According to place and identity theory, a global sense of place, I would like to analyze about Jakarta in “The Raid 2” film. Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia. It is located in the northwest part of Java Island. Jakarta only has 2 seasons, rainy and dry, because Indonesia is a tropical country. Geographically, Jakarta has many rivers because it locates at the mouth of Jakarta Bay. The daily average temperature of Jakarta is 27.6° C (with the highest average is 33° C and the lowest average is 24.2° C). By seeing those conditions, it can be concluded that Jakarta is quite hot and humid.
“The Raid 2” is a film by Gareth Evans in 2014. It is the sequel of “The Raid” that had been released on 2011. The story told about the young police officer who got a mission to arrest the drug mafia. It was not easy to do, because he has to act as a member of the club. At the first he was sent to the jail to enclose himself with the boss’ son. Then after he went out, the boss recruited him. During his mission, he fought with many people in many places. The film ended with the successful of the young police to clear the problem. He destroyed the club and its network completely until it did not exist.
As Doreen Massey said, place can have multiple identities. The multiple identities of Jakarta appeared when it was used as a setting in “The Raid 2”. Many hyper identities were created by the director to give a special taste in the film. The first identity is Jakarta was snowy. There is a scene that show the snow felt in Jakarta. And there were thick snows laid on the land. I was surprised and murmured “are you kidding me?” I just thought maybe it was a miracle or the result of global warming. The second is Jakarta got MRT. There is a scene which the young police officer had fought with his two opponents, hammer girl and baseball bat boy. I know that is a MRT, not train, because it is similar with MRT in Hong Kong or Singapore.
The third identity is the old and modern Jakarta. In many scenes film Jakarta was shown as a very old town. Some of the buildings and the prison were old and seems like haunted. The furniture inside those building is old style. But at the other scenes, Jakarta was amazingly modern. Many new and modern cars were used. The technology in the mafia’s apartment was really sophisticated and up to date. So the different image of Jakarta was often being changed.
By watching this film, I can prove that a place can has different identities. The cultural background of the viewer is important for creating the Jakarta’s identity and image. Actually there are many identities that had built the image of Jakarta. But I only give three kinds of identity to show. My cultural background becomes a main point to see Jakarta (in the film). For the first identity I can said that was silly. As an Indonesian, I definitely know about the weather there. I have been many times going to Jakarta. So if the snow comes to Jakarta, I conclude that it is the end of the world.
I categorize the second identity as a hope, because the MRT system in Jakarta is still being built. No problem if the director show there was an MRT in Jakarta. I can identify if that is a MRT, not train, because I ever rode MRT. But for those who are not familiar, they did not know. For the third identity, I have no idea about that.
Maybe the director created those images of Jakarta due to “internationalize” Jakarta. “The Raid 2” was released at the same time in Indonesia and United States. The director knew that the film will be watched worldwide. By doing that, the director might want to standardize Jakarta and hope that the viewers (which have a totally different cultural background) can enjoy the film easily.
http://www.sonyclassics.com/theraid2
http://www.jakarta.go.id
