Ada Apa Dengan Cinta?

«Ada Apa Dengan Cinta» (What’s Up with Love?) is a popular movie directed by Rudi Soedjarwo. When it first appeared in 2002 it marked the come-back of the Indonesian film industry after it had been suppressed by the Soeharto regime (1965–1998). AADC was produced by Mira Lesmana and Riri Riza, and is starred by  Dian Sastrowardoyo who acts as Cinta, Nicholas Saputra (Rangga) and Titi Kamal (Maura).

Bahasa Jakarta or Betawi Malay is a Malay dialect originally spoken by the Betawi people as the people of Jakarta (former Batavia) are called. Pure Betawi Malay is no longer spoken as the language became strongly influenced by standard Indonesian. This mixture of Betawi Malay and Standard Indonesian has for many Indonesian now become the colloquial variant of the Indonesian language. Bahasa Jakarta is considered prestigious as it is the jargon spoken by the population of the capital, and it is the language that is used in most movies and in almost all soap operas. In the past, Jakarta Malay was exclusively spoken in Jakarta, but now it has spread over all of Java, and into the urban centres anywhere in the archipelago where it is slowly replacing local colloquial varieties. Bahasa Jakarta has already become the most dominant version of colloquial Indonesian, and it will spread rapidly across the archipelago, eventually reaching even the most remote regions.

(The following is closely based on a Wikipedia article.)

Cinta is a popular teenage girl living a comfortable lifestyle in a plush Jakarta neighbourhood. She is gifted and accomplished, surrounded by a group of faithful friends, and has caring and supportive parents. The story begins with Cinta and her four best friends crying on each other’s shoulders for Alya, who was the victim of domestic abuse by her father. Cinta recites the group’s pledge to the buku curhat, a diary or scrapbook shared by the girls, that a problem one of them is going through is to be shared with all of them.

Cinta is a school poet who has been honoured for her work, and, in her final year of high school, she submits a poem to the yearly poetry contest. However, the grand prize in the contest is awarded to a boy named Rangga. Rather than going to the podium to receive his prize, Rangga takes offence and retreats to a hiding spot.

Rangga’s name is rarely heard of in school, and his best friend is the school’s janitor, Pak Wardiman. Rangga lives in a lower middle-class neighbourhood with his father Yusrizal. Rangga’s parents divorced because of his father’s disengagement from the government office for exposing government corruption.

Cinta is jealous of Rangga’s unexpected victory, but is careful not to show it. This leads Cinta to search for Rangga and request an interview for the school bulletin. However, Rangga immediately detects insincerity in Cinta’s congratulations and walks away, leaving Cinta to be irritated by his perceived arrogance. As it turns out, Rangga never entered his poem for the contest; it was submitted on his behalf by the school caretaker. Cinta starts finding herself admiring Rangga’s poetry and sees that they have a shared interest in post-war Indonesian literature, and the two began to meet regularly, but their friendship is coloured with quarrels and arguments. The two like each other and the friendship begins to evolve into romance, but fear and pride keep either Cinta or Rangga from admitting it.

The secret friendship causes dramatic changes in Cinta’s behaviour, resulting in problems with Cinta’s clique. Rangga is beaten up by Borne, a popular rich boy who had been trying to enter a relationship with Cinta. One day, a date with Rangga makes Cinta ignore a desperate phone call from Alya. This produces a tragic consequence and a crisis of trust among the five friends. Cinta’s guilt and shame at herself causes her to lash out at Rangga and jeopardise their friendship.