Chants of Lotus

The producer of this film called it an omnibus film, one theme–which is about women– consist of four stories and directed by four women. All of the stories tells about women with different social context but all were defeated by powers beyond their control.

First story, Chant from an Island, is about Sumantri (Rieke Diah Pitaloka), a midwife who is performing abortion to save the mothers. The locals believe Sumantri’s action is forbidden and considered a big sin. Sumantri herself must struggle from her cancer. Sumantri is thinking of performing an abortion to Wulan (Rachel Maryam), an autistic girl who got raped and pregnant, but she has to face her husband’s plea to leave the island with a good reputation.

The second story, Chant from Yogyakarta, is about free sex among teenager. The film gives straight dialogue and action. Mushrooming internet cafe all over the city to cater the students’ need about information on sex, while they mocked up the reproductive organ lesson is their class. A journalist named Jay Anwar (Fauzi Baadilla) want to write about sex life among student, he makes friends with Safina and her gang. Soon Safina falls in love with Jay Anwar. The young journalist recognizes the values of this young girl for his project and personal interest. His reportage gets a lot of attention from society while Safina can only curse him through television.

Third story, Chant from a Village, is about Esi (Shanty) who works as a janitor in a dangdut club in Cibinong. She works hard to make ends meet and provide her only daughter, Maesaroh (Ken Nala Amrytha) with better education. One fateful night she came home to find that her daughter is sexually harassed by Narto, Esi’s boyfriend. They left him. Esi finds shelter and protector in Cicih (Sarah Sechan) the club’s witty and gutsy icon who has ambition to become a famous singer in Jakarta. Cicih believed in her friend who was telling her that he will make Cicih a famous singer in Jakarta but with one condition: Maesaroh must come with her. Cicih agree to go with his friend, Maesaroh joins them. One night Cicih found out that her friend is actually tricked by a women trafficking syndicate and Maesaroh is forced to be married to a Taiwanese man. Esi couldn’t save her one and only daughter.

The last story, Chant from the Capital City, is about Laksmi (Susan Bachtiar) who is infected with HIV-AIDS that she got from her drug addict husband. Her ever disapproving in-laws put the blame on her and demand the custody of their grandchild, at first Laksmi decided to run away with her daughter, move from one place to another. Then, Laksmi begins to see the harsh reality. She has to choose between her daughter and her own fight with HIV.