Review : Pengabdi Setan 2

So, this film is one of the most awaited film to be premiered in theater (at least here in Indonesia where I live). 

"Pengabdi Setan 2 : Communion" 

Released : 4 August 2022

Production by Rapi Films

Directed by Joko Anwar

Credits :

Tara Basro as Rini Suwono

Endy Arfian as Toni Suwono

Nasar Anuz as Bondi Suwono

Ayu Laksmi as Mawarni Suwono (Mother) / Raminom

Bront Palarae (Bahri Suwono)

Muhammad Adhiyat as Ian Suwono

Muzakki Ramdhan as Wisnu Hendrawan

Ratu Felisha as Tari Darvati

Fatih Unru as Ari Gunawan

Moh. Iqbal Sulaiman as Darto Suhaimi

Egi Fedly as Budiman Syailendra

Jourdy Pranata as Dino Suhendar

Nafiza Fatia Rani as Wina Endarti

Kiki Narendra as Ustadz Mahmud

Rukman Rosadi as Heru Kusuma

Muhammad Abe as Ari's Father

Asmara Abigail as Darminah

Fachri Albar as Batara

Mian Tiara as Wisnu's Mother

Mukhlisot Abot as Wisnu's Father

Synopsis

    The story begins with the presence of Rini in downtown Jakarta in 14 April 1955. it was potrayed that she and her family has moved to a apartment house in North Jakarta, somewhere near the sea. Rini comes home by the bus and the scene was showing a bulding that is isolated and have a very spacious open space. Bondi, Rini's younger brother, was playing in the fields and digging the fields with his friends, Ari (Fatih Unru) and Darto (Moh Iqbal Sulaiman). They finds a tombstone and speculate that it was used to be a cemetery near the spot. Later, the scene was showing a young man and a girl that is being teased by the a group of men. The young man, Toni Suwono, intended to help her but knowing his business, the girl can take care of herself from those kind of things. 

    Rini cooks for dinner while meeting with his younger brother, Bondi and Toni. It was one of warm nights until their father comes along from work, bringing his suitcase and put it in the drawer as always. The night went by with a few talks of Rini, Bondi and Toni daily with Rini's dream of continuing her education to college in a few days being the main discussed topic. As night ran along, Toni was busy fixing a radio from a girl that afternoon, whom name is Tari (Ratu Felisha), meanwhile Bondi was watching TV from the sofa. 

    The next day, the condition was starting to get complex. Here, Ari's Father, who has a temperament mood and abusive to his family, was complaining to her wife about why does she is always doing nothing in the house and can't seem to do anything right. In the current situation, Ari's mother is seriously ill and Ari step in to protect her mother but only getting abused by his own father. Ari runs outside and try to get to the lowest floor, along with Bondi and Darto who seemed curious about the situation in his family.

    In a blind rage, Ari's Father followed outside to seek for Ari using the lift. In another place, Bahri Suwono (Rini's Father) was also with Toni and was dressed well to go do some errand. When the lift arrived, Wati was on the other sid of the lift and was followed by Dino (Jourdy Pranata), who is one of the scoundrels interested with Wati. Conscious about that, Wati spontaneously approach Toni intimately to force Dino to stop what he's doing. Bahri Suwono was accidentally separated from Toni and go into the lift to wait for him on the base floor.

    On the base floor, there was Wina Endarti (Wisnu's Sister) that is playing with her three friends in the same age near the lift. Then, one of those who waits for the lift, accidentally drops her loose changes and some of which get between the elevator cavity. While that happens, Wina and her friends was interested to the money and started to collect those coins after everyone have gone to stairs.

    Back to Bahri Suwono, he was still in the list and didn't know that the lift was having a malfunction. This results in the accident where the lift falls to the base floor which took lives three of Wina's friends and everyone in the lift who was with Bahri Suwono, including Ari's Father. Luckily, Bahri Suwono didn't have any serious injury and got back with only a crutches

    The atmosphere of the night became dark with the deaths of the residents and accompanied by many arrangements for the bodies of the victims. After the procession of the arrangements were done, Rini, Toni and Bondi was waiting for their Father and decided to help their neighbors who were left by their relatives; Rini went and helped Wisnu to tidy up his apartment's room and take a look after for the condition there, while a heavy rain flushed the northern part of Jakarta and potentially caused a flood on the base floor; Toni met with Mr. Mahmud (Kiki Narendra) who was a chaplain in the region and went around to the apartement room where the the residents who died live; Bondi, along with Darto and Ari, were curious with the apartment condition - previously was very crowded, but now is very quiet - and finally they wander around the apartement's floor, seeking resident that is in their room. 

    In the dark of the night, Suwono's were moving and found something different from each other : Toni with his match, found the correlation between the apartment building with his late mother and decide to notify Rini; Rini, under the guise of looking for oil lamp and candle in her apartment room, took his father's suitcase which is hidden in the wardrobe; Bondi, also along with Darto and Ari, found a room which has a staircase to te top floor and an incomprehensible moment after the narration on the film, " Pengabdi Setan 1". All of this prompted them to split into 2 groups :  Suwono's and Wisnu try to find Bondi, Darto and Ari; Dino and Wati tried to find an aid from outside.

    The last narration revolves around the peak of conflict in the theme of "Pengabdi Setan" : Mother (Raminom). The scene shows Rini, Bondi and others were in a half-conscious state and was brought to the top floor where the apartment founders gathered, wearing a cloak and performed a ritual that was led by a mute child. In this scene, everything was seen in Rini's viewpoint who was left lying in a semi-conscious convulsion. The apartment founders were led by the media communication of sign language / hand language and it was shown Bahri Suwono, in a captivated state and knelt on the floor. Every limbs of Bahri Suwono was tied to to horsecart. The ritual leader then instructed to, "Run!", in a hand language. Instanly, every limbs detached from Bahri's body. 

    Rini blinks her eyes. The ritual leader was already in front of her and force her to swallow something that can make her forget everything. Rini dreamt - hallucinated. She was in a class where lecture was held and she receive a scholarship overseas from an authority. The authority then shake Rini's hand and persuade her, "Come, just forget everything. Go ahead and leave your family here...". Rini smiled, knowing there is something wrong from the tears of her eyes and yells, "WAKE UUPPPPP!!!!!!"

    Her eyes wide-open, aware from his irrational hallucination. In front of her, there was also three person in a same state as Bahri, but now, they were accompanied with 7 living corpse with a shroud behind them. The ritual leader then started to behave and instruct once more; Raminom (Mother) come into the rituals.

    "DAK!!"

    The door into the room was opened. Mr. Budiman (Egi Fedly), along with his associate, rush in and intend to stop the ritual. He brought a sacred scepter that had an effect on Raminom and as soon as he comes in, Raminom was already deterred him. In this moment, Mr. Budiman used his scepter to repel Raminom and picked up Rini. Rini, who was watching everytinng clearly, could regained her full consciousness as Raminom's influence weakened after repelled by Mr. Budiman. After that, Wisnu push the riual leader and guide to stop ritual through hand language he mastered. Rini could stand back up, then fetched the three person, who was captivated and Wisnu to go follow Mr. Budiman's associate who already saved the others.

    End story, Mr. Budiman's associate directed to the base floor and went using a assembled boat along with everyone. Rini started to calm down and asked about Mr. Budiman who suddenly came without them knowing and the correlation between Bahri Suwono and the ritual. The explanation was very short and solid that it triggers another question unanswered.

    In conclusion, I hope there is another sequel or explanation from the director or the script writer's team to complete the missing parts from the story. Thank you, Rapi Films!

Pro's & Con's 

• Effective Cameramenship / Cinematography

            In this point, I'll be talking about some of the horror scenes which I remember the most. It was a scene where Tari (Ratu Felisha) was bothered by the spirits through the media of radio. She got it when it was already fixed by Toni and try to listen to how it sounds. From the radio, she heard that the host of the radio was calling to the audience and the conversation was broadcasted live in the radio. She heard that the name of the caller was the same as her name,

               "It hurts. It hurts here in the grave. It is cramped, dark and the maggots were biting my flesh. I can't do anything. Please help me! Oh No! Here they come! Please somebody help me! Please!!..."

                The call was ended abruptly. The scene was silent. The camera was moving back and forth where Tari was looking. The view from camera started to shake a little. And there was it, the horror scenes which includes the suffering of another Tari Darvati in a tangled state on the wardrobe. 

                Still one of the best cinematography I've ever seen in terms of building tension. Claps from here!

• Infused Local Culture

            Right from the first sequel of the film, there is the appearance of Kuntilanak (a ghost woman) and Pocong (living corpse in shroud) which indicates the inspiration of the film. Those two was the most renowned myth in the Indonesian culture. The Pocong came from the myth that if someone died while having unfinished business in the living realm, they would come back in the form of living corpse. The shroud came from the Indonesian Muslim culture where someone who died, will be put on shorud on his body to cover their body. On the other hand, Kuntilanak came from the myth that someone who walks alone in the middle of the night while having mindless thought, they will see Kuntilanak and mislead them while bothering them in various way. Needless to say, the director really brings up the theme of Indonesia myth which attracts the Indonesian culture while creating a work of art within it.

• Right-On-Spot Humor

            Onto the beginning of the film, the scary part wasn't there yet, but the tension was maintained using the motion and gesture of the helpers role. In my opinion, there is the building tension, but if seen from a logic viewpoint, it doesn't even make sense why does they did that. Like the appearance of trash chute, like why does they have to choose trash chute to maintain the tension. It is dirty, narrow and the main point is that, it is used to transfer your garbage to the base floor. So, what is the main reason to use trash chute...

                OK... But let's continue. Fast forward to the scene where Bondi, Darto and Ari seek clues in the apartment room of the chairman of the neighborhood. There were jokes that is casual and horror-relieving between them. One of the lines goes out like this :

                Bondi : "Wow.. So this is the work room of the chairman of the neighborhood."

                (They enter the room; Bondi leading with the flashlight; Ari and Darto enter together with Darto keep sticking on him.)

                Ari : "Ah! Why does you keep sticking on me?! I'll get pregnant from you"

                It does sound like a vulgar joke, but when you see it in the film, you'll laugh along as their joke will relieve your tension about the upcoming horror scenes.

• Wide Range of Communication

            My main point is Hand language / sign language. In the prior scenes, there was shown a mute woman who was the mother of Wisnu and Wisnu, as her son, learnt how to do sign language to communicate with his mother. Rini's also leaning the same thing as Wisnu, since she lives almost next door to their family and her lost brother was a mute also. In a few scenes, sign language was used to decipher some of the communication between characters, but the most obvious and useful was when the Suwono's found their lost brother and Wisnu communicate with him using hand language. The scene was one of the best use of communication technique in films I've ever seen.

• Incomplete Ending

            In the last scene, which was the peak of the conflict and resolved when Mr. Budiman went to the 'event' to pick up Rini and the others, was ended in an abrupt way. When Rini regained her composure, she asked about the relation of her father and the event happened. Mr. Budiman replied in an instant way and using a soft but simple and solid sentence. This way, it can't be helped that another question emerged and the information delivered wasn't enough to determine what happened in the after story. So, in conclusion, I think it is better to have a sequel or other information from the casting or director

• Focused on Certain Part of Audience

            Here, the film is focused to some part of the audience that has watched the first sequel of "Pengabdi Setan". It clearly impacts the demography of the audience which have not watched the first sequel. The first sequel will tell you about the initial condition of the family which consists of six members: Bahri (Father), Mawarni (Mother), Rini, Toni, Bondi, and Ian. In the second film, it only consists of Bahri, Rini, Toni and Bondi - two members were excluded. So, to know what is the relation for their absence, it really helps to watch the first sequel onto the second sequel.

Uniqueness

        1. Use the local culture to provoke innovation

                The use of local culture in this film is embedded in its very own core. The presence of 'Pocong' or 'living corpse in shroud' is the most authentic proof of local culture in Indonesia. In Indonesia, it is believed as a myth that if someone dead that has unfinished business in the living realm, they will come back an try to make a settlement with their own way, usually in contrary with the living. And then, the 'ustadz' or 'man of religion' is potrayed as someone with prestige that everyone is relying in terms of suprenatural events. All of this was completed with the appearence of Pak Budiman, who is sacred in in terms of local belief and supported with the use of ancient magic instrument and vast knowledge to deal with supernatural events.

        2. The use of Sign Language to communicate

                In this film, the most interesting scene for me is when Wisnu communicate with the 'devil's servant' through sign language. it is known that sign language is for communicating with deaf people or mute, so it begs te question, "Is the devil's servant deaf or mute?" If so, then how it related with Raminom / Ibu? And many more! But still, the use of sign language indicates that this horror film take 'silence' in its own meaning and adjusted the method to create a new style of horror. Top rate from me!

        3. Related to Factual Events

                The last thing I want to convey is that this film was based in factual events. Some of which were the dark side of the history in Indonesia, which is mysterious shooting (Penembakan Misterius - Petrus) in the New Order (1966-1998), led by Mayor General Soeharto. Beside that, the building in which the film is based on, is still standing to this day and located in Northern Jakarta as one of the nation's project in 1980s. These kind of things was not expeted by me from an Indonesian film, but they did it! I don't see any flaw in reconstructing one event to another events from history based on the film's plot, so standing applause for the director, all the casting and everyone involved in the creation of "Pengabdi Setan 2 : Communion".