I Fell in Love with Yuni, Just Not in the Way You May Think.
Note 1: This piece would contain spoilers, please do watch the movie before reading this piece. It’s a brilliant locally-produced movie, and I promise it’s going to be worth every penny you spend. Trigger Warning too, there might be some words & depictions here that’ll be triggering for some.
Note 2: Seeing that the author is by all means, a cis-het male, I would like to thank many of my female friends for their input for me writing this piece (as to not make it restricted to my limited knowledge). Thank you to Ausi, Sadira, Shamira, Kanya, Nadia, and Hafizat for all of your inputs; hope you enjoyed this piece that I (well, we) worked on.
Yuni — Oversimplified.
Before we start, a little bit of description for those who maybe are yet to watch the movie.
If I need to break it to its barest essence, Yuni (2021), directed by Kamila Andini, is a movie that talks about the struggle of a girl entrenched in a (simplistically speaking) non-supportive environment, weighed by expectations of her surroundings, all the while still struggling with confusion as to how her life is going to pan out after she graduates from high school.
From how I just described the movie, I wouldn’t blame you if you think that the movie sounds simple, and admittedly it may be.
But the direction of the film, its use of local language (in this case Jawa-Serang), alongside the themes and the narratives that it tackled, made it much more than just a simple coming-of-age story for me.
The movie is a commentary, a portrayal of how bitter life may be for so many young girls in Indonesia, especially in areas that are unlikely to see them as more than what they are in their young age.
The film Yuni, at least for me, is a celebration of growing up, a commemoration of exploration, and a study of our (Indonesian) society, and how unfair it could be to most.
Who is Yuni?
Now, let’s answer the most basic question there is — Who is Yuni?
To put it simply, Yuni (portrayed unbelievably by Arawinda Kirana) is a girl with a huge amount of potential, caged in an area that actively limits and questions the choices she makes for herself.
This theme and story is one that the film explicitly tells the audience over and over again, repeatedly showing us Yuni and her teacher discussing the possibility of gaining a scholarship to a university, only for the film to backlash it with the backdrop of her extremely patriarchal environment.
The film made it clear that Yuni lives in an area where options for women are extremely limited and mostly unheard of. She lives in an area where young girls are more likely to marry before they graduate high school and enter university.
She lives in an area where women are forced into marrying themselves to a man that they barely know, just because rejecting a proposal is “wasteful”.
And what makes it even sadder is that the patriarchal mindset is not only limited to how men see women — but it’s even ingrained in many of the beautifully-written dialogues delivered by many of the female figures in Yuni’s life, be it her classmates gossiping about how stupid it is to reject a proposal from a man, her neighbours that exclaimed that you do not need to be compatible with your husband as long as you can satisfy him in bed, or even the simple belief that someone’s voice is also their aurat.
It’s distressing to see for most, and yet it’s a reality of life for many.
The film paints to us how it feels to be lost — depicted through many of the characters.
For Yuni, and especially her friend Sarah, they don’t have much choice about marriage. Something as simple as a lie can make you extremely powerless in the face of an unchanging majority.
My friend stated that she sees Yuni’s story as “ours” — a collective rhythm, hum and felt by everyone.
What Makes Her So Special?
The main thing that makes Yuni peculiar is that she’s brave — not just brave enough to reject a proposal more than once (which her friend Sarah articulated after she was forced into a marriage), but she’s more than courageous to explore her life.
She actively asked her parents if she could go to university, despite knowing how her environment sees such acts.
She actively searches her town (and even the internet) for things that may be seen as taboo by the society. She’s simply more than brave enough in trying to learn about herself, forming her identity by hanging out with people that may not be seen as “good” by the general public such as Suci Cute (portrayed admirably by Asmara Abigail).
This goes even to the extent of losing her virginity as a way to show to the second person that proposed to her that her self-esteem and pride cannot be bought just by the allure of coin and silver.
All of this, despite the risk of being alienated and estranged by her surroundings.
And I think if there’s one thing that I love so much about this movie, is that it clearly states to us that Yuni is just a girl. She’s someone that’s still second guessing herself, she’s someone that’s still vulnerable and affected by her surroundings.
Because if you would just pause and think for a moment — Yuni’s situation is completely unfair.
She didn’t ask for anyone to randomly come and propose to her (this, without a clear reason).
Yet so many of the interaction she had in her community is based on the assumption and worldview that what a women has to do is getting married. The long-held belief that women shouldn’t sit in front of a door, fearing that it would somehow drive away the possibility of a future proposal, or that rejecting a proposal more than twice would leave her without a spouse in the future.
It must be so heavy, it must be so disorienting for her.
She must be so confused.
And it makes so much sense for her to be; because she’s just the same as most of us. Her basic problem — the catalyst for much of her actions — is one that is experienced by even most of us who are (in comparison to her) privileged, who had the opportunities to go to university or simply just a higher level of education, who may have a supportive environment among ourselves.
And so, if most of us are still confused with who we are and what we want to be — is it fair for a young girl, yet to graduate from High School — to understand who she is, and why she picks her decisions?
Yet — and this is where the second reason comes in — is that she (at a loss for better words) is simply firm.
She stands her ground despite all of the chattering that surrounds her, despite the gossip, rumour, and hurtful words thrown at her. She never confronted anyone, never screamed at anyone.
Even to the man that proposed to her with a huge sum of money to make her his second wife with the prerequisite of her virginity.
She just told him she isn’t one.
She just lets him assume that she was raped, because she’s aware that she’ll be judged if he knew of the truth.
It’s a realistic depiction of unfairness and moral policing — and Yuni just has to handle it all.
So Why’d I Fall in Love?
I fell in love with the movie due to many different reasons. The themes it presented were handled with extreme care and love, packaged with dialogues and shots that are just simply beautiful.
But I think that I also fell in love because it made me reflect so much during the movies.
Every scene felt like a slap; from its portrayal of Suci’s life and how she had to deal with abuse from her husband after their arranged marriage in middle school, to its commentary on issues such as “virginity testing”, or even the portrayal of how patriarchy could even make men (the very subject it seems to glorify) felt powerless and hopeless.
I never realized the level of privilege I have had, and I never truly understood the depth of struggle that has to be faced by many of our peers in their daily lives.
Even in areas that could be considered developed, I couldn’t imagine the amount of insecurities that has to be faced by many, in every aspect of their lives.
Because I think that the problem underlined and depicted explicitly by Yuni isn’t only limited to even the most rural areas — it exists in even the most developed areas, albeit repressed.
Yet it’s there, and many still suffer from it. Both women, and even men.
I think, a film that can make a person reflect this much, deserved to be fallen in love with.
