text: darah dan doa darah dan doa ( [ ] ; indonesian for blood and prayer , released internationally as the long march ) is a 1950 indonesian war film directed and produced by usmar ismail . telling the story of the siliwangi division and its leader captain sudarto on a march to west java , darah dan doa is often cited as the first " indonesian " film , and the film 's first day of shooting – 30 march – is celebrated in indonesia as national film day . produced on a budget of 350 , 000 rupiah and intended to be screened at the cannes film festival , financial difficulties led production of darah dan doa to almost stop before the director received financial backing . after raising controversy for its subject material , the film underwent censorship and was finally released to commercial failure . retrospective analysis has , however , been more positive , and ismail has been dubbed the " father of indonesian film " . plot the siliwangi division , originally headquartered in west java , is temporarily based in central java owing to the renville agreement . after putting down a communist rebellion in madiun , killing numerous members of the communist party of indonesia in the process , they are on a break . the division 's leader , captain sudarto , meets with an indo woman named connie , who is originally from bandung . the two become friendly , but after a dutch attack is launched on the capital at yogyakarta , they must separate as the division heads westwards . captain sudarto leads his men – together with women and children – over more than 200 kilometres ( 120 mi ) , resting during the day and travelling in the morning and evening . they face hunger , a shortage of supplies , and dutch air strikes . along the way , sudarto begins falling in love with a nurse named widya . the division comes across a village which has been razed to the ground by dutch forces , killing almost all of its inhabitants . upon directions from the sole survivor , they go to a nearby village and are warmly received , being given much needed food . as the men settle for the night , sudarto goes for a walk with widya , raising the men 's ire . that night the men sleep comfortably in beds while the villagers stand guard . in the morning , however , the villagers – who are revealed to be related to the darul islam militant group – turn on them . the men successfully fight back , though sudarto is shot by the village chief . sudarto orders the chief executed , a deed which ultimately falls on the man 's son . afterwards the division continues west . one night , sudarto 's second - in - command adam tells him that the men are restless over his relationship with widya . they argue , and widya – who has overheard everything – says that she will go . the following morning dutch soldiers launch an ambush in which many are killed , including widya and adam . the division in dire straits , sudarto offers to go to nearby bandung on his own for the much - needed supplies , leaving his fellow officer leo in charge . after meeting with resistance fighters who offer supplies , sudarto goes to visit connie and is captured by dutch forces . while in prison sudarto is tortured and begins to regret his actions , especially his womanising . after the dutch recognise indonesia 's independence , sudarto is released from prison , only to learn that his wife has left him and he is under investigation for poor leadership . after meeting with leo , he realises that the division had reached safety . one night , as he reads his diary , sudarto is accosted by a man whose relatives were killed in madiun . after the two argue , sudarto is shot dead . production darah dan doa was directed by usmar ismail , a former soldier who had previously served as assistant director on andjar asmara 's gadis desa ( village maiden ) and directed two films on his own , ( image ) and harta karun ( treasure ; all 1949 ) . creative control for these works , all of which were produced for the dutch - sponsored south pacific film corporation ( spfc ) , was held by cameraman a.a. denninghoff - stelling ; ismail served more as a dialogue coach . when the netherlands recognised indonesia 's independence following several months of conferences in 1949 , ismail and other spfc staff discussed establishing their own studio , though steps were not taken to do so until the following year . for his first production , ismail chose to adapt a short story by the poet , which the latter man had brought to him ; ismail later wrote that he considered it interesting because it " honestly told the story of a man without descending into cheap propaganda " . crew for the production consisted of cameraman max tera , a former spfc employee , with makeup by ' , artistic design by basuki resobowo , g. r. w. on music , and and e. responsible for the sound effects . ismail , using his military connections , received technical assistance from various members of the indonesian army , particularly captain . the film 's cast mostly consisted of newcomers who had responded to newspaper advertisements , a conscious decision by ismail who was searching for " new faces with fresh talent " ismail adapted this technique from italian directors such as roberto rossellini and vittorio de sica . ultimately del , a law student , was cast as sudarto , with other spots going to ella bergen , , , djamin , rd ismail , suzana , muradi , and rosihan anwar . twenty - nine years old , ismail began shooting on 30 march 1950 in subang , west java . the following day he established his own studio , perfini , to produce the film . unlike his earlier films , ismail had severe technical limitations . though had cost 67 , 500 rupiah , when the filming of darah dan doa began ismail had only collected 30 , 000 – more than half of which was spent to rent the spfc ( since renamed produksi film negara [ state film company , or pfn ] ) studios and facilities . for their trip to subang , the cast and crew rented a decrepit ; filming was completed using an aged ( " decades - old " ) akeley camera ; and the crew had to hold more than one role . human factors also led to delays in production . ismail and the other crew members attempted to achieve realism by ensuring everything in the film was as it was in life , a decision which he later recanted after realising that " film was truly the art of make - believe , making people believe something , creating a new reality from what is . " cast - wise , three actors ( including the lead , del ) , competed for the affections of , leading to frictions between the actors . the cast also argued about interpretations of their roles , with ismail insisting on them following his direction . during filming , ismail typed his shooting scripts every night , expanding on the source material . after each day of filming had concluded , ismail sent the results back to pfn in jakarta and obtained rush prints which he screened for the cast and crew . one such showing spurred a deal between ismail and local cinema owner tong kim mew , in attendance at the time : tong would lend funds the production , heavily in debt ( ismail notes that , by this point , they had not paid their lodgings in " a while " ) , needed , while ismail would allow tong to handle distribution . this funding allowed the crew to finish shooting , including further scenes in . upon returning to jakarta , ismail and the crew found that some of the footage was unusable , as the " story did not work " . as such , additional footage was shot in west javan mountains , including mounts lawu and gede . other scenes were filmed at the banks of citarum river . ultimately the film cost 350 , 000 rupiah ( then approximately $ 90 , 000 usd ) , over three times that of an average contemporary production . release darah dan doa was released in 1950 and distributed by spectra film exchange . it was given the english title the long march , which the american visual anthropologist karl g. heider suggests is a reference to the chinese long march of 1934 . not long after the film 's release , a two - pronged controversy grew around it , which resulted in the film being banned in parts of the country . members of other military divisions considered the film to put too much emphasis on siliwangi 's role , while members of the general public had difficulty believing that darul islam could have betrayed the national cause . ultimately the film required president sukarno 's permission to be re - released in september 1950 , after he received a private screening at the presidential palace in mid - 1950 . however , several scenes had to be cut . domestic critical reception of darah dan doa , which was advertised as showing " fierce fighting against the colonials ! " and " the joys and sorrows in guerrilla warfare " , was predominantly negative . a review in the newspaper merdeka considered darah dan doa unsatisfying , with only a few acceptable scenes . armijn pane , writing four years after the film 's release , criticised the troops ' neatness during their march , writing that their uniforms should have become progressively dirtier . foreign reception , however , has been more positive . the japanese film critic tadao sato , for instance , praised the film 's concept , comparing it to the work of andrzej wajda . the indonesian film critic salim said writes that ismail intended to " not consider commercial aspects " and send the film to the cannes film festival in france . ultimately darah dan doa was both a financial failure , with losses that were not recouped until after ismail released his next film the following year . the film was not screened at cannes . in a 1960 retrospective , the company attributed the film 's failure to a conflict of what the people wanted and what was provided ; the write - up stated that ismail had not meant to portray the military as it should be , but as it was – as well as individuals within it . legacy ismail considered darah dan doa reflective of a " national personality " , and , in a 1962 letter , he wrote that he considered it his first film because he had had little creative control in his 1949 productions . after directing the film he went on to make twenty - five more films as director , including two ( enam djam di jogja [ six hours in jogja ; 1951 ] and pedjuang [ warriors for freedom ; 1959 ] ) dealing with the indonesian national revolution ; competing companies also released films in a similar vein , though biran argues that they did not touch on the essence of the revolution . for his role as darah dan doa 's director and his subsequent work , ismail has been dubbed the " father of indonesian film " , though the film scholar thomas barker suggests that his role in the film industry 's development was exaggerated by the new order for their anti - communist , pro - nationalistic purposes . darah dan doa is often considered the first " national " indonesian film , although the first movie produced in the area , l. heuveldorp 's loetoeng kasaroeng , had been released 24 years prior . according to the indonesian film historian misbach yusa biran , the films released between 1926 and 1949 could not be called indonesian films , for there was no sense of national identity . the film critic nova chairil stated likewise , considering the film the first to be " directed by a native indonesian , produced by an indonesian production house , and filmed in indonesia " . barker and the doctoral candidate charlotte - dunn , however , argue that films by ethnic chinese producers – generally dismissed as profit oriented in mainstream studies – already contained an indonesian identity , citing examples such as njoo cheong seng 's kris mataram ( keris of mataram ; 1940 ) . they note that , unlike the homogenous national identity offered in darah dan doa , these chinese - produced films offered the possibility of a heterogeneous identity . the indonesian film community began celebrating the first day of darah dan doa 's shooting , 30 march , as national film day in 1950 . in a 1962 conference of the national film board of indonesia , the date was given more formal recognition as national film day , and darah dan doa was recognised as the first " national film " . national film day was formally established in 1999 , when president b. j. habibie passed presidential decree no . 25 / 1999 . according to actor turned film director slamet rahardjo , the commemoration is so that " indonesians acknowledge their local film industry and are willing to develop it " . the siliwangi division 's long march was the subject of another film , mereka kembali ( they return ) in 1972 . directed by nawi ismail , it starred sandy hassan , effendi , rina hasyim , and . mereka kembali won a single award , runner - up for best actor ( arman ) , at the 1972 indonesian film festival . heider , contrasting the two films , suggests that darah dan doa portrayed communists in a more sympathetic light and " ignored " darul islam , while mereka kembali did not depict the events in madiun and demonised darul islam . he suggests that the earlier film was released in " a time for healing , a time to consolidate the new republic , to reincorporate even those who ... had fought against it . " he further suggests that darah dan doa was more europeanised and individualistic , with a focus of sudarto , while mereka kembali emphasised the importance of the group and represented an " of the national cinema " . the indonesian video archive sinematek indonesia holds both 35 mm and vhs copies of darah dan doa . it is also held at the cinémathèque française . the film continues to be screened at festivals . explanatory notes