The Express Tribune Magazine - April 19

APRIL 12-18 2015

A MISSION How archaeology has brought Pakistan and France closer together

IN MAKRAN

APRIL 12-18 2015

Travel

When in Romania

Cover Story

A mission in Makran

A journey to the dark heart of Dracula’s castle in Transylvania

French archaeologist Aurore Didier reveals how the PakistanFrench Archaeological Mission in Makran will benefit both nations

16 Feature

A most violent year

24 Feature

Happy Baisakhi The annual Baisakhi festival will be celebrated amid strict security this year

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4

Through his latest film, director Joshua Oppenheimer raises awareness about the genocide in Indonesia

35 Regulars

6 People & Parties: Out and about with beautiful people 40 Reviews: TV 42 Positive Pakistanis: Abia Akram empowers women with disabilities

Senior Subeditors: Dilaira Dubash and Sanam Maher. Subeditor: Komal Anwar Creative Team: Jamal Khurshid, Essa Malik, Mohsin Alam, Talha Ahmed Khan, Hira Fareed, Maryam Rashid, Eesha Azam & Sanober Ahmed Publisher: Bilal A Lakhani. Editor: Kamal Siddiqi For feedback and submissions: magazine@tribune.com.pk Twitter: @ETribuneMag & Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ETribuneMag Printed: uniprint@unigraph.com

PEOPLE & PARTIES

Fariha, Najeeb and Zehra

PHOTOS COURTESY M IMRAN FAREED

Aamna Taseer and Shehrbano Taseer

Home dĂŠcor brand Marina Home Interiors opens its flagship store in Lahore

Kamiar and Cybil

Amber and Amina Liaqat Aneela and Saleeha

6 APRIL 12-18 2015

Saira and Fatima

PEOPLE & PARTIES Mehvish and Mavira

PHOTOS COURTESY M IMRAN FAREED

Maha Anjum

Sarfraz, Zoe and Jimmy

Ahmed Butt, Humera Arshad and Sophia Mirza

8 APRIL 12-18 2015

Hissam Hyder and Alyzeh Rahim

Farhat and Shahzia

PEOPLE & PARTIES Burger King and IMAX Cinestar Cinema host a premiere of Kingsman: The Secret Service to celebrate the opening of Burger King at the cinema in Lahore

Amna and Sammra PHOTOS COURTESY BILAL MUKHTAR EVENTS & PR

Nazim Sheikh and Yasmin

Mubarika and Mohsina

Arooj Gulzar and Hina Salman

Amina Faisal and Madeeha

Humais, Anum and Farah

Madiha Qaiser, Zahra Raza and Ikram

10 APRIL 12-18 2015

Ayesha and Tariq Zaman

Essha Murad and Ibrahim

PEOPLE & PARTIES Development Communications Network organises the fourth National Women at Work Festival in Islamabad

Dr Fouzia Khan

Riffat Ara Baig, Tasneem Abbas and Munir Ahmed

Zareen Yaseen, Nilofar Iqbal, Sarwat Mohyuddin and Ayesha Masood

12 APRIL 12-18 2015

Semeen Farrukh

PEOPLE & PARTIES

Iffat Omer and Batool

Neelam, Maryam, Sameen and Mehreen

Mehak and Usman

Sorin Brotnei and Mihai Gruia

The Global Store TGS opens up in Lahore

Faisal and Muhammad Afzal

14 APRIL 12-18 2015

Sophia Mirza

Sundas Hoorain, Sara Bhatti and Mikaal Zulfiqar

PHOTOS COURTESY VERVE PR

Mr and Mrs Bilal

FEATURE

When in Romania A journey to the dark heart of Dracula’s castle in Transylvania TEXT AND PHOTOS BY ALI REZ

“We are in Transylvania, and Transylvania is not England. Our ways are not your ways, and there shall be to you many strange things.” These words, from Bram Stoker’s Dracula, echo in my head as the train slowly grinds out of Bucharest’s Nord station. I am no Jonathan Harker, the solicitor who visits Count Dracula in Stoker’s finest creation.

Unlike Harker, I know exactly what I’m headed into.

Bran Castle, located “on the very edge of a terrific precipice”.

It has been a lifelong dream of mine to visit the land of one of the most feared characters in both real and imaginary history: Transylvania is the place where the blood-thirsty Vlad the Impaler defended Wallachia from the Turks, and subsequently ended up in Western literature as a bloodthirsty vampire.

But first, a word about Bucharest and its communist architecture supernova; only second to the Pentagon as the biggest in the world, Bucharest’s Palace of the Parliament will need your widest angle lens. A chain-smoking bartender and I discuss the fact that Romania actually recognises witchcraft as a tax-paying profession and that 10,000 people get bitten by

True to his nickname, Vlad used to impale entire platoons of Turkish soldiers onto sharpened wooden stakes and leave them to rot over a couple of days, while gravity slowly slid them inch by inch further down the spike stray dogs in the city every year — stories as perfect as gymnast Nadia Comãneci’s 10. “Even the scoreboard didn’t expect her,” the bartender puffs. It’s true: the scoreboard at the 1976 Montreal Olympics didn’t have space for the gymnast’s 10.00, so registered a confusing 1.00. Such is the tenacity of Romanians — literally ‘citizens of Rome’.

Winter is everywhere, and I exit Bucharest armed with plenty of the local weapon of choice: plum brandy. Heading into the heart of Transylvania — much like a wooden stake would — the frozen flat ground gives way to rugged mountains dotted with snow and tree branches reaching out, welcoming you with their skeletal arms. This is a beautiful country: villages seem locked in time, bull carts still transporting hay the way they did 400 years ago.

My first stop is the fairytale town of Sinaia, named after a 17th century monastery, home to the first Romanian Bible.

The town is all pretty chimney turrets and bean soup smoke, and it feels like somebody chucked a box of pastel-coloured crayons into a cement mixer, as I trek up the hill through narrow alleyways in order to get to the fantastic NeoRenaissance Peles Castle.

Brasov, an hour’s journey by train from Sinaia, is my base for this region. It’s a little more modern but has heart, as if to make up for the McDonalds near the old town. The city offers me a splendid sight the first morning I draw my curtains and look out the window: the head of a stuffed deer resting in a

The fairytale town of Sinaia gets its name from the 17th century monastery.

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An eerie welcome to the town of Sinaia.

APRIL 12-18 2015

The man in stone: Vlad Dracula. horse carriage, staring right back at me.

I head towards the nearby town of Bran, which boasts the famed ‘Dracula Castle’. Links to the actual Count himself are not confirmed, but it is local knowledge that Vlad was imprisoned here for a while. Nevertheless, the castle is just as Stoker describes it on the overcast day I choose to visit, “on the very edge of a terrific precipice”.

Unlike for Harker, none of the doors are locked to me here. I wander around the castle, learning more about Vlad the Impaler. In a time when conquerors and despots would battle for the title of the most imaginative sadist, he was hands down the winner. True to his nickname, Vlad used to impale entire platoons of Turkish soldiers onto sharpened wooden stakes and leave them to rot over a couple of days, while gravity slowly slid them inch by inch further down the spike. A fierce fighter, Vlad Dracula — son of the Order of the Dragon (‘dracul’ in Romanian, adding an ‘a’, means ‘son of’) — stood up against the Ottoman Empire’s expansion into Wallachia, and is thus still considered a hero around here.

Vlad wasn’t one for manners. When the Ottoman Sultan sent messengers to collect tax from the Count, they refused to remove their turbans to show respect. Vlad let them know that they would never remove them again: he had the turbans nailed to the messengers’ heads.

Despite this reputation, Vlad was far from a vampire in a black cloak; he certainly didn’t climb down his castle wall like a gecko. Nor, I suspect, did he shrink in the face of garlic.

His is a classic accident of literature colliding with history, creating one of the most fearful and repulsive characters read by man.

My jugular intact, I walk past the large tombstone in the grounds around the castle, wondering how the Irish Bram Stoker, who never visited Transylvania, managed to craft such an eloquent — although unfairly horrific — description 18 of this countryside. Finally, dismayed that the three Ladies APRIL 12-18 2015

The rainbow-hued city of Sighișoara.

The perfect companion for a long journey. of the Castle didn’t make a visit this time round as they did for Harker, I head back to Brasov.

My next stop is the 12th century dreamscape city of Sighișoara, further into Transylvania. A magnificent, gothic clock tower guards over this pretty town that has more colour on its walls than a paint fight in a kindergarten. But the real draw for me is one particular yellow house tucked in the shadow of the clock tower: the residence of the Dracul family, where the Count was raised. It is as bright as Vlad was full of darkness. These days, the building houses a restaurant, complete with a maître d’ in a red and black cloak. If you visit, do the right thing and order your steak bloody.

Around the corner from the house is a solitary statue.

Sporting a Javed Miandad-like moustache, Vlad Tepes (‘tepes’ in Romanian means ‘impaler’) looks solemn, as stone cold as he is in the book. His was a life full of dispensing cruelty, and yet, he met an end that was sweeter than most: his decapitated head was presented to the Sultan in Constantinople preserved in a jar of the finest Wallachian honey.

Stoker’s vampire is the undead monster who rises night after night for eternity and haunts all who know him. In writing Dracula, Stoker provided Vlad exactly that: eternal life. The book has never been out of print and continues to be one of the most quoted horror stories among young and old readers. Vlad Dracula wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

As the countryside flies past my train window on my ride back, I notice the Carpathian mountains shrinking and I remember the meaningful words the Count says to Harker as the Englishman enters the castle. “Welcome to my house.

Come freely. Go safely; and leave something of the happiness you bring.”

Ali Rez has visited 92 countries. His goal is to visit all of them. You can follow his travels on his Instagram @amrez APRIL 12-18 2015

19

COVER STORY

French archaeologist Aurore Didier is currently heading the Pakistan-French Archaeological Mission in Makran.

PHOTO COURTESY:ARIF SOOMRO

A

French archaeologist Aurore Didier reveals how the Pakistan-French Archaeological Mission in Makran will benefit both nations

MISSIONÊ INÊ MAKRAN

BY MM ALAM

DESIGN BY ESSA MALIK TAIMUR

Pakistan has enjoyed close bilateral ties with France since decades. Be it military, cultural or educational cooperation, the two nations have found common ground, which has ultimately made their relationship stronger.

Apart from encouraging students to take up French at university level in order to pursue a post-graduate education in France, Pakistan has steadily invested in its mutually beneficial relationship by inviting French archaeologists to unearth a 8,000-year-old civilisation in Makran and to promote the study of archaeology in both nations.

The Indus civilisation or Harappan civilisation, first identified in 1921, was widely recognised as the Indian subcontinent’s earliest settlement. But the discovery of an agricultural centre in Mehrgarh, Balochistan, dating back to 7,000 BC, changed that. Discovered in 1974 by French archaeologists Jean-François Jarrige and his wife Catherine, who had been working in Balochistan since 1964, the site represents a highly-developed civilisation that predates the Indus civilisation.

COVER STORY

SINDHÊ WASÊ THEÊ STARTINGÊ POINTÊ OFÊ FRENCHÊ ARCHAEOLOGICALÊ RESEARCHÊ ONÊ THEÊ CULTURALÊ HERITAGEÊ OFÊ SOUTHERNÊ PAKISTANÊ

FORÊ

THEÊ

PROTOHISTORICÊ

PERIODÊ (AROUNDÊ 1,400-1,500Ê AD)

Late Jean-François Jarrige and Catherine Jarrige at Musée Guimet in Paris. PHOTO CREDIT: MM ALAM After the demise of Jean-François Jarrige in November 2014, his widow chose another woman, Aurore Didier, to continue the work the couple had started. “Aurore is a brilliant scholar whom my late husband and I have chosen to continue with our archaeological work, look after our files and documents and to publish the findings,” says Catherine.

Didier first came to Pakistan in 2000 as a member of the Pakistan-French Archaeological Mission in Makran, directed

by Dr Roland Besenval, founder of the Mission in Makran from 1987 to 2012. “At the time, I was a Masters student at the 26 Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, focusing my research APRIL 12-18 2015

on the Indus civilisation,” she says. “This was the only French mission that was carrying out archaeological work in Balochistan; so, I worked at the site of Shahi Tump near Turbat, in Kech-Makran district, as in-charge of excavations with other archaeologists.”

Didier always shared a warm relationship with Catherine and Jean-François Jarrige. “I was honoured when JeanFrançois and Roland Besenval asked me to supervise the mission and later to head the Indus-Balochistan programme,” says Didier, who has previously worked at an archaeological site in Turkmenistan and was a member of the French-Indian Archeological programme in Ladakh for two years as in-charge of pottery studies.

Soon, Didier concentrated on ancient pottery from the 3rd millennium BC in Makran and decided, with the support of Roland Besenval and Jean-François Jarrige, to do a PhD in ancient pottery. She divided her time between Pakistan and France, spending January to April in Makran from 2001 to 2007. She coordinated with the Sindh government’s Exploration Branch on the materials found during the excavations.

Didier is currently working on the publication of final results of the work conducted in Makran. “For the next five years, we plan to publish the final results of the Shahi-Tump excavations and also of the environmental programme conducted on the Makran coast,” she adds.

Balochistan and the southern Sindh connection Didier is currently not able to work in Balochistan due to security concerns in the province. “We have no authorisation to go there from the French and Pakistani authorities,” she says. “We don’t want the people or government to get uncomfortable. After we stopped the research in Makran,

Aurore Didier during a field study in 2015 in Sindh. PHOTO COURTESY: AURORE DIDIER we came back to study the findings there. We have also launched French Archaeological Mission in Indus Basin, supported by Jean-François Jarrige and Roland Besenval.”

She points out that Sindh was the starting point of French archaeological research on the cultural heritage of southern Pakistan for the protohistoric period (around 1,400-1,500 AD). The research was initiated at Amri by Jean-Marie Casal in 1958. “After working in Balochistan, we came back to Sindh to continue this research,” says Didier.

Didier and her team are presently focusing on details of transition linking pre-Indus and Indus civilisation periods, finding a connection between ancient cultures of Balochistan with that of Sindh, which includes how the Indus civilisation developed on that site and what the relationships between the different regions of the Indus territory and Balochistan’s culture were.

“In Makran, we have shown some link among the chalcolithic, Bronze Age period,” she says. “This mission put together the scientific programme conducted by Besenval in Makran with a new programme on Indus, developed in collaboration with the Culture, Tourism and Antiquities Department, Government of Sindh. But the topic and the issues are the same as conducted before in Balochistan.

The issue is to try to find more data, have new information concerning the inter-regional interaction system between the Indus Valley and Balochistan. That means new exploration and excavation in Sindh.”

The team also aims to carry out improvements in the chrono-cultural periodisation of southern Sindh, which

Aurore Didier and her colleague Dr Pascal Mongne working at a prospective site in Sindh that could be excavated in the next field mission. PHOTO COURTESY: AURORE DIDIER is currently not well-known: “The only sequence available with chalcolithic, pre-Indus and Indus periods is at the site of Amri in southern Sindh, in Ghazi Shah and Kot-Diji, but there was no other excavated site which had the potential for studying the transition between the pre-Indus and the Indus 27 civilisation periods,” Didier explains.

APRIL 12-18 2015

COVER STORY

Ó ONEÊ OFÊ THEÊ MOSTÊ IMPOR

THEÊ NEWÊ GENERATION

BOTHÊ INÊ FRANCEÊ ANDÊ INÊ P FRENCH ARCHAEOLOGIST AURORE DIDIER

Funerary pottery from 2nd half of the 4th millennium/ beginning of the 3rd millennium BC found in Shahi-Tump.

PHOTO COURTESY: AURORE DIDIER

Commenting on the objective of the recently-launched Indus Basin Mission, Didier says, “We would like to explore these new sites and try to select a site which could have preIndus and Indus levels with the help of the government’s Exploration Branch.” She indicated that being close to Balochistan, Jamshoro is a perfect area to work on the southern Sindh and Balochistan connection.

It’s a team effort

Excavations by the French Archaeological Mission in Makran (1990-2007) in Shahi-Tump.

PHOTO COURTESY: AURORE DIDIER

Didier shares that while searching for a suitable area for excavation, the team noted protohistoric sites in Sindh.

“The problem with many sites in this valley is that it is very difficult to reach the deepest level of these sites (like in Mohenjo Daro where some work was carried out in the 1920s),” she explains.“The level of alluvial plain and the water is too high to be able to go deeper and to study the oldest level [which may reveal] the transition between pre-Indus and Indus periods. “Due to technical difficulties, those levels are not reachable at the moment and we cannot substantiate the presence of a settlement before the Indus civilisation buried beneath the Mohenjo Daro remains,” Didier says. Catherine Jarrige adds, “There are probably pre-Indus levels at Mohenjo 28 Daro, but they are under the present water-table.”

APRIL 12-18 2015

According to Didier, the team will coordinate with local experts to use and develop innovative technologies to conduct their research work. “One of the most important things is to train the new generation of archaeologists both in France and in Pakistan,” she feels. “In our next field campaign, to be conducted jointly with local archaeologists from the government’s Exploration Branch, Culture, Tourism and Antiquities Department, we will systematically include Pakistani students from different universities (particularly here in Sindh) to train them to become future archaeologists.

We are working on the cultural heritage of Pakistan but it is also our duty to train locals and give them access to information.”

Didier says her mentors have always emphasised the importance of involving locals in her research: “During our week-long exploration at Chanhu-Daro this year, people visited and asked positive questions. One man also read a poem in Sindhi, praising our work.”

Speaking about sources of funding, Didier says, “We are working in close collaboration with the Embassy of France and with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.” With the support of the diplomatic mission here it will be possible to send Pakistani students to France and bring French students to study archaeology in Sindh’s universities.

Bridging the gap Noting that the cultural heritage of Pakistan is a fantastic field for archaeologists, Didier says, “I believe the French Archaeological Mission in cooperation with the Department

RTANTÊ THINGSÊ ISÊ TOÊ TRAINÊ

NÊ OFÊ ARCHAEOLOGISTSÊ

PAKISTAN

Neolithic settlement (7,000 BC) in Mehrgarh.

PHOTO COURTESY: CATHERINE JARRIGE

of archaeology and Museums of Pakistan has made an effort to show the richness of this ancient history.” Yet, she laments that there is a lack of awareness in France about the South Asian protohistoric archaeological importance. “The first time I heard fleetingly about the Indus civilisation, it was in university during a course concerning Middle East archaeology and trade in the 3rd millennium BC.” Didier plans to introduce the Indus civilisation as a subject in French institutions and create awareness through talks at various forums.

She also plans to organise international seminars, conferences and exhibitions both in Pakistan and France.

In next five years, with the help of Pakistani partners, she will endeavour to organise an exposition at the Musée Guimet at Paris featuring objects of Pakistani heritage, especially the Indus civilisation and the chalcolithic period in southern Pakistan. “It would be fantastic for us to have an exhibition about the material from Makran, Mehrgarh and Naushahro,” she says. T

French archaelogical mission of Indus 1. Mundigak 6. Nausharo 2. Amri 13. Kirta 3. Nindowari 14. Lal Shah, Damboli, 4. Pirak Dauda Damb, Sibri, Shah 5. Mehrgarh Ghair French archaelogical mission in Makran 7. Miri-Qalat 8. Shahi-Tump 9. Kulli

10. Panodi 11. Sotka Koh 12. Sutkagen Dor

MM ALAM has been actively involved in journalism since 1991.

He is a Karachi-based staffer at The Express Tribune.

29 APRIL 12-18 2015

FEATURE

Happy Baisakhi This year Sikhs will celebrate the Baisakhi festival at Gurdwara Punja Sahib in Hassanabdal amid strict security

TEXT AND PHOTOS BY RASHID ALI

On April 14, to celebrate the arrival of spring, cultivators in Punjab will enjoy a wheat harvest at the second largest Sikh festival, Baisakhi. Over 2,000 Sikh pilgrims from all across the world, such as India, Canada, US, UK and Australia, will arrive at Gurdwara Punja Sahib in Hassanabdal to participate in the festival which bears great significance for Sikhs because in 1699 on the day of Vaisakh the 10th guru of Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh, laid down the foundation of the Khalsa Panth, considered as the community of the ‘pure ones’.

According to Sikh tradition, Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikh religion, came to Hassanabdal for the first time in the month of Vaisakh (April/May) along with Bhai Mardanaji and stayed under a tree at Gurdwara Punja Sahib. On the front of the hillside there is a meditation chamber related to the 15th century Muslim saint, Baba Wali Kandhari. It houses the imprint of the hand or punja believed to be that of Guru Nanak. This is the only reason why this gurdwara is known as Punja Sahib.

A Sikh granthi (priest) reciting the holy

32 Granth Sahib.

APRIL 12-18 2015

Sikh pilgrims being served karah prasad (pudding made from butter, sugar and flour).

Sikh pilgrims gathered around Gurdwara Sri

Sikh pilgrims taking a bath in the holy water of the gurdwara.

Of all the rituals involved in Baisakhi, the ritual of Bhog (literally ‘delight’) is the most significant, in which the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of Sikhs, is bathed with milk and water, placed on a throne and read out to followers The festival is celebrated with a great deal of feasting, bhangra, folk music and fairs. Locals dress up in their finest clothes and sing and dance to folk music.

There are also races, wrestling bouts and acrobatics. In the morning, Sikhs visit the gurdwara to attend special prayers. Most Sikhs strive to visit the revered Golden Temple in Amritsar or Anandpur Sahib. Of all the rituals involved in Baisakhi, the ritual of Bhog (literally ‘delight’) is the most significant, in which the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of Sikhs, is bathed with milk and water, placed on a throne and read out to followers. At noon, the karah prasad (pudding made from butter, sugar and flour), is offered to the guru for his blessings.

It is then distributed among members of the congregation. The ceremony culminates with a special guru ka langar or a community lunch. People sit in rows with their heads covered as volunteers serve them a vegetarian meal.

Owing to the recent attacks on places of worship in the country, strict security measures have been taken to protect the pilgrims this year. This includes the deployment of over 1,600 police officials, four deputy superintendents, six inspectors, 11 sub-inspectors, 23 assistant sub-inspectors, 33 head constables, 606 constables, 12 lady constables and over 100 officials in different areas around the temple. Additionally, teams of Rescue 1122 will also be positioned at the event to provide medical care to pilgrims. For entrance into the gurdwara, special security passes have also been arranged. Furthermore, in order to facilitate the Sikh yatris within the vicinity of Punja Sahib, money exchangers, banks, religious stalls and easy load facilities will also be made available. T Punja Sahib in Hassanabdal.

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Rashid Ali is a correspondent at Daily Express, Sanjwal Cantt and tweets @hasniattock APRIL 12-18 2015

FEATURE

A most violent year Joshua Oppenheimer comes up with a silence-breaking film on the Indonesian genocide of 1965-1966

BY SCHAYAN RIAZ DESIGN BY SANOBER AHMED

In Joshua Oppenheimer’s ground-breaking film The Actt of Killing, the documentarian tracks down perpetrators of the Indonesian killings of 1965-1966, in which half a million ion suspected Communists were brutally murdered. Shockingly, gly, most of the perpetrators were revered figures in their heir localities and still boastful of the horrible acts they committed ted all those years ago. For the documentary, nominated for an Oscar last year, Oppenheimer invited these men to re-enact act some of the killings in the style of their favourite film genres, res, such as gangster films or musicals.

Joshua Oppenheimer is an an O Oscarsca carnominated American film m di d dire director. ire r cttor or.

PHOTO COURTESY: TONY GENTILE/ EN ENTI NTIL TILE/ TILE/ / REU R REUTER REUTERS EUTER RS

FEATURE A history of killings In October 1965, the Indonesian government gave free rein to Indonesian soldiers and local militias to kill anyone considered a Communist.

Over the next few months, at least 500,000 people were killed (the total may be as high as one million).

Victims included members of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI), ethnic Chinese, trade unionists, teachers, civil society activists and artists. The Indonesian government has since justified the massacres as a necessary defense against the PKI. In October 2012, Djoko Suyanto, the political, legal and security affairs minister, argued that “this country would not be what it is today” had the killings not occurred.

Adi Rukun confronts Amir Siahaan in The Look of Silence.

The result was stupefying. Werner Herzog, who alongside fellow documentary film-maker Errol Morris served as an executive producer of the film, best describes The Act of Killing as “a masterpiece of film-making, full of depth, surrealism and stunning silences that will outlive the political message”. Oppenheimer has since released a quasi-sequel to The Act of Killing, called The Look of Silence. Already successful at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize, The Look of Silence travelled next to the Berlin Film Festival for a special screening. This documentary is just as important as Oppenheimer’s first film, and perhaps just as good.

It’s not only about the perpetrators, but also about an eye specialist named Adi, whose brother Ramli was murdered during the killings.

Therefore, this time around we get not only one side of the story but the inevitable confrontation with the killers as well.

Oppenheimer accompanied Adi

while he interviewed the perpetrators, confronting them about their heinous crimes. And just like in The Act of Killing, even here there are hardly any signs of remorse.

It’s unbelievable how Oppenheimer has managed to follow up a monumental masterpiece as The Act of Killing with another equally good film. With these two documentaries, he has helped bring attention to something not many people were actively thinking about a mere four or five years ago.

“These two films form a single work whose whole is, I hope, greater than the sum of the parts,” he says, explaining that he doesn’t have a favourite between the two films. While in the first film, Oppenheimer is hardly present, it is in this more intimate setting of The Look of Silence, with Adi as the interviewer, that the perpetrators actively acknowledge “Josh”, the man behind the camera.

“In The Act of Killing, there are crucial scenes where I do intervene,” Oppenheimer says. “I confront Adi Zulkadry of being a war criminal.” He explains that with his first film, there is “a necessary distance, a kind-of staying back, as these surreal, bizarre series of dramatisations unfold before the camera.” With The Look of Silence, Oppenheimer says none of that distance exists. Instead, there is “a closeness, an intimacy, particularly with the family”. He explains, “The perpetrators respond to me because in every single scene, they are feeling betrayed by me.”

They probably felt betrayed because the production of The Act of Killing sounded different to what was happening here as “Josh” let Adi do all the talking. And that riled them up.

“We would start with the lowest ranking perpetrator, shoot that confrontation, tell Adi’s mother, wife and children and

Joshua Oppenheimer celebrates winning Best Documentary for The Act Of Killing at the British Academy of Film and Arts awards ceremony at the Royal Opera House in London.

PHOTO COURTESY: REUTERS

let them watch it and decide if we should continue. [This is] because we knew the lowest ranking one wouldn’t cause us any danger,” Oppenheimer explains.

The actual production was tense, not because anything bad had necessarily happened, but because of the danger Oppenheimer and Adi were in each day of the shoot. “We had all sorts of precautions. When we were confronting the more powerful perpetrators, the family was always at the airport, packed and ready to go in case anything went wrong,” Oppenheimer explains. “We would have a getaway car, so it would be hard for them to follow us. We’d have Adi there with no ID, so we could get help before they could figure out who Adi was.” Oppenheimer only used a Danish crew on this film, so nobody apart from Adi was exposed to any threat from the killers. “We took these precautions but we were always afraid,” he adds.

To say that the past is in the past and that Indonesia has come to terms with its past isn’t true. In The Look of Silence, there’s one particular scene where Adi’s child goes to school and the teacher praises the killers. In what circumstances are these children growing up? Will there ever be a generation of Indonesians who will completely distance themselves from what happened in their country? “The two films together have catalysed this fundamental transformation in how Indonesia talks about its past,” Oppenheimer feels. “Nearly 53,000 people saw The Look of Silence in its first week and that’s as many people who saw The Act of Killing over four months in the United States. The media and the public talk about the genocide as a genocide, whereas before they either didn’t talk about it at all or referred to it in the terms of the official

A poster of the film The Look of Silence.

While the government was unwilling to approve The Act of Killing for release in Indonesia, Oppenheimer made the film available in the country for free on YouTube so millions could watch it history, as something to be celebrated.”

Oppenheimer says that the films have spurred a younger generation, who are not complicit with the military regime, to come forward and examine their national past in hopes of reconciling with it. “The Look of Silence has shown us how torn this whole society is by this unresolved wound, how there’s a kind of abyss that cuts across every community, sometimes across every family in Indonesia,” he explains.

What Oppenheimer says about the family is illustrated in the film. Towards the end of The Look of Silence, Adi learns that his uncle was a prison guard, complicit in the killings.

“I think that there’s a whole generation that says, ‘We don’t want to be lied to anymore. We don’t want to send our children to school to be lied to’,” Oppenheimer explains.

“I think they knew they were lied to before, but it’s very different to be a subject of the naked emperor before the child comes and says the emperor is naked. And to be that same subject afterwards. And I think my films have come to Indonesia like the child in The Emperor’s New Clothes and it’s impossible to ignore it now.”

While the government was unwilling to approve The Act of Killing for release in Indonesia, Oppenheimer made the film available in the country for free on YouTube so millions could watch it. When the film was nominated for an Oscar, a high-ranking spokesman in the Indonesian government finally acknowledged the film’s subject. “He said we know that it was a crime against humanity and we know we need reconciliation, but we don’t need a foreign-made film to push us into this,” Oppenheimer recalls. “It was the first time the government ever acknowledged that the genocide was not heroic and was in fact a crime.” Such statements, as small as they may seem, reflect to Oppenheimer that the government is being forced to acknowledge that what happened was wrong, and, as he puts it, perhaps slowly “change will come.”

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Schayan Riaz is a Germany-based writer who tweets @schayanriaz APRIL 5-11 2015

Legally boring

The fourth season of Suits turned a legal drama into an emotional one

BY SAMEEN AMER

Legal dramas have a constant presence on television and their popularity is showing no signs of waning. Viewers tune in week after week to be entertained by the brickbat of legal minds as they try to outwit each other with their every move. USA Network’s Suits initially employed this tactic generously and effectively, creating a series that was entertaining despite not being particularly innovative. In its fourth season, however, the focus has shifted from intriguing cases to ego clashes and relationship dramas, and the result is significantly less engaging than before.

More people have become implicated in the felonious lie that drives Mike Ross’ (Patrick J Adams) legal career, and protecting the secret becomes increasingly tricky for his mentor Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht), Specter’s loyal secretary Donna (Sarah Rafferty) and Pearson Specter’s managing partner Jessica Pearson (Gina Torres). With their careers and reputations at stake, the

lawyers face challenges from both within and outside the firm; a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation looms, while investor Charles Forstman (Eric Roberts), who has a history with Harvey, comes back into the picture to cause more trouble.

Meanwhile, the characters’ personal lives often come into focus; Mike has moved in with Rachel (Meghan Markle), who is now juggling work and law school, Louis Litt (Rick Hoffman) tries to win back Harvard placement official Sheila Sazs (Rachael Harris) and Jessica is seeing SEC Attorney Jeff Malone (DB Woodside). But the intersection of their personal and professional relationships inevitably leads to issues.

Secrets cause friction, personalities clash and general melodrama ensues for most of the season, especially in the second half.

The show, however, is still impressive to look at, thanks to its attractive cast, their designer outfits and the fancy sets. But there isn’t much substance beneath its glossy

surface. The acting talent has delivered consistent performances, but the characters they portray have become less appealing as the season has progressed. The protagonists are hard to root for; most of them are annoyingly smug and at times hypocritically self-righteous. The storylines are bland, their resolutions overly convenient, and the whole fraud premise, which was never quite as convincing as the show would have hoped, is starting to grate.

Viewers who prefer their legal dramas with more emphasis on drama, and have a higher tolerance for romantic banter, will probably like how Suits has evolved (plus fans of Louis Litt are particularly likely to enjoy his arc).

For the rest of us though, the series would be better if it returned its focus to the legal twists and turns that made it so enjoyable to begin with.

Rating: Sameen Amer is a Lahore-based freelance writer and critic. She tweets @Sameen

More legal dramas Ally McBeal

(1997 — 2002) In the legal comedy drama Ally McBeal, a young lawyer (Calista Flockhart) joins a law firm where her ex-boyfriend (Gil Bellows) and his wife (Courtney Thorne Smith) also 40 work.

APRIL 12-18 2015

Franklin & Bash (2011 — 2014)

In legal procedural Franklin & Bash, lifelong friends Jared Franklin (Breckin Meyer) and Peter Bash (Mark Paul Gosselaar) join a prestigious law firm after winning a prominent case.

The Practice

(1997 — 2004) Legal drama The Practice follows the exploits of lawyers at a Boston law firm.

The show also spawned the successful spin-off series Boston Legal (2004 — 2008).

positive

PAKISTANIS

Able to affect change Abia Akram proves women with disabilities are an asset by setting an example herself

BY SEHRISH WASIF

Thirty-year-old Abia Akram became the first Pakistani woman to be nominated as coordinator for the Commonwealth Young Disabled People’s Forum. PHOTO CREDIT: HUMA CHOUDHARY

I

n a society where women with disabilities are considered a liability, Abia Akram’s success story strives to turn the tables for them. The 30-year-old born with the genetic form of rickets, a rare disease that causes the softening and weakening of bones, became the first Pakistani woman with disabilities to be nominated as coordinator for the Commonwealth Young Disabled People’s Forum earlier this year by using education as a weapon to secure her future.

“This is an honour for me,” says Akram. There were two other potential candidates contesting for this position and she won by receiving 50% of the votes. “I cannot forget the moment my name was announced for the position. It was more like [one should sometimes] ‘expect the unexpected’.”

There are several reasons why Akram was perhaps the ideal candidate for the job. After being granted British Council’s Chevening Scholarship, Akram completed her post-graduation in Gender and International Development from the University of Warwick, UK, which helped her envision the leadership role of women with disabilities and learn strategies to implement legislation, particularly the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Furthermore, she has been engaged in the activities of the disability rights movement in the country since 1997.

She served as a chairperson at the National Forum of Women with Disability and is a pioneering member of the Asia Pacific Network for Independent Living as well as a project manager at the Capital Independent Living Centre. Currently she serves as director projects at the Special Talent Exchange Program, a non-governmental organisation working to empower people with disabilities, 42 as well as sensitising the masses about adopting a rightsAPRIL 12-18 2015

based approach.

“My aim and struggle is to give a voice to all women with disabilities who have been pushed to the brink of isolation,” says Akram. “I try to draw the attention of the international world towards the challenges being faced by women with disabilities in developing countries and my representation conveys a clear message to them that we are not lagging behind in any field,” she adds. Being a member of the Beijing+20 Review Committee, Akram is highlighting the concerns of women with disabilities in the global arena.

But things haven’t been smooth sailing for Akram.

“People’s attitude towards persons with disabilities is hurtful. Instead of being encouraging, they mostly discourage them,” she says, adding that it was her parents’ support that pushed her forward in the face of adversity.

When she was in school, Akram was not aware of her physical disability but people around her made her realise that she was always different. Later, she was forced to use a wheelchair although she wanted to walk without one.

Akram believes that there is a dire need to create awareness among people to change their attitudes. “I know many mothers of girls with disabilities struggling to find a suitable match for their daughters because there are very few people willing to accept them as their life partner,” she says, adding that many people ignore the strength, determination and potential these women possess. “I am confident enough to say that if women with disabilities could be given a chance to prove themselves, they can do much better than many others. If we look back into history, we can find many such examples.” T Sehrish Wasif is an Islamabad-based reporter for The Express Tribune