Review: KAYU BESI
by Marinell Haegelin
Max Sänger, Andrianus Oetjoe, Indonesia, Java 2022
Directors Max Sänger and Andrianus Oetjoe’s superbly crafted documentary demonstrates the dangers people undergo for better ways of life. Indonesia is home to some of the world’s most extremely rare trees with exceptionally valuable wood. On West Papua, their province island and third largest tropical rainforest still existing on the planet, such ancient trees grow. Heavily sought for its aroma, "gaharu" wood’s cultivation is protected by the government.
Living on the fringe, a small group of men erect an elevated, blue tarp covered living area deep in the jungle. Then a double-wide rough-plank track for the scooters they use to haul out the wood. They bath in the tributary or the rain, relax talking quietly or pondering life while deeply inhaling self-rolled cigarettes. Men plan which direction the tree should fall. Clad in shorts, t-shirts, rubber galoshes and, sans goggles, at the whine of the saw cutting into a ginormous tree trunk the smell’s almost tangible, the tree’s milky tears are visible. The grueling work is heavy, dirty, illegal, fleeting, destructive; international market’s greed have no limits. The loggers’ choices few—protect their homeland, or themselves.
During the director’s online Q&A afterward, Sänger talked at length about the region’s geo-political and socio-economic problems, its challenges, and citizens marginalization. KAYU BESI (Ironwood) focuses on wood; balanced and formally structured, its sound design is startling, its diverse visual topography impressive, and its editing tight, well-paced. The filmmakers became friends with Heindom, one of the “loggers” who explained the natives’ ethical dilemma and discomfit at pillaging land they love.
A short 1980’s NDR-television reportage, “Asian Faces,” showed prior to KAYU BESI. Because it was unscheduled its onscreen emergence was discombobulating. The assumption: it’s in conjunction with 2023’s colonization theme. The program was a visual mix of Asian ethnic groups and talking heads: Edward Goldsmith, Susan George, activists, reporters. Clips covered concerns and facts with an undercurrent of prejudicial overtones, camouflaged yet obvious. Even more heartbreaking is that these prejudices continued into the 21st century.
