Siksa [Movie Review]

Siksa [Movie Review] | There were so many mixed reviews of Siksa online that it piqued my interest to watch it. 

So when it landed on our shore, of course yours truly has to watch it. Does it live to my expectations?

SYNOPSIS

Siksa (2024) Trivia

• Original Title: Siksa Kubur
• Starring: Faradina Mufti, Reza Rahadian, Christine Hakim, Slamet Rahardjo, Arswendy Bening Swara & Jajang C. Noer
• Director: Joko Anwar
• Producer: Tia Hasibuan
• Production Company: Come and See Pictures, Rapi Films, Legacy Pictures, Komet Studios and  IFI Sinema
• Distributed by: GSC & Suraya Filem
• Release date: April 11, 2024
• Running time: 117 minutes
• Rating: MA
  
• Country: Indonesia
  
• Language: Bahasa Indonesia
• IMDb: 7.1/ 10
• Tomatometer: NA
• Metascore: NA
• Joko Anwar's first film to be classified and receive an MPAA rating was given an R-Rating due to its inclusion of strong, grisly violence, bloody imagery, and some drug use.
• Joko decided to produce a feature-length version of his short film "Siksa Kubur," which he had previously released in 2012. 

Sita and Adil grow up in a loving family. Their parents own the traditional bakery in the town. When other franchise bakeries start coming into town, people starts losing interest in their bakery and their parents start putting more effort to attract people to their shop. But still not enough.

On that fateful day, Sita stands up to bullies who enter the shop and mock Adil. The bullies left. Adil then tends to a guy who enters the bakery. He doesn't interested to buy anything there. Yet, Adil still offers him a drink when the man cough uncontrollably. Before he leaves, the man tells Adil to not go outside as the world is cruel and he has to stand up for his belief. 

Meanwhile, Sita caught a man trying to steal money from the cash register. She tells her parents who run after the man and his partners. And then a bomb went off outside of the bakery, killing their parents and many more bystanders. 

It seems that the man that had the drink was a suicide bomber who wishes to die while standing up for his belief. 

Now orphans, both kids were sent to a religious school. Sita does not belief that there are punishments after death. Adil was molested by the very donor of the school. Together, both Adil and Sita run from the school.

Years later, Sita is now a nurse working at an old folk's home and Adil, who is now married, works at the morgue.

She comes to know the background of one of the residents there and she wants to test her theory about punishment after death. As she knows that the person has been molesting young kids while portraying that he is a good hearted samaritan. 

When the man commits suicide, the family wants the incident to be silenced. And this fits perfectly with Sita's plan who wishes to film everything inside the grave.

She wants to see for herself if there is really punishment awaits the sinful man inside his grave - so that she can believe again. She lists Adil's assistance to have her buried with the man with a camcorder in her hand and to pull her out if anything goes wrong.

Can she get the answers to all her doubts?

MY REVIEW

Plot: 3.0/ 5.0 The first act was beautifully designed to tell the story of what's coming. Then the plot seems to lost its track and towards the end, I became confused of what's the main objective of the movie.

Or am I missing something that makes me hard to understand the movie?

What I Like: The actors are great. The cinematography and the camera works are great in depicting the old movie type and the emotion of the scenes. The first act creates great opening for a great second act and the finale.

Not so much jumpscare, so it's safe for the screamers hahaha. 

What I Don't Like: Cuts that make it difficult to figure the movie. Some scenes were deleted from the original movie, which I assume could have made the movie even clearer to us. The main objective should be as per the (original) title but none were showing the punishment. 

Will I Watch It Again: Nay. It was not worth the hype. 

The pictures are taken from multiple sources on the Internet. Thank you. 

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