Garin Nugroho’s powerful The Blindfold was shot in double-quick time owing to the threat of terrorist attack, Ben Walters reports
Films might be shot in a short period for numerous reasons, from a star’s limited availability to the desire to capture a time-specific natural phenomenon. Garin Nugroho shot
The Blindfold in nine days, without fanfare, because it was a potential target of Islamist terrorist attack.
“When I announced I was making this film, the head of the government anti-terrorist agency called me to discuss it," the filmmaker says. "Sometimes [such projects] can be dangerous. There were two fatal bombings while we made the film.”
The Blindfold is the first Indonesian feature to deal with the religious radicalisation that has become endemic in the country, especially among younger people. The banned militant group Indonesian Islamic State (NII) has exploited widespread insecurity to recruit – or abduct – many students and teenagers. “This is one of the most important subjects for Indonesian society today,” says Nugroho. “It’s important for the public, for schools, for parents to understand. So many people lose a daughter or a son and they don’t know why. They read newspapers and books but don’t have the imagination to see what’s happened to all the teenagers.”
The powerful film uses Nugroho’s characteristic structure of three stories dealing with different aspects of a social situation. Think of it as the
Traffic of South Asian Islamist terrorism. In one strand, we see a mother’s search for her missing daughter; in another, a disaffected young man’s gradual wooing by an NII operative; and, in the third, the experiences of a dynamic young female recruiter within the organisation. This last strand contains many quotidian details of NII operations – not least a preoccupation with moneymaking – informed by two former senior NII operatives who clandestinely advised Nugroho. Their input and other research provided the film’s structure; its execution was partly improvised in collaboration with the largely non-professional cast.
Thankfully, Nugroho’s shoot was completed without incident, though he has attracted threats via SMS text messaging for making “kaffir films” (“I have to tell my family to be careful of unusual packages at the house,” he says). But
The Blindfold was made with backing from major Muslim organisations and is to be shown in many schools.
Nugroho is also pleased the film is receiving its world premiere at IFFR, where six of his films, including
Leaf on a Pillow and
Opera Jawa, have screened. “For me it’s like a family feeling,” he says.
More on The Blindfold here.