interview published on the Danish Film Institute website.

"My personal view of metaphysics is like the old Bergman quote: Your heart is religious, but your brain is atheistic.

"It's exciting to explore the relationship between reason and feelings."

The love story is Shakespearean, but the way it is brought to 21st century Denmark by the award-winning director is far from repetitive.

Sara loves Jehovah, her family and the nonbeliever Teis, but she cannot bring them all into her life. She has to make a choice, but which does she listen to: faith, reason or love?

It took five years for Australian-Iranian director Faramarz K-Rahber to finish his documentary Donkey in Lahore.

This was not because he is an acute perfectionist, but because that was the length of time that Brian, the film's protagonist, needed to take Amber as his wife.

While reminiscent of the oh-not-again reality TV shows and Indonesia's Bule Gila (Crazy Foreigner) series, the documentary presents the honest, touching and often hilarious events of a naive couple divided by continents, cultures, faiths and, yes, financial problems.

Faramarz knew Brian long before he decided to make the film in 2002, when he learned that the Brisbane puppeteer had converted to Islam, changed his name to Ameer and was in love with a Pakistani woman he met during his visit to the Muslim country in 2000.

He said he planned to go back to Lahore, immerse himself in the country's culture, which is often depicted comically in Australia, and marry his Muslim girlfriend.

He has only Amber's brother, Aftab, who has less than fluent English, to convince the Muslim family to accept his marriage proposal.

Amber's parents are as conservative as many other Pakistani Muslims and they give a condition Brian is unable to meet: He must purchase an expensive house in Lahore and live there.

He has to negotiate and the hilarity begins with everybody seeming to get lost in translation.

Brian is then allowed to bring Amber to Australia but that only means going through the painfully frustrating immigration systems and pay for costly trips from Brisbane to Lahore.

Brian's agony over getting a visa for Amber is equal to Amber's pain of leaving her family and adapting to a new lifestyle with her new husband: She learns that Brian's sister is a lesbian and his parents are atheists.

Filmed in Australia and Pakistan, the film records every bit of the couples' anguish in bridging their love.

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