Dark past: College student Annisa (Hana Prinantina) keeps her dark past inside.

Night Bus, from producer Darius Sinathrya and director Emil Heradi, is a noteworthy film.

Night Bus’ promotional poster has already displayed uniqueness by not using the faces of its main characters. Instead, the poster shows two large army boots standing in the way of a bus in the middle of the night with the film’s tagline, “conflict doesn’t choose its victims” written across.

Darius Sinathrya made his debut as a producer with this film and Emil Heradi, as its director, dare to introduce a unique theme to the Indonesian market.

The story in Night Bus is based on a real life experience of one of its main characters and co-producers, Teuku Rifnu Wikana, who spent most of his childhood in Aceh during the conflict between the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Indonesian government.

Teuku grew up in Sampar, one of the central conflict zones between GAM and the Indonesian army. Night Bus uses the journey of Sampar as the central theme in delivering its plot; however, the conflict in this film is fictionalized with no reference to GAM or the Indonesian army.

Instead, Night Bus introduces a conflict between a guerilla movement that demands the liberation of Sampar and the army of the central government.

The story kicks off at a bus station in a town 12 hours from Sampar. Here, the introduction of the main characters takes place: bus conductor Bagudung (Teuku), bus driver Amang (Yayu Unru), reporter Yuda (Edward Akbar), female college student Annisa (Hana Prinantina), a young girl named Mala (Rahael Ketsia) and her boyfriend Rifat (Arya Saloka), a man who is blind Luthfy (Agus Nur Amal), a local wealthy man Umar (Torro Margens), a grandmother called Nur (Laksmi Notokusumo) and her granddaughter Laila (Keinaya Messi Gusti).

Each of these characters is heading to Sampar for different reasons. Before their departure, a conflict between the rebels and the army takes place for several days, but Bagudung ensures all the passengers there is no need to worry as the leaders of the warring parties have met and cease fire has been set.

Bagudung is wrong. The meeting ends with the assassination of the rebel’s top leader and words about his demise begin to spread to his men who are now under the leadership of Zuha (Lukman Sardi), the rebels’ second in command.

Following a meeting with an injured rebel messenger, Mahdi (Alex Abbad), passengers on the bus soon find themselves trapped in a bloody conflict involving the rebels, the government’s army and numerous civilian militia groups trying to reap the benefits of war.

Shot mostly on a dark night inside a wild tropical forest with narrow muddy roads, Night Bus is reminiscent of a 1980s classic Indonesian thriller, such as the legendary 7 Manusia Harimau (Seven Tiger Men).

The raw and organic presentation of the forest in the middle of the night along with the dimmed lights coming from the bus provide a suspenseful aura and chill as the story takes its audience deeper and deeper into the conflict zone.

What is also remarkable is the pacing of the story. Night Bus never drags. It begins carefree and becomes darker and more brutal as the bus goes further and further into the conflict zone.

Night Bus is reminiscent of the symbolization in Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, which tells the story of America in a cabin.

Night Bus is a story of Indonesia on a bus. The characters on the bus are people we often meet in our everyday lives.

Umar represents rich people who believe that everything can be bought; Nur reminds us of Bu Sumarsih, a mother who lost her son during the 1998 reformation and is still looking for justice; Yuda is trying to heal from his beloved wife’s death due to the conflict; and Annisa is a traumatized rape victim who alienated herself for fear of being judged.

These people have to unite to face the horrors and terrors that take place around them.

There are, however, a few hitches in Night Bus, such as the use of green screen and computer generated imagery (CGI) in depicting the conflict zones that are enhanced too much and not properly edited.

There is also a lack of confidence in the set as the characters say too much about the futility of conflict when the scene alone already represents it adequately.

When the characters in Night Bus do not say much, the film finds its magic.

Despite the hitches, Night Bus, now in theaters, is a refreshing and daring work.

— Photos courtesy of Night Bus Pictures

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Night Bus

(Night Bus, 80 minutes)

Directed by Emil Heradi

Cast: Teuku Rifnu Wikana, Yayu Unru, Edward Akbar, Hana Prinantina, Rahael Ketsia, Arya Saloka, Agus Nur Amal, Torro Margens, Laksmi Notokusumo, Keinaya Messi Gusti

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