The playback of the G30S/PKI movie appeared a polemic in the community. Dr. Sri Margana, the UGM historical expert, appraised that there is no problem with the film's screening again.
"Nowadays, society has been wise. There have been lots of new facts circulating regarding the G30S/PKI incident. Hence, people can filter which are correct and which are not in the movie," she said on Wednesday (30/9).
Margana encouraged the public to rewatch the G30S/PKI film. Particularly for millennials who have never seen a film that is often criticized for including a number of these lies and propaganda. By watching the film, people can take lessons about why there are pros and cons to it.
"I suggest everyone who never knew the movie once to watch it as knowledge, adding references to think before behaving," she explained.
She added that the government should not issue a ban on the public to watch the film. However, the government is also expected not to make the film as a compulsory public consumption.
"Either if it is obliged or prohibited to watch, both are not true," she said.
Lecturer at the Department of History of Faculty of Humanities UGM said that this movie's playback was stopped since the 1998 reformation. There have been studies that underlie the termination of director Arifin C. Noer, one of which is that the film is considered having defective facts. For instance, the torment's occurrence beyond humanity's limits to the generals at Lubang Buaya within the movie.
The results of the post-mortem conducted by the doctors did not prove that there was torture, such as grafting the eyes, cutting off genitals, and others.
"This movie is proven to be defective in its facts, which has been admitted by the director of the movie itself. For example, the matter of torturing the generals before they were put in Lubang Buaya was established from the post mortem archives that did not exist, it was only a part of dramatization," she explained.
Due to the element of violence in the G30S/PKI film, Margana emphasized it is necessary to censor some parts of the movies because children had the opportunity to see them.
"It is better if there is an element of violence scene not having to be broadcast, also the fact that there should be no torture within the movie," she explained.
According to her, presenting the events that occurred in 1965 as a collective memory of the nation is a good thing to prevent similar events from happening again in the future. However, Margana suggested that the public not inherit resentment from the past to the next generation because the events in 1965 were conflicts between political groups.
"It'll become horrible if what happened in the past was brought back for the next generation in the future that has nothing to do with it. So, don't inherit hatred," Margana said.
Author: Ika
Photo: Antara
Translator: Natasa A