Kerikil-Kerikil Tajam

(title translation: Sharp Gravels)

This might be director Sjuman Djaya’s most direct statement on moral and social decay due to modernization, a consequence found not only in the city but also in the villages through electricity and television. Early scenes reveal a quiet village disrupted by the thundering sound of piling. What’s interesting is Sjuman’s storytelling style, utilizing the classic narrative device of black and white characters and coincidences that keep occuring. It shows how fate does not favour ordinary people such as Retno, Inten, and Ganjar, teenagers from a village in Cilacap, Central Java. Ganjar and Retno plan to marry, after the latter finishes high school, but this fails. Ganjar’s brother, Gatot, is caught diluting the cement, apparently influenced by the frustration in his village, as seen by the people’s lawsuit against the black and white television that is installed for the public. They are unhappy that it isn’t colour television. When Retno and Inten look for jobs, they are trapped by Joko, the village’s wealthy young man, who works for a factory. Retno realises she is going to be used by him and manages to escape. She arrives in Purwokerto but suffers a similar fate so the couple leaves again for Jakarta. But they encounter a police raid and she is sent to a prostitution rehabilitation center. After being released, she is almost raped by her employer when she works as a housemaid. She runs again and meets a photographer who gets Retno and Inten to work in a factory. But female workers are unfairly treated and Retno is victimised when she tries to defend them. Meanwhile Ganjar becomes a driver of Waty’s family. Their complicated roads finally bring Ganjar, Retno, and Inten together.