"Impian Bagas": A Dream at the Crossroads of Social Expectations and Responsibility

In the short movie "Impian Bagas", we meet a junior high school student who holds tightly to become an architect. Through this movie, moral dilemma experienced by Bagas is when he hears his mother's conversation with his father. He becomes indecisive about continuing his education and working to help the family. Bagas believes that higher education can make him the architect he has always dreamed of and also the architect's job can also make more money than being a construction worker like his father and brother. Nonetheless, his mother would like him to quit school after junior high to help his brother and father.  However, as a son, he felt it was inappropriate to go against his mother's will, and he also did not want to give up his dream. This shows that Bagas is experiencing a moral dilemma as a child and as a human being fighting for his dreams. 

Bagas's internal conflict is emotionally intense and typical for most low-income kids.  His dream, however, is challenged by harsh reality when his mother insists he to stop school after junior high to help support the family.  He is not disobedient or self-centered. He simply yearns for something beyond the impoverished world that surrounds him. But as a dutiful son, he feels it would be immoral for him to disregard his mother while pursuing his dream. His mother, on the other hand, may seem like a villain in his life.  Despite that her decisions are shaped by fear, social pressure, and lived experience. One scene reveals she is affected by what other mothers say about her family, especially about Bagas not contributing to their income. This reveals the toxic role of societal expectations amidst the poor society, a culture that normalizes child labor and discourages dreams that challenge the status quo.

(Sumber: Film pendek IMPIAN BAGAS)

In addition to poverty, the movie mirrors what has long been termed poverty mentality, it is an attitude brought on by years of economic hardship in which individuals are convinced that the possibilities of things such as schooling only prodigality, not an education that can enhance life's quality. Poverty mentality assures families that have an ambition is risky since stability comes only with present income. Consequently, this cause a lingering effect of poverty since there is a pressure group that ostracize people who try to pursue higher education. This is a belief that is handed down from generation to generation. Parents who never enjoyed the luxury of education doubt it. Survival is cherished more than advancement. As a result, children are discouraged from dreaming, not because their families are not concerned about them, but because hope is overpowered by fear.

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Bagas's mother is on of the example. She may have the best for her son within, but it is a life of struggle that guides her every step. Her people's collective voices of judgment, gossip, and skepticism reinforce her paranoia that keeping Bagas in school is foolish and selfish. This shows how poverty mentality does not just touch individuals but infects families and communities as a whole, becoming something of a herd mentality that one cannot get rid of. When families are too burdened by poverty to support their children's schooling, the government and community must step in. Civic responsibility means ensuring that no child is denied the chance to learn and grow simply because of their background. Sadly, in many low-income communities, long-term rewards from education are often overshadowed by short-term financial needs. The risk is that young people will lose faith in education before it can change their lives. This is also shown in this movie, Bagas's brother named Aji, also did not continue to senior high school to help their father's job as a construction labor.  Even so, Bagas's parents are one of the parents that aware about education in the low income society. Bagas' brother also will undergo an examination that make him equal like a graduated senior high school student.  This short film provides an illustration and also as an alerts for people not to see education only as a personal opportunity.  in article 31 of Indonesia's 1945 Constitution states that every citizen has the right to education. Back then, when Bagas is told he must give up this right, it becomes not just a family issue but a societal one. The poverty mentality, left unchecked, will continue to rob children of their futures and trap families in a cycle of struggle generation after generation.  

That is may arise a question: How many bright young minds forced to choose between education and economic survival? And how many of those stories go unnoticed?