Cigarette Girl: A tragedy of woman, betrayal, and generational secret

Set in the backdrop of the 1960s, Cigarette girl is a moving story of a determined woman who was attempting to break the shackles of her culture and society. Her name is Dasiyah, a girl born from a business family who owned a cigarette industry. Back in the day, in the cigarette industry, women were only allowed to work as cigarette rollers and other aspects of the business were taken care of by men. Dasiyah or endearingly called “Jeng Yah” is talented and passionate about cigarette dreaming of revolutionizing the industry.

She understands quality tobacco and wants to use her talent to make “sauce” which is the essence of a great cigarette. Unfortunately, sauce making is only a man’s job and a woman isn’t allowed inside the room as the popular beliefs dictate that if a woman entered the sauce room, the cigarette would taste sour and awful. Her comfortable life turned upside down when she first encountered Raja, a wanderer who went from one place to another and eventually found himself in the city of M. One day, their eyes locked together and Jeng Yah saw a spark of freedom in Raja’s eyes. That is when their tragedy was about to unfold and span through generations.

Cigarette girl is a six episodes Netflix original series directed by Kamila Andini and Ifa Isfanyah. It was recently released and has garnered quite a lot of attention especially in Indonesia. The setting of the place is a fictional city of M although since it’s about the cigarette industry back in the 1960’s, the city of M is most likely located somewhere in Central Java. In this series, they also feature Museum Kretek. In Indonesia, the special kind of cigarette is called “Kretek ''. It is an unrolled cigarette consisting of tobacco and also various spices which are called “sauce”. To this day, this type of cigarette is still the most preferred by locals. In the past, it was seen as medicinal as the original creator of it, consuming a mix of cloves with tobacco and forming it into a cigarette. That was also believed to be the start of Kretek culture in Indonesia.

In the first episode, we are transported to Indonesia in the 2000s where a man called “Lebas” was attending his Ill-father. His father woke up from a dream and shouted, “ Jeng Yah” then instructed his youngest son to find her. Lebas, who was the estranged son of Raja, begins his search and reading some of the notes and letters that his father had. In the first episode, it was revealed that Raja’s family owned DR cigarette company, a #1 producer of cigarettes in the country. Lebas started his journey by visiting Museum Kretek which his family is one of the benefactors. From there, he also meets Arun, another benefactor of the museum whose grandfather was also a cigarette owner in the past. In this first episode, the character of Jeng Yah was also introduced. She is characterized as introverted, anti-social but talented when it comes to tobacco. Her society at the time believed that a woman shouldn’t play with cigarettes and at her age, she was supposed to be married and be in the kitchen instead of dreaming something more. In this episode, was also the start with Jeng Yah and Raja encounter and ends at Lebas in the 2000s was talking to his family about his quest on finding Jeng Yah.

Then, as the relationship between Raja and Jeng Yah grows, her family was already setting her up with a man called Seno, a son from a family acquaintance. Jeng yah disapproved of it but couldn’t really resist. In the present time, it was mentioned that Arum is the daughter of Rukayah, the younger sister of Jeng Yah. She is a doctor but spends her life in a simple house in the suburb of city M. Arum grows curious about her Aunt, Jeng yah which always sounded mysterious to her.

The third episode showed when Jeng Yah eventually found a unique sauce that she shared with Raja. This sauce was “their '' sauce and eventually both of them revealed that they were in a relationship with Jeng Yah’s family. Things went really well for a while as Jeng Yah eventually launched her cigarettes called “ Kretek Gadis' ' their tagline was, “ once you inhale it, you’ll feel as if your dream woman would emerge in front of you”. It was then revealed that Raja was a seasonal laborer and worked as the Dutch's spy during colonial times. Then, as Raja got affiliated with the left party (red: the communist party) it was the start when Jeng Yah’s family would turn upside down.

The red party also produced cigarettes and at the time,everyone who is known to be affiliated with them got taken away and was inside some sort of “list”. There is a stigma once someone enters the list and most likely would never make it out alive. Jeng Yah’s family was accused of being part of the left party as two boxes of cigarettes were found in her home. Soon, the military raided the house, destroyed it and only the mother and rukayah survived the aftermath. They were also taken care of by Seno.

Jeng Yah was taken into prison while Raja survived the aftermath and began to work for the rival of Jeng Yah’s family. During the arrest, Jeng Yah faced immense struggle but the thought of reuniting with Raja kept her spirit. Unfortunately, time passed and she was later released two years after the incident. She went back to her previous home only to find out the place now has been abandoned. Next thing she knows, Jeng yah woke up alongside her sister and her mother who was taken care of by Seno.

As their family secrets were slowly revealed. Arum was shocked to find out the truth about Jeng Yah and her origin. The stigma after the arrest stuck to her family and only during her generation, she could stay away from that and lived a normal life without knowing her previous pain of her mother and family. They were the family who was accused of being into the left and got their life, future, and livelihood taken away. In the last episode, everyone received the resolution while Lebas grew as a better person and Arum became curious of her father’s side past. Both of them hinted that there would be more adventure. As Arum’s father died during conflict in Papua which at the time was also a turning point in the history of Indonesia.

This series was filled with senior actors and actresses from Indonesia. Jeng Yah is played by Dian Sastro who is a known actress in the country. Raja is played by Ario Bayu, a known actor who plays mostly action and historical films. While Putri Marino, who played as Arum is an upcoming actress who is also famous in the county as well as Lebas, played by Arya Saloka, a known soap operas as well as famous actor in the country. When it comes to the cast, there should be no question and doubt that it’s filled with stars and their quality of action is one-of-a-kind.

For Indonesian film and series, a lot of cinematically stunning films are those period/historical genres. This series was the same. The slow motion and cinematic aspect was shown in some scenes especially on its smoking part. It made it feel like romanticizing smoking and almost watching a cigarette advertisement at play.

Meanwhile the story itself was quite a typical betrayal and rivalry romance. Yet what makes it intriguing was that it touched on the 1965’s tragedy in the country that somehow remains to be under the table. Some movies have been made and attempted to make a reconciliation towards the dark past of the county and this series was too. It showed that some people were put into the list despite they weren’t actually part of the left. This series felt personally close to home as my grandfather was once taken away and then released because he was found not guilty. It was a difficult time according to my grandmother and my older aunt, just like Jeng Yah’s family. But they survived the aftermath and moved on from those dark times in the country.

As this movie contains smoking scenes, it feels almost like smoking is romanticized and cool. It also remains intriguing as the feminism theme is spread throughout the film. These days when a woman smokes it is seen as “strange” or weird but through this film, back in the day women of all ages were smoking and it was not something so taboo. If you like movies that talk about the struggles of women, this is one of them.

For foreign audience, getting the nuances of the story might not be easy. But this series, enjoyed as cinematically stunning work as well as great actors, are justified. It was a good journey watching this and I highly recommend this series on Netflix.

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