February 18, 1998
Diaz Hendropriyono
Northfield, VT
Titanic could be the most popular and most profitable movie ever made. Who has not seen the movie more than once? Many of us went back and forth to the movie theater to watch the same movie over, and over again. Indeed, I like the movie as much as others do. It is a great movie, with a great storyline, and played by great actors. Who does not adore DiCaprio and Winslet, anyway, especially after watching the movie?
However, what I think most interesting about the movie is not one of those I just mentioned. The movie, specifically, reminds all of us, Indonesians, what we are going through right now. It serves as a great analogy to the financial crisis that stifles the nation.
The movie is about a huge ship, once thought to be unsinkable, that sank in 1912. One reason for its accidental dive that killed 1,500 passengers may be the owner’s arrogance and overconfidence in relying fully on the massive ship. The people on the upper decks (mostly the rich)—when the Titanic was sinking—left with some boats, leaving hundreds of people on the lower deck (the poor) behind. The people on the lower decks of the Titanic may not know the statistics of this immense ship. Unfortunately, when the Titanic hit the iceberg, the ones who felt the leakage the first were those on the lower decks.
When the financial crisis came to Asia, Indonesian economists and government officials were confident that it would not come to Indonesia; nonetheless, it did. The poorer Indonesians, similar to people on the lower decks may not know the monetary system, and how it works; however, when the Indonesian “ship” began to leak, they were the ones who felt the changes first, such as price hikes and the likes. The fortunate, on the other hand, may have gained more money and left the country with those “boats,” leaving hundred thousands of lower-income people, who are struggling for life, behind.
While the movie is quite entertaining, that it makes us smile, and sad (especially at the end when DiCaprio shivered to death), it reminds me of a true sadness that we are all facing in reality as the Asian financial crisis continues to deepen. It reminds me of the gap between the haves and the have-nots in Indonesia. It reminds me that only the rich would be safe when a crisis occurs, and the poor would die because of the greediness of the elites.
