Jakarta. Indonesian cinema continues to pump out horror movies, both good and bad, and the latest film to hit the theaters is “Siksa Kubur” (‘Grave Torture’) from the renowned filmmaker Joko Anwar. 

The almost two-hour-long movie follows the story of two siblings -- Sita (Faradina Mufti, Widuri Puteri as a younger version) and Adil (Reza Rahadian, Muzakki Ramdhan). As teens, Sita and Adil see their baker parents (Fachri Albar and Happy Salma) getting killed in a suicide bombing by a mysterious man (Afrian Arisandy). The jihadist claims that committing the act could save him from grave torture.

In a time-skip, Sita -- now working at a nursing home -- with the help of mortician Adil tries to find the most sinful person and see whether he gets tortured in the grave: all to prove that grave torture does not exist. They end up picking nursing home resident Wahyu (Slamet Rahardjo), who used to be a boarding school donor that raped young Adil and dozens of other students.

Joko Anwar has become a household name in the Indonesian horror scene, with works including “Pengabdi Setan” (Satan's Slaves). “Siksa Kubur” is a neatly executed piece -- something that is quite refreshing amidst the influx of subpar Indonesian horror films. But personally speaking, it is not the scenes of a woman getting stuck in a washing machine or the final grave torture of the big bad Wahyu that make the most lasting impression. It is the first act, namely before the time-skip.

The beginning part of the movie is incredibly solid across many fields. 

First is the visual storytelling: particularly the red-and-white-hijab scene. Following her parents’ death, Sita and Adil get sent to an Islamic boarding school. Sita gets into a heated argument with religion teacher Ningsih Chadijah (Jajang C Noer). The young girl has become highly skeptical of grave torture, although this is quite understandable considering what happened. After trying to escape from the boarding school, Ningsih punishes Sita by forcing her to wear a red hijab.

The image of Sita --along with other students who all have a white hijab on-- walking for powerful visual storytelling. The color red is often associated with hell versus the color white which is synonymous with heaven, well-fitting with the religious direction that the movie is taking. The red hijab becomes a symbol of Sita’s disobedience, and also a way for the school to label her as a “sinner”. As Sita and her classmates walk on the bridge, we see Wahyu’s car passing by the kids. At the time, it had not been revealed that Wahyu had been abusing the students. But it is ironic to see an actual criminal safe under the guise of being a huge donator while Sita is being labeled as the "villain". 

It is interesting to see Sita still having this red hijab --the symbol of disobedience and sin -- when trying to stop Wahyu from abusing her brother. Whether it is intentional or coincidence, this becomes another powerful message that in real life, someone may not be as bad as they seem or what others say. 

Next is the acoustic department. Before committing his act the visibly nervous bomber walks into the bakery and meets Adil. As the camera zooms in closer to the bomber’s ears, we can hear thumping sounds playing -- reminiscent of a person’s heartbeat. The thumps are perfect to build suspense before the suicide bombing. Acoustically, it feels like a “countdown” before the bomb explodes (the only jump scare that actually made me jump in the movie).  The audience can still hear the same sound playing throughout “Siksa Kubur”, but its impact is not as powerful as this scene.

Story-wise, the first act serves as a great setup to give background to Sita’s story with great acting and heartwarming dialogue. From the get-go, the audience can see how Sita grows up in a loving family. This is crucial to make the audience feel for the teens’ loss and understand why Sita goes through that length to prove her theory.

“Siksa Kubur” boasts a star-studded cast with renowned actors claiming the supporting character roles. However, the younger actors --Widuri and Muzakki-- deserve credit for not being overshadowed by their seniors. It is nice to see promising young actors in the Indonesian film industry. Despite the incredibly short screen time and few lines, rookie actor Afrian catches the audience’s attention with his stare and gestures as the mysterious bomber.

But the first act leaves a head-scratcher. 

In the bakery scene, we see a group of boys --who appear to be Adil’s classmates and bullies-- entering the establishment. These boys then walk towards Adil, while Sita --along with both parents-- are having a group hug on the other side of the room. The interactions between Adil and his bullies take place off-screen, with the movie only switching back to Adil after the parents return to the kitchen. 

Sita then confronts the bullies, and later asks Adil if they are still bullying him at school -- meaning that the girl is aware of what her brother is going through. But how come the parents, who were in the room at the time, do not notice that their son is getting bullied? Supposed that the family is portrayed as being close-knit, this scene feels somewhat strange. Or is this Joko Anwar’s way of showing that oftentimes parents don’t know what their kids are going through at school?

Overall, the first act of “Siksa Kubur” is still an incredibly solid piece of work. But because of how well-executed it is, the rest of the movie --while still good-- feels somewhat lacking compared to the first act. 

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