Shape of the Moon (World Documentary Competition) Directed By: Leonard Retel Helmrich

While finding common ground in the integration of both the visual and audio aspects ascribed to film, there are still definitely characteristics which separate the two most commonly known genres of film–narrative and documentary. “Shape of the Moon” (“Stand van de Maan”), however, seems to be the ambiguous exception where the lines between narrative and documentary are clearly blurred (no pun intended). In addition to what is hardly a compelling storyline, “Shape of the Moon” takes on the gritty appearance of a documentary in some places, while becoming “too smooth” for “documentary-style” comfort in others, containing what appears to be staged scenarios. As “fake” and illegitimate these issues seem to be in terms of producing what is typically known as a documentary, however, to it’s credit, “Shape of the Moon” can confidently boast of beautiful cinematography and direction.

Normally what one comes to expect from a competition-level documentary, or any good film, for that matter, is compelling subject matter. “Shape of the Moon,” surprisingly, seems to think it has this when, in fact, it really doesn’t. From a mere summarization–an Indonesian woman struggles to keep her family together amidst desires to abandon them and return to her childhood village–could seem interesting enough, but the characters are uninteresting, and nothin the story really “happens” to make one really want to sit through its entire duration. It begins with the widow, Rumidja, living in Jakarta, Indonesia. Obsessed with the idea of returning to her childhood rural village in the jungles of Indonesia where life was simpler and more traditional, Rumidja finds herself unable to break free of Jakarta, held back by the grand-daughter she’s raising (Tari), while simultaneously dealing with the pressures and pain of being a Christian in a predominately Muslim country (and having both of her sons convert to Islam as well).

A lot about the story has the potential to be “compelling,” but to simply follow the exploits of an irascible old woman who continues to hold the same ideals, who continually complains yet never does anything about her situation, and to watch her son and the rest of her family basically wander around Jakarta like vagrants doesn’t do much to pull attention at all. Some of the most exciting “events” in the film were a fire (interesting in the sense that at least it was exciting), and an illogical fight between Rumidja and a woman who sells her a couch. Rumidja, who purchased the couch months before, had promised to pay in installments for the piece of furniture, while being charged interest. Unable to pay, the vendor of the item had given Rumidja, on countless occasions, extra time to raise the money needed. Months later and still no full payment, Rumidja is completely incensed when the seller repossess the couch and basically calls her a heartless wench. Seeming to believe herself somehow more entitled, Rumidja, in that one instant (combined with the fact that she appears to believe herself superior as a Christian in a predominantly Muslim country), completely alienates audiences toward her character. Instead of feeling terrible about the loss of the couch, the general sense is that Rumidja merely reaped what she had sewn. In fact, the only character one feels even the slightest bit of pity for is Tari, Rumidja’s granddaughter, for having to live with such a self-centered, illogical old woman, and an uncle (Batki), who, while well-intentioned, isn’t exactly the most stable of people himself. And, sadly enough, the “couch incident” is about as thrilling as the film gets.

Another criticism of “Shape of the Moon” is that while it takes on the conventional “gritty” appearance of what one would except from a film in the rotting city of Jakarta, there are several instances in which the style becomes “too smooth” to be believable as a spontaneous moment or event, and the number of cameras that would have been needed to attain all the shots in certain scenes would either require staging beforehand, or re-enactments of what is supposed to be life as it’s happening. For example, in the beginning scene, it is excusable to have the camera sweeping elegantly across the landscape of Indonesia for unarguably gorgeous cover footage. When our window into this world suddenly invades the private space of Rumidja on a beach by coming within inches of her face, however, and then circling around her without so much of as a flinch from being so close to a foreign piece of camera equipment...Rumidja’s lack of reaction is a bit hard to swallow. Her conversation with her son on the same beach only moments later reinforces the idea that the scene feels almost scripted somehow, their conversation dealing mainly in exposition issues including Rumidja’s desire to return to her native village, the presence of a grand-daughter, and Batki’s offer to take care of Tari in Jakarta until she finishes school so that Rumidja may return to her village. They lay the entire plot and Rumidja’s objectives out in this one scene, and then stick to it religiously throughout the film, sprinkled with little side-trips such as Batki converting to Islam to marry his love, and Rumidja’s subsequent heartbreak and later acceptance over the event. The prediction of the entire film’s events, laid out neatly in what is supposed to be a documentary, also is a bit hard to believe.

Another instance which seems “staged” in some sense, or at least well-planned out before shooting instead of the conventional spontaneity of a documentary, is when Rumidja’s son, Batki, is traversing a huge bridge built for a train, towering several thousand feet above the jungles of Indonesia. The sight is incredible as Batki walks along a wooden path only two-to-three feet wide, next to the train tracks and with no railing on either side to protect him against the threat of falling. The director chooses to cut back and forth between scenes of Batki walking and a locomotive coming down the tracks, supposedly bringing Batki into a potentially perilous situation. Batki’s imminent danger is not the primary concern of the scene, however, but how the tracking shot alongside him was achieved. With the steadiness of the camera, and the level at which the camera is held, and the fact that there would be no way that a camera man could have walked along the other side with his equipment, leaves only conclusion that an actual dolly must have been put on the tracks to follow Batki. In the same scene, the camera’s perspective is directly above Batki’s head looking down at his feet as he walks along the path–indicative of not only a track dolly, but a crane as well.

Elements such as purely expositional conversation between people already familiar with their situation, and the amount of perfectly composed shots within the documentary that include obvious track and dolly shots suggest that this film was approached by its filmmakers as a narrative rather than a documentary. Certain situations, such as sweeping camera movements through the jungle to capture elegant cover footage would be otherwise acceptable, but when the entire film assumes the appearance of a pre-conceived set of events is what sets “Shape of the Moon” apart, and much less enjoyable to watch because it does come across as so pretentious.

Not much can be said in the defense of “Shape of the Moon,” except to at least compliment its obviously set-up cinematography that takes place for most of its duration. While hardly “real” in the sense of the reality that a documentary is supposed to achieve, at least the approach to the film as a narrative lends itself as a way for the director to position multiple cameras at multiple angles to create some beautifully composed shots that reveal everything about a scene from who’s talking to the environment in general. Even the tracking and crane shots evident within the film as pretentious at least show the audience the glorious view of Indonesia’s landscape, making the film at least watchable in that sense. The collaboration between the director and cinematographer, in their decisions on what to show and what not to show, combined with Indonesia’s beautiful scenery in general, paint a tableau that is certainly easy on the eyes.

While “Shape of the Moon” might succeed partially well in a narrative category, aside from a non-compelling storyline, the unfortunate thing is that the film competed at the Sundance Film Festival in the “World Documentary” competition, leaving many elements of traditional documentary behind to create what seemed more like a narrative than anything else. Merely sprinkled with moments that appear at least semi-real or unplanned, the documentary fails in that a good majority of the film feels pre-scripted in both dialogue and camera movement. Its only compliment is that of gorgeous cinematography and direction–but this is unfortunately probably due to the fact that Indonesia has beautiful scenery to begin with, and the direction was better suited to the idea that “Shape of the Moon” would have passed more as a narrative than as a documentary.