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Jingga: The friendship of four visually-impaired teenagers
Four best friends: A scene from Jingga, a film that depicts the friendship shared by four visually impaired teenagers at a school in Bandung, West Java
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span class="inline inline-center">Four best friends: A scene from Jingga, a film that depicts the friendship shared by four visually impaired teenagers at a school in Bandung, West Java.
At a high school for the visually impaired somewhere in Bandung, we enjoy a close look at the lives of four teenage best friends: Jingga (Hifzane Bob), Marun (Qausar HY), Magenta (Aufa Assegaf) and Nila (Hany Valery).
Despite their sight difficulties, the four best friends manage to burn brightly through their natural talents in music, tightening their bonds of friendship by forming a band at school.
Having lived with low vision since he was just a small boy, as a teenager, Jingga must struggle with his father's denial of his being permanently blind, the result of a hard punch from a kid at school. In the beginning of the film, Jingga's father (Ray Sahetapy) is seen always forcing Jingga to act normally and constantly comparing him with his healthy sighted sister, Violet.
Although constantly sobbing and crying throughout the first one-third of the film, Jingga's mother (Keke Soeryokusumo) is the only person Jingga can confide in during his hardest moments and the one who believes that he'll do fine despite his impairment.
Moving away from a regular high school, the challenge of adapting awaits Jingga. In his new school, a school for the visually impaired, he meets with three companions and instantly hits it off with them.
Conflict later arises as love blooms between Jingga and Nila, the only female member of the band. Throughout the drama and the entire film, the audience is presented with four ordinary humans experiencing everyday emotions such as love, jealousy, sadness and hatred.
Jingga is producer-cum-director Lola Amaria's third feature film as a director after Betina (2006) and Minggu Pagi di Victoria Park (Sunday Morning in Victoria Park, 2010). Although Minggu Pagi di Victoria Park was filmed in both Jakarta and Hong Kong and was considered high budget, starring renowned professional actors, Jingga steers away from that.
Filmed only in Bandung with the main characters portrayed by amateur actors, Jingga seems to be modest in budget and is a bold move from Lola, especially after the award-winning Minggu Pagi di Victoria Park. One thing that remains consistent in all her films is her effort to highlight the life of vulnerable and marginalized people.
Although said to draw on a year of research, the film is a little inadequate at building conflict as well as engaging the audience's emotions more than shoal deep. Keke Soeryokusumo has straight out left behind Ray Sahetapy's exceptional acting ability. It is a pity as well that the audience doesn't really get to see Jingga and his father reconcile.
On the other hand, the four teenage newcomers actually do a pretty convincing job portraying characters with visual impairments. Although still incomparable to Mouly Surya's Sundance award-nominated What They Don't Talk About when They Talk About Love, Jingga does a decent job of depicting the different aspects of being visually impaired.
Despite its failure to emotionally engage its audience, the film succeeds in portraying Bandung's atmosphere, that of a city that has inspired many of its youths to create and later excel in Indonesia's music industry. Following the story of the four visually impaired best friends, the audience will be able to relate to the dynamics of the friendship well, only not with quite enough emotional depth to hit that weeping button on. (bbn)
