Vengeance Is Mine,
All Others Pay Cash
A FILM BY Edwin Edwin
Post-PRODUCTION GRANT - Fall 2020
Ajo Kawir has not been able to get an erection since he was a young teenager.
At 12, he and his best friend, Tokek, secretly stalking a young widow named Rona Merah, witness her being raped by two police officers. Tokek manages to escape and hide, but one of the officers catch Ajo Kawir and make him watch and join them in raping her. Ajo Kawir fails to sustain an erection, and his penis has never gotten hard since.
That is the beginning of Ajo Kawir’s violence, his youthful energy channeled into fighting. One of these encounters leads him to Iteung, a girl with great skills in martial arts and, to his surprise, they fall in love. Unfortunately, Iteung has an affair and becomes pregnant. She confesses to her husband, Ajo Kawir, who is enraged. When he walks out on her, Iteung is devastated and regrets her actions. Iteung kills her lover, and goes to jail.
When Iteung is finally released, she hunts down the two policemen who jailed her, and kill them. Now Ajo Kawir, who thought that he had make peace with himself, is in despair. He misses Iteung, he missed home. He decides to come home and intend to repair their marriage. As the two reunites, the police officers are waiting to escort Iteung back to prison. Once again, Ajo Kawir’s penis will have to wait.
In a society ruled by machismo and patriarchy, a hibernating “bird” becomes a very serious matter. In a life of brutality, the sleeping bird is an allegory for a peaceful life, even when the whole world tries to rouse it.