Jembatan Merah

(title translation: Red Bridge)

Mbok Puspo’s cafe, at the edge of Kalimas, under Jembatan Merah or “Red Bridge”, is a meeting place for many. Mbok Puspo also sells rags for additional income while her adopted daughter, Sudiasih, runs the cafe and is the shining beauty of the place. The regulars are Ngawang, a small time thief who fails to make his wife happy; Kenanga, who becomes a prostitute to spite her husband; Siswanto, a student who does not have the courage to confess his love to Sudiasih; Pungguk the painter; a civil servant, and a postman. The love stories between Siswanto and Sudiasih; and Ngawang and Kenang are the central plots. Seeing Siswanto and Sudiasih’s love, Ngawang and Kenanga also find each other. Meanwhile, Mbok Puspo is in a dilemma when she receives a letter from her child, Sri Bidari, who was adopted by a rich family. Sri wants to introduce her fiancé and future parents-in-law but Mbok Puspo feels ashamed to receive them at her cafe, so she takes Sudibyo’s offer to use the house of his friend. The awkwardness of the poor in a luxurious house is the pivot of the comedy, especially when the police arrest Sudibyo for smuggling cars, which uncovers the whole charade. The two story lines depict the lives of the little people trying to escape poverty, and how the poor floats in society like oil on water.