The Blindfold (2012)

Recruits to a radical Islamic organisation are blindfolded before being taken to a contact address. So starts this look behind the scenes of a phenomenon that cannot be discussed. The filmmaker received a visit from the head of counter terrorism. A sensitive film.
In contemporary Indonesia, religious radicalisation is playing an increasingly important role. The banned Indonesian Islamic State (NII) successfully recruits among young people who don’t have any prospects of training or work. Nugroho tells three different stories: that of the girl Rima, who emerges as a valuable staff member of the NII; Jabir, who quits school for lack of money and returns to his parents, and Asimah, the mother of Ainsi, who has been kidnapped by the NII.
Rima does so well that she acquires a leading role, but then it soon becomes apparent that there is no room for her ambitions in Islamic conventions. Jabir joins the radical Muslims out of frustration about the lives of his parents, who have no prospects. Asimah walks all over the city looking for her daughter. Nugroho (Leaf on a Pillow, Opera Jawa) made the film on a small budget (less than 100,000 Euros) with primarily non-professional actors.