I could have been famous!

White people, or bule's are still fairly few and far between in Indonesia, and hence a very hot commodity when say, for example, famous Indonesian film directors need to make a historical film about the first Indonesian bishop (or something like that) who was also key in fighting for independence from the Dutch. 

I was invited to be an extra for this film, directed by Garin Nugroho.  What this meant was I arrived at the film location, an old Dutch sugar factory, at approximately 7 AM in the morning, was dressed in a rather dingy-style '40's dress and hat by 10 AM, sat around chatting with the rag-tag bunch of other white people, including three charming exchange students from Poland, an American traveling all of Southeast Asia, an outgoing Italian from Turin who came to Indonesia for his brother's wedding to an Indonesian and met his own Indonesian wife at the ceremony, and a Spaniard who looked exactly like a pirate (sorry no picture).  At 6 PM we were told that our scene would not be shot, ate an Indonesian dinner, and were sent home $50 richer. Not a horrible way to spend a Sunday.

Here were three of my lovely "co-stars."

Here are some behind the scene shots: a man gets his flesh wound applied on the fly, and the fires of Independence burning in the distance.