Looking For Justice Through Vina Film: Before 7 Days

Vina: Before 7 Days has drawn controversy because it is considered to contain violent scenes that should be censored. (Dee Company)

JAKARTA A horror genre film with the title Vina: Before 7 days it was busy being discussed on social media. The film is considered not empathetic because it has reopened the trauma of the victim's family, but on the other hand because of this film too, Vina's murder case, which has stalled for eight years, has received attention again.

Films starring a number of stars include Nayla Denny Purnama, Gisellma Firmansyah, and Lydia Kandou first showing in Indonesian cinemas on May 8, 2024.

But the screening of horror genre films has drawn controversy, because it shows scenes of sexual violence.

"Make an investigative film or documentary if you really want to help the late Vina, you will reap the maximum profit by exploiting the late Vina. Mentally ill!!!" write the account @proquestfilm on platform X, which used to be called Twitter.

A scene at the beginning of the film, the character Vina is clearly described as experiencing sadistic violence by members of a motorcycle gang. The scene was considered too vulgar and disrespectful to the late Vina.

Vina's film: Before 7 Days later drew harsh criticism. In general, women activists think these scenes should not be shown. The role of the Film Censorship Institute (LSF) was also questioned, because the scenes of the film should not be visualized as clearly as it would make the majority of viewers uncomfortable.

But according to the LSF, the scene is still in the fair category. Moreover, the film also has a label for viewers aged 17 years and over.

Rommy Fibri Hardiyanto said, Vina: Before 7 Days is a dramathriller andcrime film. In the genre film, scenes of violence, persecution, rape, and general murder occur.

Rommy also assessed that the physical violence scene shown in Vina's film: Before 7 days proportional, there was no element of sadness.

He also referred to censorship guidelines listed in Permendikbud Number 14 of 2019 Article 8 which states that censorship in films can cover violence, gambling, narcotics, pornography, SARA, law, human dignity and the age of the audience.

In Article 12 in particular, there are a number of elements classified as pornography, including naked visuals of women and all the bodies of women and men, visual rape, dialogue or obscene monologue.

"The scene of violence that has been passed is considered by the LSF to be still proportional and can be accepted by people 17 years and over," Rommy said, citing Kompas.

Marliana, 33, the older sister of the late Vina, admitted that it was not easy for her family to give her blessing to Dee Company, the production house that brought her sister's story to the big screen.

Marliana said that the production house had visited the family three times. Although he had doubts, because he opened old wounds and recalled the terrible eight years of events. However, the family finally agreed that Vina's story should be used as a film.

August 27, 2016 was a terrible day for Vina and her boyfriend, Rizky or Eky. Vina, who was then 16 years old, was tortured and raped by the perpetrators, as well as Eky, who experienced violence and died on the scene.

The perpetrator tried to engineer it as if the victim died in a single accident. However, the police finally managed to uncover this case and arrested the perpetrator on September 31, 2016. Of the 11 perpetrators, the police have only managed to arrest eight of them. Seven were sentenced to life while one was still a minor eight years in prison. Three other perpetrators have not been arrested.

Over the past eight years, Vina's family felt that they did not get justice. Marliana hopes that with this film, Vina's murder case will be raised again and will receive the attention of the police so that her sister's death is thoroughly investigated.

I think justice is only for people who have a position of power. For me personally, a family that doesn't have [power] is very difficult to find justice, it's very difficult," said Marliana.

What Marliana and her family prayed for found a glimmer of hope. Vina's unfinished death case again drew public attention.

The public was surprised, why the police had so many difficulties in arresting the three perpetrators, even though the other eight perpetrators had been thrown into iron bars.

The Head of Public Relations of the West Java Police, Kombes Pol Jules Abraham Abast, said that the police had difficulty arresting the three perpetrators because they were constrained by their real identities.

Since 2016, the witnesses questioned by the police do not know the true identities of the three fugitives.

"Regarding identity, be it based on examination of witnesses and facts at trial, we just found the initials, namely Dani, Andi, and Pegi alias Perong. Whether it's a real name or a pseudonym, we are still investigating this," said Jules.

The statement from the police who claimed to have difficulty arresting the other three perpetrators raises a big question mark.

University of Indonesia criminologist Adrianus Meliala said this case was again a concern because the police were considered not to take it seriously after the incident.

He hopes that this case will serve as a reminder for the police to improve in terms of investigations into cases being handled.

Forensic psychologist Reza Indragiri Amriel said the West Java Regional Police had an important task that had not been completed, related to the wandering of the three perpetrators of Vina's murder.

"This is becoming increasingly important because it has already raised public opinion aboutinequity and subculturecurtain code in law enforcement by the police," said Reza.

"It would be very good if Kompolnas and the National Police Headquarters provide reinforcement for the West Java Regional Police so that this case is revealed more optimally," he added.

Another forensic psychologist, Reni Kusumowardhani, said the police should have been more thorough in conducting investigations, especially eight of the 11 perpetrators have been arrested.

"If there are already eight people, logically behavior, there should be an easy way to get information about the remaining three people," said Reni.

If you want to solve this case, the first police will have to ask the eight people again. The motorcycle gang is a group of children who are members of a group, so they don't want to know each other and know each other. From there, they can trace back to see who these three people are, "he concluded.