Jakarta is a city, where rich and poor are crumped in one place. Well known for its sky-high buildings and luxurious shopping centers, it is also known for its squatters living in slums.
German director Ascan Breuer, in his documentary, Jakarta Disorder, films the city’s slum-dwelling poor and their struggle to improve their lives through active participation in the democratic system.
The documentary follows several characters in the city, such as squatters, construction workers and bus drivers.
Breuer, who is a German of Indonesian-Chinese descent, said that he was interested in documenting the struggles of the city’s urban poor. With Jakarta Disorder, he said that he did not want to show the helplessness of poverty, but rather a poor community’s struggle to win rights.
