Shadow Play
“Do you like my puppets? If you want to understand Java you have to understand the Wayang, the sacred shadow play. The puppet master is a priest. That’s why they call Sukarno the Great Puppet Master, balancing the left with the right. Their shadows are souls, and the screen is heaven. You must watch their shadows, not the puppets. The Right in constant struggle with the Left, the forces of light and darkness in endless balance. In the West we want answers for everything. Everything is right or wrong, or good or bad. But in the Wayang no such final conclusions exist. The prince, Arjuna, is a hero, but he can also be fickle and selfish. Krishna says to him, ‘All is clouded by desire, Arjuna, as a fire by smoke, as a mirror by dust. Through these it blinds the soul.’” — Billy Kwan (as portrayed by Linda Hunt) in the film The Year of Living Dangerously, screenplay by C.J. Koch, Peter Weir and David Williamson
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