Movie Review - Kartini, Princess of Java
Before watching this movie, I never knew about Kartini and how inspiring she was. Fair enough, Kartini is an important figure in Indonesian history, and I'm not an Indonesian. After watching the movie (I know I'm late, the movie was released in 2017 and it's 2021 now, but who cares?), I'm so inspired and touched by Kartini that I decided to write this to encourage more people to watch it. However, please note that my writing is purely based on the movie and my knowledge of Kartini's history is extremely limited. Another important thing is, spoiler alert!
So, here are a few things I could gather from the movie:
1. Sometimes, most women accept their status quo and refuse to believe that they could change
Somehow, it makes me feel like the ones oppressing women from being progressive and having equal status as men are the women themselves. In the movie, Kartini was portrayed as a person who does not accept the tradition as it is. She felt trapped with all the limitations imposed upon her as a woman from a noble family. Luckily, reading widened her mind and views. She became a person who values education very much and she wanted all women to have the chance to receive education too. She could not understand why education is given to men only.
One of the scenes showed an Islamic preacher who came to their house and talked about the meaning of Al-Fatihah, which is one of the surah in Al-Quran. She was so impressed and later asked the preacher whether he was indeed preaching about the meaning in the Quran. She then asked,
"Is there anywhere in the Quran that teaches us about knowledge?"
"Iqro' bismirobbikalladzii kholaq...Read in the name of God who creates. That's the first verse that came down to earth from God, asking the Prophet Muhammad to read and learn."
"Is there any explanation in that verse that only men should read and learn?"
"All of mankind, men and women, must read and learn."
However, the culture at that time was that women's sole purpose was to devote themselves to their husbands. They must be a good wife, irrespective of whether they were the first, second, or third wives. So, her mothers (one was the stepmother, who was a noble, essentially the master of the house aside from her father, while another was the biological mother who was reduced her rank to be their servant because her father married the stepmother for a better status) was forcing her to just follow the tradition and to accept her fate as a woman. This meant getting married to strangers in order to strengthen the family's status.
The stepmother locked her up, refused to let her pursue her education in Netherland, and basically forced her to accept the marriage proposal. The biological mother even begged the father not to allowed Kartini's request to study in Netherland. I was furious at these. They were not only caging her in the house, but they were trying to cage her mind as well.
Thankfully, towards the end, the biological mother took her stand and told Kartini that the reasons for her sacrifices (essentially willing to be a lowly servant and giving up her daughters to be princesses or nobles) were in exchange for her daughters to be educated and to live a better life than hers.
A meaningful conversation at this point in time happened between her actual mother and Kartini,
"Apa yang kamu pelajari dari Bahasa Belanda?" ("What did your learn from Dutch Language?")
"Kebebasan." ("Freedom.")
"Apa pula yang tiada dalam bahasa mereka?" ("What is lacking in their language?")
"Saya tidak tahu." ("I do not know.")
"Kesetiaan." ("Loyalty.")
For me, I think the conversation explained the attitudes of the women and the people around her at that time. Their people were very loyal to their customs, tradition, and culture. Even if it meant refusing changes. That was why they accepted their life as it was. Sometimes, society holds firm to stability no matter how bad it is. When changes stirred that stability, even if those are good changes, they would resist it.
2. Your body might belong to your society, but your mind is yours alone
Your body can be trapped, but you cannot allow your soul, your mind to be trapped too. They are free to roam around in this world.
From the movie, one of the important factors in shaping Kartini's mind was the role played by her brother. Her brother understood Kartini's desires to be free and he showed her how - by giving her access to books. At first, he gave her the key to his cabinet, saying that it's her door to freedom. But the cabinet was just filled with books. The books were the doors to freedom, as they connected her with the outside world, which existed in words on those pages. Her brother was studying in Netherland and he would also send books to Kartini and her sisters. Reading opened her mind and then, she started writing too. She ended up publishing articles, the first one under her father's name.
Her brother told her very impactful advice, "Don't let your mind be prisoned."
This is important because in Kartini's culture, or Javanese culture, coming from a noble family meant a woman must be secluded from the outside world once she had her first menstrual. Kartini and her sister were being disconnected from the outside world physically. So, that was how important her brother's role was. Kartini's body was within the house, but with those books, her mind was all the way in Netherland. It's definitely one admirable value.
3. Change is bound to come
Kartini's family was of noble status. The tradition had it that the men were powerful and their status was higher than women. For example, men were expected to further their studies in Netherland and came back with important positions in the administration. Thus, here, Kartini's father played important roles too. Had her father prohibited Kartini from education, from reading and writing, then Kartini's journey might be different.
In one of the scenes, Kartini had tried to escape her fate of being married off to strangers by applying for scholarships from the Netherland Government in order to study abroad. This was huge. Kartini was basically challenging the culture.
But her father approved her wish. When the father met with other noblemen who tried to change his mind, he stood with Kartini's wish and kept reminding them that change will definitely happen.
For me, one of the most powerful dialogs of his was when he said, "Change is bound to come. I believe in it. So, let's embrace it and reflect on ourselves. Change is bound to come. It's only a matter of who starts it. If you do not want to start it, do not use my daughters as an excuse. That's cowardice."
Indeed, Kartini started a change. Although she did not end up going to Netherland, she was consistent with her change. As a result, she became the pioneer in women's education in Indonesia. She was the first person to set up a primary school for women. (source: http://culture.affinitymagazine.us/the-movie-kartini-who-is-she-and-why-indonesian-women-should-watch-it/)
4. Change must be shared with others
Kartini shared her views with her sisters. When her sisters entered seclusion with her, she influenced them by letting them read their brother's books. Thanks to that, she was not alone in her fight and her sisters agreed that education was really important. Most of all, as her brother said to Kartini, change is nothing if you keep it to yourself.
"What you have right now is meaningless if you kept it to yourself. You have to share it with others. Change does not happen if you are on your own."
Well, I do not have to comment much on this point because it is a fact! I'm sure most people would agree with this too.
5. Love is supporting or being supported
"Cinta bukan mengajar kita lemah, tetapi membangkitkan kekuatan. Cinta bukan mengajar kita menghinakan diri, tetapi menghembuskan kegagahan. Cinta bukan melemahkan semangat, tetapi membangkitkan semangat." - (Source - https://hot.liputan6.com/read/4220576/30-kata-kata-mutiara-bijak-buya-hamka-inspiratif-penuh-makna)
"Love is not teaching us to be weak, it teaches us courage. Love is not teaching us humiliation, it teaches us strength. Love is not bringing down our spirits, it raises them up." - Hamka.
Love is quite meaningless if your partner does not support your dream. I feel Kartini found love when the future husband declared to support her dreams. Of course, it was a pre-arranged marriage but in that society, finding someone who cares was good enough.
Now, Kartini and her sisters could not escape the fate of being married off to men they do not love. Unfortunately, that was the tradition they had to live with at that time. Kartini, however, was determined to bring a change to her society. To bring her ideas forward, she imposed conditions before she would agree to be married. One of the conditions is for her future husband to build a school with her in order to educate women and the poor. Surprisingly, her future husband agreed to her conditions. He said to her, "I will support your dreams." It reminds me of how strong love can be when it includes being supportive to your partner.
So, those are my views after watching Kartini: Princess of Java. It was a meaningful movie and I'm glad that I spend my Saturday watching it. It's really a good piece if you're looking for a movie about social issues, with historical elements, and about women's fights for education.
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