"You really love to look for trouble, don't you man". These words, spoken by our hero's doomed best friend Bobby, are at the heart of this haunting psychological urban western. Not since the days of John Ford's collaborations with John Wayne has there been such a persuasive portrait of the mental anguish suffered by the men who exist outside of societies remit, forever condemned to stalk the badlands.
Men like Alex Tarambuan, or Rambu to his friends. As essayed with skill and clarity by Peter O'Brian, he is a man unable to hold down any job, such is the rage and bitterness inside, which he regularly takes out on the pitiless criminal element, personified in a brilliant opening scene by his nemesis, "Charlie the Hit-man". Totally reliant on his long suffering girlfriend Jenny (a touching, sensitive performance from Yenni Farida), he is absolutely one of the outcasts. This world, located on the outskirts of downtown Jakarta (viewed briefly in one stunning cityscape), has no need for men of honour, dignity and simplicity like Rambu.
After the horrendous rape and subsequent murder of Jenny (an sadistically elongated sequence, staged with great skill and precision by director Jopi Burnama in one of many bravura set pieces), Tarambuan turns his grief into unholy anger, and decides to do the impossible take on single handed outrageously evil crime lord John White (a sinister, glowering Craig Gavin).
What follows is nothing short of an existentialist journey into Rambu's psyche, with O'Brian's unflinching performance as a man driven by emotions he barely comprehends himself coming to the fore. At this point, some extremely fine performances emerge from the intense din the legendary Dana Christina is magnificent as Clara, hard bitten moll to White; Harry Capri, pilling on the sexual ambiguity as Steven, personal assistant to the shady Mr Andre (Kaharudin Syah, on typically fine form, this time blitzing his goody goody "Stabilizer" image).
But the stand out is undoubtedly Adang Mansyur, as Rambu's mirror image nemesis Charlie. He's detestable certainly but also rather pathetic (witness him bitch slapped by his superior in one shocking scene), but played with great empathy by Mansyur. He is symbolic of the hierarchal structure of the crime network portrayed. When his grimy villainy is replaced by Craig Gavin's more measured approach as White, the film looses a certain spark. Having said that, Gavin has some choice moments - a scene of wanton intimidation and attempted rape on the daughter of local big cheese Hendrick (curiously never seen) resonates with mania and menace.
And despite the emphasis on character through action and a decidedly anarchic, intentionally messy feel, some of the action set pieces are up there with the best. Indeed, a second act rescue competes with the village raid in Coppola's inferior "Apocalypse Now", if you replace helicopters with adapted milk floats, and underlines Burnama and screenwriter Deddy Armand's feel for combining heart stopping action with a sense of the surreal.
Burning with intensity and genuine fire, "The Intruder" has enough ideas to fill several movies. Full of twists and turns, unexpected ambiguity (witness the extraordinary homosexual overtones in a scene between O'Brian and Capri, two master's at work ala De Niro & Pacino in Michael Mann's "Heat") and award worthy acting, this is an experience you won't want to miss.
