callistoceres Review of Asrama Dara

Asrama Dara (1958)

Humble, proto-feminist portrait of dormitary women

[8/10 · 2 January 2019]

This is a humble movie that always brings smile to my face. The script is quite theatrical, I can notice that they put the budget into a good use. The songs are gorgeous and I was taken back to 1950s Jakarta with the production design. This movie surprisingly deals with real-world themes that might still be relevant for today's women, such as children of a divorced parent, mental illness, and culturally based gender prejudices such as the obstacles of women in workforce, women that received high education, 'modern' dating culture, daily subtle discomfort of being a woman (like attracting unwanted attention in a tram). These themes have a potential to open a frank discussion within Indonesian women, it's a shame that movies like this is very hard to access. However, there are still elements that worth criticizing. I will update this review as soon as I can