The Red Bekisar

In a village of coconut growers in Central Java during the 1960s, Lasiand Kanjat grow up in acommunity of palm saptappers.Beautiful Lasi, who is half-Japanese and half-Javanese, and Kanjat are schoolmates but kept apart by different economic backgrounds; Kanjat being the son of the buyer of the raw sap of the tappers producer.Lasi’s marriage to Darsa, a tapper, is happy until he falls climbing a tree. A medicine woman cures his paralysis in exchange for impregnating her daughter. Distraught, Lasi flees toJakarta and meets Ibu Lanting, the madam of an exclusive prostitution service. Lasi, who becomes highly prized desired but disposable ornament among men of high government levels and social circles, rebels against this life and returns home.Lasi and Kanjat rediscover their affection for each other. Their bond is the village: theground it stands on, its people and their traditions. While the tappers fight against the removal ofcoconut trees to accommodate new electrical poles, Lasi and Kanjat struggle to free her from anet of power and corruption. Their triumph is a victory of honor over the unethical.