3:22 mins., b&w, silent (Dutch intertitles)
Production: Koloniaal Institut, Amsterdam
Background – This film was shot by L.P. de Bussy who made a number of films about the Karo-Batak for the Dutch Koloniaal Institut. It is available on YouTube here, where it has been uploaded with a soundtrack of extra-diegetic music. Although it carries the EYE logo, this film does not feature in the listing of its Dutch East Indies films.
Content – ‘Gundala-gundala’ is a Karo Batak term for a particular form of masked dancing, while ‘ndikkar’ is an archaic term for a traditional form of martial art. The film consists of a series of distant shots of dance performances. These are largely static though there are also a few pans. Notwithstanding its technical limitations, the film provides a valuable record of some remarkable dances.
The first sequences consists of Batak women dancing in a village plaza with masked men standing in the background. This is followed by a particularly impressive dance of a man wearing an elaborate mask representing the hornbill. He twists and turns his head rapidly, obviously imitating the movements of the bird. Other masked dancers dance in support (see above).
The action then moves to a rural location to show a ‘war dance’ performed under a broad shade tree: presumably this is ndikkar. A series of shots shows two men, stripped to the waist, dancing in opposition to one another, gesturing extravagantly, while a third man, dressed differently, acts as some form of intermediary or third party.
The film then returns to the village for the final dance, which consists of two men, also dancing in opposition to one another, but this time the dancers are older, are fully dressed and are wielding swords.
The film ends with a shot of the Sultan of Serdan and his chief administrator who, it is revealed in an inter title, were also spectators of the village dances.
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