The long history of Indonesia as a nation has inspired a number of biopics, including the latest movie Moonrise over Egypt, which chronicles the efforts of a delegation of Indonesian diplomats in their quest to validate Indonesia’s sovereignty as a nation in 1947.

Led by legendary Indonesian diplomat and former secretary of state, H. Agus Salim and his band of chosen diplomats, including Abdurrahman Baswedan,
HM Rasjidi and Natsir Pamuntjak, the film depicts one aspect of Indonesian history that is rather obscurely known and overlooked, but a crucial one that helped bolster the status of the country.

Appealing to Egypt, which was one of the most powerful Middle Eastern powers at the time, was a crucial move due to the fact that its support could greatly expand the cause of Indonesian independence, which had not been recognized by the powers that be: the West and the United Nations.

When Indonesia declared its independence on Aug. 17, 1945, only a handful of nations around the world recognized the declaration, and as was the political custom of the time, and indeed today, if a nation’s independence is not recognized by Western powers, it does not count as an independent nation.

After Japan withdrew from Indonesia, the Netherlands sought to regain control of its former colony by force. To do so, the Netherlands’s NICA army returned to invade with brutal results, with the assistance of its allies, such as the United Kingdom, to help it regain control.

Again, as shown in the film, Egypt would become one of the first countries to officially recognize and declare bilateral relations with Indonesia in 1947: a friendship that would serve both countries well in the decade following.

During Sukarno’s post-Mohammad Hatta years after 1957, his international profile was significantly raised, partly by his creation of the Non-Aligned Movement alongside Egyptian strongman Gamal Abdel Nasser.

In this film, Egypt is depicted as a sympathetic friend and loyal ally, while the villains, the Dutch, are depicted as simply vicious and cruel beyond reason.

As with many Indonesian historical biopics, there still tends to be a habit of lionizing the Indonesian heroes as if they were created without fault. But this tendency is also taken care of through little demonstrations of imperfection within the Indonesian delegation.

For example, Baswedan (Vikri Rahmat), the grandfather of current Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan, is depicted as the most physically enthusiastic and passionate in the quest, and his faults are shown by talking out of turn to Agus Salim and the Egyptian representatives. Agus Salim (Pritt Timothy) is a wise man who briefly questions whether he is operating mainly on naiveté in pushing the Egyptian government to officially recognize Indonesian independence.

The villains are depicted as typical Disney-style villains — creatures devoid of humanity who will stop at nothing to get what they want.

The Netherlands’ ambassador to Egypt in 1947 Willem van Rechteren Limpurg, played by Harry Bond Jr, is the ruthless man behind the plot to sabotage the Indonesian delegation’s efforts, enlisting the help of Dutch gangster Cornelis Adriaanse in Cairo to eliminate all possible paths to Indonesian sovereignty at all costs.

Murders are committed. Diplomatic pressure is exerted on Egyptian prime minister Fahmi Nookrasyi. Hitmen are hired, even if they speak incredibly awkwardly in both English and Indonesian. Spies are hired to infiltrate the Indonesian delegation. You know, the usual things that happen in this kind of diplomacy.

The Indonesian student who spies for the Dutch delegation, Hisyam (Bhisma Wijaya), is probably the strongest Indonesian character in the film besides Agus Salim. His conflicts, both inner and outer, mean his is the most visible and believable character.

Meanwhile in a film dominated by men, the inclusion of token women characters as love interests seems pretty obvious and predictable. The depiction of Zahra as the “first female Indonesian student in Egypt” is noble in writing, but in the film, she is reduced to nothing more than a distraction for the male student activist characters and sadly doesn’t contribute much to the story nor the film.

Here her inclusion feels half-hearted and looks like it was done out of necessity. Her supposed intelligence dwindles down to little more than simplicity, being bettered continuously by the male characters who get to possess strong characteristics and crucial inner conflicts.

The film inspires its viewers through emotion and storytelling, which somehow works effectively. It also serves as another example of the Indonesian tendency to always want to write history from its (winning) side.

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Moonrise Over Egypt
(TVS Films; 112 minutes)
Directed: Pandu Adi Putra
Cast: Pritt Timothy, Vikri Rahmat, Reza Anugrah, Drh Ganda, James Dixon, Bhisma Wijaya

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