This City Is A Battlefield
Singapore Premiere
Mouly Surya Indonesia, Singapore, the Netherlands, France, Norway, Philippines, Cambodia 2025 119 min M18 (Sexual Scenes)
Revolution does not come cheaply, as a gang of anti-colonial hopefuls find when present passions test their dreams of a future.
In 1946 Indonesia, with the power vacuum left by the war, Jakarta’s streets are awash with the craving for independence, while colonial rulers brutally quell any hint of unrest. Isa, a teacher and loving father, fights in an anti-colonial guerrilla cell alongside the younger hot-headed Hazil, who has eyes for Isa’s wife Fatimah. When a plot to kill a Dutch official is formed, they find themselves torn between not just ideologies, but family loyalties and friendships too.
In its kinetic action sequences, the film is shot through with the heat of political struggle. Yet, in quieter moments and cloistered sets, heroism gives way to frustration and hesitation – pressures that mirror the unspeakable weight of a nation and individuals in transformation.
With this adaptation of Mochtar Lubis’s 1952 novel A Road with No End, Mouly Surya cements her reputation as a master of genre. Fusing noir tropes with the sensuality of a period piece, her film fleshes out a period quietly written out of national history.
Synopsis Writer: Ryan Lim
Q&A with Filmmaker(s), Audience Choice Award
5 Dec, Fri 7:00PM / 119 min
Golden Village Vivo Max
AT THE FEST!
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This City Is A Battlefield
Perang Kota
Mouly Surya
Indonesia, Singapore, the Netherlands, France, Norway, Philippines, Cambodia
2025
Indonesian, Dutch, English
English
119 min
M18 (Sexual Scenes)
Singapore Premiere
Mouly Surya
Mouly Surya is one of the most acclaimed filmmakers in Indonesia today. Her feminist revenge tale Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (2017) premiered at Cannes, while sweeping a record 10 awards at Indonesia’s Citra Awards and the Grand Prize at Tokyo FILMeX. She recently released her English-language debut Trigger Warning (2024), starring Jessica Alba. This City Is A Battlefield was the closing film of Rotterdam.
Chicco Jerikho,
Ariel Tatum,
Jerome Kurnia
Rama Adi,
Chand Parwez Servia,
Fauzan Zidni,
Tutut Kolopaking
