The Zoo and the Society
Talent Campus alumnus Edwin returns to Berlin with his second feature POSTCARDS FROM THE ZOO, showing in the Berlinale Competition.
Edwin's POSTCARDS FROM THE ZOO
There are two worlds in Edwin’s second feature, POSTCARDS FROM THE ZOO (Indonesia), showing at the Berlinale in competition: the zoo, a world inhabited by animals with their random and inconclusive demeanours, and society, the world of humans and their socially constructed behaviours. In exploring these two worlds Edwin shows us, via intertitles, definitions from Merriam-Webster and Wikipedia, which contrast with his own definitions, conveyed solely through moving pictures. The definitions are banal, yet the pictures are poetic.
Lana (Ladya Cheryl) spends her days filled with longing, at a zoo in Southern Jakarta. As the film begins, Lana is shown as a little girl walking alone in the zoo, as if she is searching for a particular escape. Lana keeps shouting “Father,” but the zoo remains silent.
Growing up without a family, Lana takes sole responsibility for giving her life a sense of continuity and for living it passionately and cordially. Besides, Lana is free to do everything in her little zoo. She bathes tigers, feeds giraffes, controls public toilets and guides the visitors. Paralleled with her “free” life, there are numerous animals caged in classes and categories. Unlike Lana, these animals are not free.
Lana’s longings are answered when one day, she encounters a magician cowboy and follows him out of the zoo and into society. There, Lana goes to work in a spa as “girl number 33.” A guest asks her to wear a leopard costume to amuse him. Suddenly, we find a perfect symmetry between the zoo and society: one is caged for the benefit of others. The only difference is that the zoo consists of animals caged by humans, while society consists of humans caged by humans. We follow Lana as she moves from a world where she is the ruler, to one where she is the one being ruled.
The film itself is an obvious symbolism. The magician is a husband-figure who transforms Lana from a zoo expert into an innocent Native American girl, a match to his cowboy ways. The relationship plunges her into a patriarchal family. Unfortunately, the magician is just a stereotypical bastard who disappears after taking advantage of her. Compared with Edwin’s first feature, BLIND PIG WHO WANTS TO FLY – which deals mostly with domestic issues in Indonesia – POSTCARDS FROM THE ZOO, with its narrative style, is far more accessible and universal, as well as easier to follow. Edwin maintains his poetic-banal style, while this time avoiding being too absurd. With its soft fable style, POSTCARDS FROM THE ZOO shapes itself as a sincere meditation on the nature of being in space.
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