Kazakhstan merupakan negara yang terletak di kawasan Asia Tengah dan berbatasan dengan Eropa Timur. Mulanya Kazakhstan adalah bagian dari Kerajaan Rusia dan bagian dari Uni Soviet. Negara ini memproklamirkan perpisahannya dengan Uni Soviet pada tahun 1991. Ya, umurnya memang baru 20 tahun tetapi film On a Clear Day You Can see the Revolution From Here (2020) mencoba menangkap percepatan pertumbuhan kota-kota di Kazakhstan. Film ini meminta penonton untuk mencoba menikmati tiap keindahan gambarnya yang membidik lanskap gurun, playground yang sepi, dibalut dengan optimisme yang tercermin melalui pemilihan judul film ini.
On a Clear Day You Can See The Revolution From Here dibuat oleh Emma Charles dan Ben Evan James. Emma Charles merupakan seniman fotografi dan pembuat film dari London. Sedangkan Ben Evan James merupakan kurator dan pembuat film yang bekerja di Inggris dan Kanada. Sebelum On a Clear Day You Can See The Revolution From Here, Ben Evan James telah membuat tiga film berjudul The Texture of Air (2018), Hevva (2017), dan CC Utrillo (2014).
Gagasan film ini sebenarnya cukup menarik. Emma dan Ben mencoba untuk menghadirkan identitas nasional Kazakhtan seperti apa yang terbentuk paska Uni Soviet. Dari pertambangan terbuka, gedung-gedung pengolah tenaga nuklir, hingga perjalanan historis secara geografis disajikan. Sayangnya, saat melihat film ini saya justru teringat dengan komentar beberapa bule yang pertama kali menginjakkan kaki ke Serpong, Tangerang. Mereka berkata bahwa bangunan di Serpong tampak aneh, apalagi ketika mereka melihat kampus yang mirip dengan markas Avenger. Ada kekaguman, namun perasaan tersebut sangat berjarak. Gambar landscape yang diambil oleh Emma (saya asumsikan begitu, karena bila merujuk karya Emma sebelumnya ia sering membuat potret-potret landskap), terkesan berjarak. Alih-alih menyelami lebih dalam mengenai identitas nasional itu seperti apa, film ini justru berakhir sebagai wisata ke tempat yang kau belum pernah injak sebelumnya.
Bila dibandingkan dengan film Eric Baudelaire, Letters to Max (2014), On a Clear Day You Can See The Revolution From Here justru seperti pembuka saja. Letters to Max mampu menangkap proses pembentukan identitas kebangsaan di negara tak terdokumentasikan secara resmi, yakni Abkhazia – bekas Uni Soviet pula, dengan intim dan subtil. Sedangkan On a Clear Day You Can See The Revolution From Here justru lebih seperti tour guide ke kawasan eksotis yang tidak pernah terjamah kawasan Utara sana.
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English
Kazakhstan is a country located in the middle of Central Asian region and Eastern Europe. At first Kazakhstan was part of the Russian Empire and part of the Soviet Union. This country proclaimed her separation from the Soviet Union in 1991. Yes, she is only 30 years old but the film On a Clear Day You Can See the Revolution From Here (2020) tries to represent the acceleration in the cities of Kazakhstan. The film asks visitors to try to enjoy every shots wrapped with optimism that requires through the selection of the title of this film.
On a Clear Day You Can See the Revolution From Here created by Emma Charles and Ben Evan James. Emma Charles is a photography artist and filmmaker from London. While Ben Evan James is a curator and filmmaker working in the UK and Canada. Before On A Clear Day You Can See the Revolution From Here, Ben Evan James has made three films titled The Texture of Air (2018), Hevva (2017), and CC Utrillo (2014).
This idea is actually quite interesting. Emma and Ben try to present the national identity of Kazakhstan, what was formed after the Soviet Union. From open mining, nuclear power processing buildings, to historical travel are provided. Unfortunately, when I saw this film, I was opposed to remembering the comments of some Caucasians who first set foot in Serpong, Tangerang. They said that the building in Serpong looked strange, asking for a compilation of them to see a campus similar to Avenger’s headquarters. There is admiration, but the still distanced. The landscape picture taken by Emma (I assume so, because if Emma’s previous work was released she often made landscape portraits), could not move me as audience. Instead of delving deeper into what national identity is like, this film ends as a tour to a place that you have never been there before.
When I compared with Eric Baudelaire’s film, Letters to Max (2014), On a Clear Day You Can See the Revolution From Here, just like the opening act. Letters to Max shows the process of forming a national identity in an officially undocumented country, namely Abkhazia – the former Soviet Union too, intimate and subtle. While on a clear day you can see the revolution from here, ended up as a travel guide to exotic regions that have never been touched by the North region.