Serambi

A fishing boat marooned atop the roof of a gutted home, the tattered postings of names and photos of the missing, the pages of a water-damaged Koran which cannot be separated: all are haunting images from Indonesia’s Aceh province in the months following the Asian tsunami of December, 2004. In Serambi, the stunning collaborative effort of four Indonesian directors, these scenes speak of the incredible stories which came from the tragedy and of the rebuilding that followed, and of individuals piecing together fragments of existence and facing the immensity of how their lives had been transformed.

Poetic and powerful, Serambi follows several individuals whose intro­spective searches ask questions almost too heart-breaking to consider: how one can retain memory when their home no longer exists, or how to not exploit one’s own sadness. After losing his wife and daughters, Usman Abdullah continues to work, but is only able to eat when amidst the ruins of their home. A student never without his Che Guevara T-shirt, Reza questions the role of Islam in how Indonesians are dealing with the tragedy, while the grade-school Tari agrees with her classmates to not discuss those who are no longer with them.

With a gentleness and grace that belies the weight of its subject, Serambi weaves together their stories, and reveals the humanity and resilience which unite them. Never veering into easy sentimentality or despair, it instead focuses on the rhythms and details of daily life, and the conversations and friendships which emerged from the tragedy, showing how life must and does carry on.