Rating: NR | Runtime: 102 minutes
Release Date: September 28th, 2023 (Netherlands) / April 12th, 2024 (USA)
Studio: Gusto entertainment / Dekanalog
Director(s): Ena Sendijarevic
Writer(s): Ena Sendijarevic

That’s just normal here.

“Careful what you wish for because you just might get it” is the sentiment that carries through Ena Sendijarevic’s darkly funny Sweet Dreams. The cause and effect at play on-screen is never quite what the characters anticipate or hope for when they willingly allow themselves to be put into exploitative situations that they believe they can turn the tables on.

Siti (Hayati Azis) embraces the midnight advances of her sugar plantation’s Dutch owner (Hans Dagelet’s Jan) because having his child (Rio Kaj Den Haas’s Karel) means she’ll be untouchable in comparison to her fellow Indonesian laborers. Agathe (Renée Soutendijk) lets her husband die because removing him from the picture will provide retribution for his infidelities and, perhaps, more control over the operation. Cornelis (Florian Myjer) and Josefien (Lisa Zweerman) accept the former’s mother’s invitation to run the factory because being onsite should make it easier to sell everything off.

The dominoes therefore fall right from the first frame with Jan teaching Karel how to shoot a tiger (and abuse the employees of which he resembles a lot more than his European father). Here’s an Indonesian boy being raised like he’s white whose father (the reason everyone allows it) suddenly dies. That leaves both wife and mistress in the lurch—although Agathe has the means to attempt solidifying power because of her position while Siti doesn’t quite know how much power she holds until the will is read. And oh, how sweet it is for Cornelis to discover his father considers the illegitimate brother he didn’t know existed to be his real son.

What ensues can’t help being humorous because the ego and selfishness of the main characters demands we never get in their corner. We want them to fall on their faces and fail to achieve their goals. We want their preconceptions, prejudices, and fears to steer their actions towards self-destruction rather than salvation because they deserve it. Only Reza (Muhammad Khan) earns our empathy as a man perfectly positioned to understand the state of the world. He laughs at the Europeans. Mocks them to their faces and gets beat-up for the trouble. And all he wants is to take Siti and Karel somewhere else to be free. If only that’s what she truly wanted too instead of money and influence.

We do have pity for these tragic souls, though. Pity for what money and status did to Cornelis and Josefien—stunting their humanity at birth. Pity for Siti only wanting what’s best for her child despite her admitting in not-so-many-words that having Karel was a means to secure what was best for her. And pity for Agathe considering she’s been stuck in a horrible marriage and hoped Jan’s death might bring her calm comfort in the volatile place she now calls home despite everyone telling her she must return for Europe before things get worse. We pity them because they lost themselves to a system that ensured their demise.

This is colonialism and the horrible fingerprints left upon the conquered land and people by its hubris and totalitarian rule. How sweet it is then that the familial chaos of Jan’s death leads to financial chaos too once the scales tip via strikes and social unrest. Watching Cornelis and Josefien squirm is a delight because they know they need to sell now despite the means to be able to do so being too insidious even for them. How then will it all end? Will Reza find a way to save those worth saving? Will Siti get cajoled into helping this family to ultimately help herself? Or will all their lofty dreams turn into a fiery nightmare?

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Hayati Azis in SWEET DREAMS; courtesy of Dekanalog.