Filmurbia pp 113-129 | Cite as

The Living Landscape of Jakarta in Leonard Retel Helmrich’s Documentary Triptych

  • Annelies van Noortwijk
  • Vincent Ros
Chapter
First Online:

Abstract

Focusing on the lives of three generations of a lower-class Indonesian family, Leonard Retel Helmrich’s documentary triptych Eye of the Day (2001), Shape of the Moon (2004) and Position Among the Stars (2010) offers a unique insight into the hectic life of the slums of Jakarta, presenting its landscape as a living, breathing organism; a landscape of people. Utilizing an innovative cinematographic style referred to as ‘Single Shot Cinema’, these films give a perspective on Indonesia that is at once intimate, spectacular, personal and immersive. To the cursory eye, this project may appear to be reliving the impossible dream of Direct Cinema. Yet rather than pursuing an outdated and unattainable ideal of objective documentary, these films embrace a broader, more inclusive concept of reality, of which the intuitive, subjective perspective of the filmmaker forms as much a part as the events that are represented. These films, we argue, can therefore be seen as exemplary of a ‘subjective turn’ that is taking place in documentary filmmaking, which entails a re-evaluation and repositioning of the role of documentary subject, from passive subject or victim of social circumstance to active, empowered individual. This development furthermore encompasses a ‘metamodern’ rethinking of the purpose of documentary, beyond a postmodern disillusionment with the project of capturing ‘reality’ singular and towards the embracement of subjective, personal, and pluralistic perspectives.

Keywords

Fire Brigade Passive Subject True Innovation Personal Vision Plural Perspective 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Bibliography

  1. Bazin, A. (1960). The ontology of the photographic image. Film Quarterly, 8, 4–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Beattie, K. (2004). Documentary screens. Non-fiction film and television. London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
  3. Bondebjerg, Ib. (2003). The social and the subjective look: Documentaries and reflexive modernity. Paper presented at the Australian International Documentary Conference, February.Google Scholar
  4. Bruzzi, S. (2006). New documentary. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
  5. Comodo Rigs. (2015, October 17). Retrieved July 27, 2016, from http://www.comodorigs.com/orbit/
  6. Heusden, van Barend. (2010–2011). Theorizing and historicizing art, Lecture series. Groningen: University of Groningen.Google Scholar
  7. IDFA. (2015). Masterclass Leonard Retel Helmrich. IDFA video, 1:56:12, November 19, 2010. Retrieved July 27, 2016, from http://www.idfa.nl/nl/tags/event.aspx?id=DFCE959D-16CA-4328-A606-582C38509932
  8. Navarro, V., & Spence, L. (2011). Crafting truth. Documentary form and meaning. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
  9. Nichols, B. (2010). Introduction to documentary. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
  10. Noortwijk, van, A. (2014). Heddy Honigmann’s contemplations on Ars Vitae and the Metamodern Turn. In J. Choi & M. Mattias Frey (Eds.), Cine-ethics; Ethical dimensions of film theory, practice and spectatorship (pp. 111–123). London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
  11. Noortwijk, van, A. (2016). The orbit and single shot cinema. In G. Giovanna Fossati & A. van den Oever (Eds.), Exposing the film apparatus. The film archive as a research laboratory (pp. 130–139). Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.Google Scholar
  12. Rosenthal, A., & Corner, J. (2005).New challenges for documentary(1st ed.). Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
  13. Renov, M. (1995). Theorizing documentary. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
  14. Renov, M. (2004). The subject of documentary. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
  15. Retel Helmrich, L. (2015, October 17). Single shot cinema, a different approach to film language. Lecture, Alūksne: Avanca Cinema Festival, 2013. Retrieved July 27, 2016, from https://nyu.academia.edu/LeonardRetelHelmrich
  16. Sihombing, A. (2004). The transformation of kampungkota: Symbiosis between kampung and kota. Jakarta: University of Indonesia.Google Scholar
  17. Surya, F. (2008). Finding sustainable solutions for situ Babakan, a preventive approach towards slum forming in kampong peripheries in Jakarta. MA Thesis, TU Delft.Google Scholar
  18. Winston, B. (2008). Claiming the real II. Documentary: Grierson and beyond. London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
  19. Winston, B. (Ed.). (2013). The documentary film book. London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
  20. Zomergasten. (2011). [TV programme] 3: VPRO.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© The Author(s) 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  • Annelies van Noortwijk
    • 1
  • Vincent Ros
    • 1
  1. 1.University of GroningenGroningenNetherlands

Personalised recommendations