Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly (2008)

Directed by: Edwin | 77 minutes | drama | Actors: Ladya Cheryl, Pong Harjatmo, Carlo Genta

‘Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly’ is an Indonesian film, made with the help of the Hubert Bals Fund. As a result, director Edwin was able to portray his personal vision in an impressive way. However, this is also the strongest and weakest point of the film. The beautiful, professional images and post-production are undermined by an unclear, personal story.

‘Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly’ starts with a women’s badminton match between China and Indonesia. The athletes move gracefully, aided by the original and beautiful camera angle and the effect of slow-motion. Everything is quiet. Then suddenly Edwin’s world opens up in one fell swoop from the racket. The smash of one of the players booms into the viewer. And then: black screen and a voice of a boy: ‘Which of the two players is Indonesian?’ This first scene represents the theme of the film in all its simplicity. What role does nationality play in personal identity? Many people of Chinese origin live in Indonesia. They are discriminated against in various ways in daily life, purely because of their appearance. They often feel Indonesian, yet they always carry their Chinese heritage with them. With ‘Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly’, director Edwin has made a valiant attempt to reproduce this theme in all its diversity. However, the film fails to do this. The complexity of the film is too great for this. Edwin has looked closely at the films of Robert Altman and Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘Magnolia’ in his mosaic narration, but where those earlier films used important stylistic devices such as music and location to match and distinguish characters, Edwin does not succeed. There’s a huge gang of characters and locations that intersect from time to time as well. In addition, there are flashbacks that seamlessly transition into the current time of the film. The text boards with the names that occasionally appear only make it more unclear because as a viewer you have to try to link the various names with the people. What remains are the beautiful images, the professional editing and sound, the fun karaoke scenes when Stevie Wonder is set up again, and of course the piglet, who takes on the most unforgettable moment of the film without being complex and difficult to do.