Movie Review: Rangsa Ni Tonun, a short movie by MJA Nashir, 2013.
In the film the Rangsa Ni Tonun by MJA Nashir, the viewer is shown a reconstituted representation, trough the media of film, of one of the weaving tradition and technique of the Batak people from North Sumatra. Therefore putting in light the very rich and intricate handcraft though a beautiful and poetic representation. However this short movie does not really tackle the subject of the slow disappearance of the Batak craft in Indonesia. Only in the end of the film can the viewer read « Only the youth of today can ensure that this ancient tradition will not be lost ».In fact, as the producer Sandra Niessen notes about the film, « The result is semi anachronistic and permeated with the irony of two non-batak people deploying the modern medium of film to reclaim a piece of ancient Batak oral tradition now found only in European librairies ». This movie is therefore a western reconstitution despite being beautiful and as true as possible to the original craft and traditions, it forgets to tackle the struggle of the Batak people to maintain their craft.
Indeed, as stated in the book « Legacy in Cloth, Batak textiles of Indonesia » by Sandra Niessen, (the producer of the film) the only complete and serious analysis of the Batak weaving traditions, it is stated, « in the last two decades weaving production has fallen into decline and the tradition is threatened ». Through a little more extensive research the viewer can understand that in fact it has become a very grave problem in Indonesia where ancient crafts and motifs all over the country are slowly disappearing. Lolet Made Rai Artha, Balinese cultural activist and journalist writes in the Jakarta post « In 1998, I was in Lamalera and saw that heirloom textiles were being sold to tourists. I knew that if this continued our traditional textiles would be lost because these antique cloths were the models for the weaving of new textiles. If the old (ones) were lost, the motifs also were lost.” In addition to this reflection, the Indonesian NGO Cita Tenun Indonesia, a company dedicated to the preservation of the weaving craft in Indonesia, reflect on the struggles faced « Unfortunately, this custom is gradually fading among younger generations, leading to a decline in the number of weavers in many parts of Indonesia. ». Indeed, the brutal industrialisation and unchecked Neo liberal economic system of Indonesia is slowly taking over any traditional, time consuming handcrafted textiles making them unprofitable and replacing them with mass designed computerised textile production. Oral traditions, techniques, motifs and designs are therefore slowly fading away from the country.
I believe that once the viewer understands this background, they can fully appreciate the richness of the craft shown in this reconstitution movie. That this custom is not only a textile production but that it is also a meditation, a passed down oral craft that is repeated as a song to regulate the rhythm of the weaving and therefore create a more regular woven textile. A textile that will later protect the body and the soul. This tradition is also a complete form of work life in dialogue and symbiosis with the Indonesian natural environment (ex: native cotton and indigo shown in the film), using particular tools and techniques passed down from generations to generations.
To finish off, I believe that this movie is a beautiful and as accurate as possible western representation of one of the Batak weaving tradition, teaching the viewer of these Indonesian oral tradition however it is still a reconstituted representation and it doesn’t really tackle the struggle of maintaining ancient handcrafts in Indonesia.
