Review text: Negeri 5 Menara

A different theme has been introduced in a film based on the novel by Ahmad Fuadi and directed by Affandi Abdul Rahman.

“Negeri 5 Menara”, a film produced by Simple Pictures/KG Productions/Million Pictures/IB Perbankan Syariah is one of Indonesian movies that is produced to educate the audience and shown a different angle of an Islamic education institution, called Pesantren, on how to pursue the future success by implementing a spirit of ‘Man Jadda Wajada’, meaning that every person who is taking effort seriously will be succeed.

A traditional atmosphere and beautiful scene of Maninjau Lake in West Sumatera has become a background of the story where Alif and his family live. Alif is a student who just completed his study in a junior high school and willing to go to java for taking a higher education in a secular school as a part of his dream to study at the famous Technical College in Bandung, ITB.

His mother has a different plan for him, she urged Alif to take Islamic school and spending four years to gain a religious subject combined with a modern knowledge before to go to college.

Alif had no choice, as he does not want to disappoint his mother then he go to a small town in Java, Ponorogo, accompanied by his father to enroll Islamic school “ Pondok Madani”. His father said to him to take and try it first and after that Alif can decide whether the school is fit for him or not.

The exposure completely in a combination of today’s modern culture and ethics of Islamic living, in Pondok Madani as an Islamic school, With Six students and some chaplains moving in and out of the film, the movie is something about refreshment for a sense of curiosity who appear on every person who never know inside of Pesantren or Islamic School culture.

Though the script is simple, the dialogues are crisp. All the performances are excellent, especially for some new comer such as: Alif (Gazza Zubizaretta ), Raja Lubis (Jiofani Lubis) , Said Jufri (Ernest Samudra) , Dulmajid (Aris Putra) , Atang (Rizki Ramdani) and Baso Salahuddin (Billy Sandy). These six students stirs-off some comedy sequences. The capability to connect a modern life activities and Islamic roles is well interpreted throughout the movie.

Affandi Abdul Rahman treats Fuadi’s book as a precious script to be handled carefully , get all the points in there, however making it into a film has proved difficult, when reading the book you can imagine some dialogue created by those six students is very deep but in the movie it become a simple conversation.

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