Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts () is a 2017 Indonesian thriller film directed by Mouly Surya based on a story conceived by Garin Nugroho and a screenplay co-written by Surya and Rama Adi. The film's Western style, its feminist tone, and rural Indonesian setting led to the term "satay Western" being coined following its world premiere in the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.
At the 38th Citra Awards, the film won 10 awards out of 15 nominations, breaking the records for most wins and nominations at Indonesia's top film awards previously held by Teguh Karya's 1986 film Ibunda with 9 awards out of 10 nominations at the 17th Citra Awards. It was also selected as the Indonesian official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards, but failed to secure a nomination.
Plot
In the first act, The Robbery, the film opens on the island of Sumba with Marlina grieving her late husband. A group of seven men, led by the aged Markus, arrive at her house intent on robbing Marlina of her livestock and raping her. They demand to be fed dinner, and she takes the opportunity to poison most of the robbers with chicken soup and decapitate Markus. She burns Markus' musical instrument, a jungga.
In the second act, The Journey, she hitches a ride on the local bus where she encounters the pregnant Novi, on the way to find her jealous husband Umbu before she delivers. They are joined by an old woman with a dowry payment of two horses on the way to her nephew's wedding. Along the way, two of the other robbers (including Franz) discover the deaths and chase after Marlina. They hijack the bus, but Marlina escapes with one of the horses. Along the way, Marlina is haunted by a headless apparition playing the jungga.
In the third act, The Confession, she arrives at the local police station and delivers a report of the robbery, rape, and her self-defense. The police accept the report but insist that they can't proceed for at least a month while they wait for funds to purchase rape test equipment. Marlina bonds with a young girl in a local warung.
In the fourth act, The Birth, Novi finally finds Umbu. He, believing that a breech baby is a sign of infidelity, hits her and leaves her to be found by Franz, who threatens her into luring Marlina back to the house. The three meet at the house, and Novi's water breaks. She considers killing Franz, but takes pity on him. Franz reunites the head of Markus with his corpse and places him beside Marlina's mummified husband. While Novi cooks chicken soup for him under duress, he rapes Marlina and Novi decapitates him. She then gives birth. Marlina and Novi leave the house in the morning together with the child.
Cast
Marsha Timothy as Marlina, a recently widowed woman
Dea Panendra as Novi, a pregnant young woman
Egi Fedly as Markus, a local thug
Yoga Pratama as Frans, a local thug
Indra Birowo as Umbu, Novi's husband
Yayu Unru as Raja
Tumpal Tampubolon as Marlina's deceased husband
Production
Development
While serving in the jury panel of the 34th Citra Awards in 2014, Garin Nugroho approached Surya at a screening with the story treatment he had for the film. Nugroho felt that the film would be better in the hands of a woman director due to its subject matter and because he felt like he had nothing new to add to it.
According to Nugroho, the basic premise of the story is inspired by true events he witnessed firsthand while visiting Sumba in 1986 and 2004. Surya's collaborator and husband Rama Adi was immediately attracted to the story, but Surya took some time to figure out how she would make the film, as the rural setting is a departure from the urban settings of Jakarta she used in Fiksi. and What They Don't Talk About When They Talk About Love.
The film was co-produced by studios from different countries: Surya's own Cinesurya, Kaninga Pictures and Purin Pictures (Thailand), Sasha & Co Production (France), Astro Shaw (Malaysia), and HOOQ (Singapore).
Filming
The film was shot in late 2016 with exterior shots taken on location in Sumba, East Nusa Tenggara and interior shots on a set built by the film's crew in Jakarta. The cast spent two months studying native Sumba language.
Surya acknowledged that she was inspired by the Western film genre and found inspiration from Google Images of Sumba island during the dry season, which resembles the typical background of a Western film.