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Ayu Utami, nationalism and `Ruma Maida'
Ayu Utami is known as a talented authoress whose works have won literary awards from various institutions at home and abroad
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yu Utami is known as a talented authoress whose works have won literary awards from various institutions at home and abroad. With a strong portfolio in her pocket, she is now trying to work on another challenging field: becoming a scriptwriter.
She has finished her maiden work, a movie script for Ruma Maida, which is now being screened at cinemas.
"Ruma Maida tells about Maida, an idealistic girl. She runs a school for street children in an abandoned old building. The furniture in the classroom is made of used stuffs," Ayu said.
One day, a businessman buys the land and plans to turn it into a business center. Maida and the students are threatened to leave their "school". She struggles very hard to keep the school running.
On her struggle to defend her ideas, Maida reveals a mystery around that old building. The mystery eventually leads her to understand parts of this nation's history particularly those that took place in the building.
The movie combines the present-day situation with events in the past through some flashbacks. The audience is brought to a time when the national leaders discussed the nation's future.
In the movie directed by Teddy Suryamaatmadja, Ayu did not only write the script but also wrote a song titled "Keroncong Tenggara" (Southeast Keroncong). The song features melodies of the 1940s.
"People in the 1930s and 1940s believed in dreams. There was a strong sense of heroism and patriotism among the people," she added.
The song and the storyline that she wrote for the movie share the same spirit that nationalism does not only relate to unity among different ethnicities but should also include those from different economic status.
"Do not let the rich separate themselves from the poor people," she said.
Ayu said that she was very happy to complete the movie. She said she hoped Ruma Maida could provide another color to the Indonesian movie scene.
