by Colleen Wanglund

Directed by Hanny Saputra MIRROR (2005) is a horror/thriller from Indonesia. Kikan (Nirina Zubir) is fun-loving high school girl who loves to play pranks on her classmates. As the film opens we see Kikan enter a classroom with a very somber look and she begins to tell the class that a friend of theirs Doni (Jonathan Lesmana) has died in a horrible crash on the highway. Tears start to flow and the class begins a prayer for Doni when he walks in the room. Kikan cannot contain her laughter at the morbid joke she has played. Some of her classmates see the humor but others do not. Later on we see Kikan pretend to be a ghost to scare some others in another room of the school. While gleefully jumping on the table Kikan falls and hits her head, knocking herself unconscious. When she awakens she finds the school janitor has hanged himself.

Kikan realizes she is hearing and seeing strange things. While her parents are out of town she sees what she believes to be a ghost in the house so she goes to the neighbors’ and spends the night. While the family is getting ready to leave for a weekend vacation Kikan notices that she cannot see their reflections in the mirror. Later she comes upon an accident scene and sees the family walking away. As it turns out the accident killed the family and she saw their spirits. Over the next few days that same scenario plays itself out again and again. Kikan knows when someone is going to die. She becomes distraught and withdrawn, but Doni who loves her, is determined to try and help her. Kikan ends up pushing Doni away when she sees something in the mirror that truly scares her.

Overall this wasn’t a bad movie. While most of the characters are teenagers, the premise of a girl being able to predict a person’s death by not seeing their reflection in a mirror is a very good one. We get to witness the downward spiral this “gift” has on such a happy kid and it’s not pretty. At times Kikan can also see ghosts, though not always and this aspect of her new-found gift is never explained. Some of her classmates are suitably bitchy, especially when it comes to competition over the boys. Coming from a country where superstition about the dead still flourishes I thought a particular conversation with a teacher quite poignant. Basically the teacher tells Kikan that death is just a natural part of life and she shouldn’t fear it. At some point Kikan seeks the help of a spiritualist who tells her that love can overcome any divide but she must make the effort. Without giving anything away, the end is not one I would expect from a horror/thriller. It was a bit too saccharin for my taste, but it seemed to fit the overall theme. There is no real gore, as Indonesia has some pretty strict rules governing the film industry. All in all, MIRROR is worth a watch.

Mirror (2005) Trailer: