THE RAINBOW TROOPS (LASKAR PELANGI) - Program 36 - Sunday, May 3, 2009 - 7:00 PM - Director's Guild of America, Theater 2 -
Two teachers - Muslimah and Harfan - are eagerly awaiting the beginning of the new school year and the arrival of their new pupils. At least ten pupils need to attend their decrepit old Islamic primary school on Belitong, a tiny island in the Indonesian archipelago - otherwise the educational authority will close the school down. No wonder that Muslimah and Harfan are nervous. Luckily, ten students do indeed register for school. Most of them are the children of poor day labourers. Muslimah gives the group an official nickname and together they form a little enclave of first graders, or 'rainbow troops'. Besides Ikal, the storyteller, the other talented children in this class include Lintang, the son of a fisherman, who turns out to be a real genius, as well as a dreamer and music lover named Mahar who never goes anywhere without his radio. Inspired by author Andrea Hirata's 2005 novel, Rainbow Warriors, director Riri Riza's latest feature revisits these schooldays in one long flashback told from the point of view of an adult returnee to Belitong.
(Indonesia, 2008) Dir.: Riri Riza;
Scr.: Salman Aristo, Mira Lesmana, Riri Riza
35mm, 124 min., Color, Narrative, in Indonesian w/ ES
Purchased tickets at http://www.vconline.org/festival
Link to this comment:
All Comments (0)