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Synopsis

In the first part of this trilogy director Leonard Retel Helmrich started following the lives of the Shamsuddin family. This period is marked by the reformasi, a tumultuous time after president Suharto steps down from office. This reform movement brings poverty, uprisings and instability to Indonesia, all of which are also experiences by the Shamsuddin family. Grandmother Rumidjah returns to her ancestral village four times a year to help her family with the harvest. To her sons, the city is their universe. The youngest, Bakti, spends his days gambling, raising pigeons and joining the student protests against the military regime. His older brother Dwi thinks Bakti should get a job and involve himself in politics the ‘normal’ way, via democratic elections. Retel Helmrich shows all aspects of this family’s daily life without interviews, voice-overs or any other kind of interference.