Perfected Grammar
In Budapest, an elderly Mother (anonymous) teaches her Hungarian-speaking Daughter (anonymous) the difference between the active and passive tenses in the Mother's mother tongue, Indonesian. However, the examples the Mother uses open a wound about the Mother's hurtful relationship with the country. As their little conversations evolve with her broken Indonesian, the Daughter learns what the Mother has been holding in. A walk through the Danube River, a plan to cook something that night, and making do with what's within reach as their Indonesian sinks away in the liveliness of Budapest and we learn the dark history of Indonesia and what caused one of them to lose their "home". This film reflects on those who were forcibly displaced and serves as an archive for the succeeding generation that still bears the consequences. Exploring the bustling soundscape of Budapest combined with a tropical lullaby from a distant land, this meditative piece becomes a reminder of the pain experienced by those uprooted against their will.
