Atheis (film)
| Atheis | |
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Theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Sjumandjaja |
| Produced by |
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| Screenplay by | Sjumandjaja |
| Story by | Achdiat Karta Mihardja |
| Based on |
Atheis by Achdiat Karta Mihardja |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Idris Sardi |
| Cinematography | Sjamsuddin Jusuf |
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Production
company |
Matari Film
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Release date
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Running time
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127 minutes |
| Country | Indonesia |
| Language | Indonesian |
| Budget | Rp. 80 million |
Atheis (literally Atheist, also known as Kafir) is a 1974 Indonesian film directed by Sjumandjaja and adapted from Achdiat Karta Mihardja's novel of the same name. It follows a young Muslim man named Hasan who, through his interactions with others, loses his faith.
Shot on a budget of Rp. 80 million and starring Deddy Sutomo, Emmy Salim, Kusno Sudjarwadi, and Farouk Afero, Atheis was intended to be a challenge to Indonesia's religious communities. It was controversial upon release, at one point being refused by the country's censorship bureau. A box-office failure upon release, the film has since become one of Sjumandjaja's best known.
The film takes place in Indonesia in the early 1940s, covering the Japanese occupation and slightly before. Hasan (Deddy Sutomo) is raised a devout Muslim and, as he grows older, falls in love with Rukmini (Christine Hakim), an equally devout woman. However, he finds himself intrigued with the modern Kartini (Emmy Salim), whom he meets through his politically active friend Rusli (Kusno Sudjarwadi). He also meets the nihilistic Anwar (Farouk Afero).
Through his interactions with Rusli and his friends, Hasan begins to doubt his Islamic faith. He becomes an atheist and marries Kartini. However, this drives him and his family further apart. When he discovers that Kartini and Anwar spent a night in a hotel together, he becomes enraged and hunts the nihilist. After killing Anwar, he himself is killed by the Kempeitai; Rusli meets a similar fate elsewhere.
Atheis was directed by Sjumandjaja, who also co-produced the film with Handojo. Sjumandjaja had studied film in the Soviet Union, which may have influenced his filming techniques; a scene from Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 film Battleship Potemkin, of a baby carriage going over a flight of stone steps, was reused in Atheis. The first scene of the film shows Kartini crying over Hasan's body in a hospital; the plot then shows how this came to happen. A similar effect had been used in the novel. The film used black-and-white to show scenes from Hasan's childhood, while more modern scenes were in colour; archival footage was used to show the Japanese arriving in Indonesia.
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