The Planet – A Lament

“Mungkin bencana alam selama ini, karena mereka kehilangan alam bermain?” “Maybe natural disasters happen because the elements have lost their place in the world?” -         Lyrics from The Planet - A Lament Inspiration For The Planet – A Lament, director Garin Nugroho has drawn from the vastly diverse cultural frames that are found across the Indonesian archipelago – the hip hop street dance of Jayapura in Papua, the choral singing of northern Sumatra, the laments and religious services of the island of Flores, the exquisite detail of Javanese dance, the songs of lament that are sung in the small villages that populate the Papuan hinterlands, and the zeitgeist intellectual charm of one of Australia’s leading stage designers. From each he has drawn unique political statements, brave offers and complex personal impressions, blending them to create a work that is intentionally naive, simple and universal, and at the same time an act of cultural healing. 

Synopsis This story begins after a huge natural disaster, where humans are exposed to the fury of the sea, wind and fire – even the plague. The story is told by a woman – a singer from Papua – through lament songs that contemplate loss and hope in the changing natural landscape. She is joined by ‘the people’, a choir, singing of their communal suffering and asking God for help. From the ocean emerges a stranded sole survivor, a man. He collapses on the shore, close to death. The woman gives the man an egg, the only thing left on earth when the whole universe is damaged. This egg is a symbol of food, energy and a new planet – the only chance nature has to start again and forge a new future. She asks the man to protect and hatch the egg, to give birth to new life in the future. The sea spews up terrible monsters made of the refuse of humanity’s greed, non-biodegradable man-made objects. The monsters hear of an egg that will give them energy. Starving, they hunt for the egg the man carries. The man’s journey to carry and protect the egg takes place in the middle of a great migration of humans seeking safety, food, and new energy. The man’s journey to save the egg is tiring, but the prayers and singing of the mothers in the villages he passes through give him the strength to continue – to journey towards salvation. The woman sees the weary man at the end of his energy, and she sings a song to invite a savior. With her song arrives a bird, who brings the man to the last forest on a parched earth. The bird leads the man to a nest shaped like a crown of dried stems. The bird invites all humans and nature to sing prayers, to hatch the egg and give birth to new life on earth. The hungry monsters, though, have discovered them, and the man chooses to sacrifice himself to protect the bird, the egg and its new life. The people and the woman lament the man’s death and look with hope to the egg and the potential for a new beginning. Nugroho on The Planet – A Lament ‘I have been interested in lament songs for the past seven years. Lamentations live in all the corners of the archipelago and also represent the ancient history of the world – the loss of cities and the destruction of civilisation due to war or natural disasters. Our planet’s journey is filled with unexpected events that laid the template for this work, The Planet – A Lament. The chain of events throughout my career that contributed to this work includes witnessing the aftermath of the Aceh tsunami, working there in the week immediately after it hit. I experienced first-hand the trauma, despair and hope for new beginnings whilst leading a recovery and empowerment program established under NGOs (SET: Science, Aesthetics and Technology) in collaboration with John Hopkins University and UNICEF. Throughout my career I have been in the midst of the forest fires in Riau and bloody conflicts in several corners of the country that lead to great refugee migrations. I’ve traveled to many corners of the archipelago, listening to the lament songs in villages and experiencing the ceremonial phenomenon of lament during Easter celebrations on the island of Procida, Italy and in Larantuka, Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT). Easter always involves a story of lament and a tableau of the Way of the Cross. In Larantuka on the East Indonesian island of Flores, the Way of the Cross is held in a Larantuka football stadium, a soccer field – a living theatre with a youth choir. This is essentially the core inspiration for The Planet – A Lament. The last but most important element for this project was the unexpected meeting with Septina Layan, a composer, researcher and singer of lament in Jayapura, Papua. For me, the combination of all these events is the journey of lament. Lamentation is a story; through experiencing the pain of humanity a path is forged towards love and awakening. Personally, I feel lamentation must be manifested when the world is harsh and vulgar; when we lose our connection to the raw experience of humanity we must find a way to recall the experience through storytelling. As a closing note, Melanesia is powerful in its body language and vocals. I first traveled around NTT in 1986 and Papua in 1991, creating a variety of film works and travel records. Lament is sung in ceremonies and rituals of the dead in all corners of the archipelago and throughout the world. It is sung to mourn the destruction of cities by natural disaster and violent conflict.’