“Borderless Fog” (Original Title: Kabut Berduri, 2024) is a politically charged mystery thriller streaming on Netflix. This Indonesian film revolves around a conflict in Southeast Asia. It follows a detective investigating a string of murders that happened along the Indonesia-Malaysia border. Its director, Edwin, has previously worked on over a dozen feature films, most notably “Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly,” “Postcards from the Zoo,” and “Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash.” Putri Marino, who stars in the central role, is known for her previous collaboration with the director in “Possessive” besides “Losmen Bu Broto” and the TV Series – “Layangan Putus.”
Spoilers Ahead
Borderless Fog (Kabut Berduri, 2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
“Borderless Fog” (Kabut Berduri, 2024) revolves around an investigation into the murders along the border between Indonesia and Malaysia. The film follows a big-city detective who moves there and needs to confront her past during the process.
What happens in ‘Borderless Fog’ (Kabut Berduri, 2024)?
The story of “Borderless Fog” takes place on Borneo Island at the Indonesia-Malaysia border. It is the home to the Dayaknese, Malay, and Chinese communities. From 1967 to 1990, the Indonesian and Malaysian military worked together with the local community to defeat the Paraku communist forces. One of their leaders, Ambong, is believed to have escaped and hiding in the forest as a ghost. The area is still haunted by never-ending violence. After a series of murders, Detective Sanja Arunika (Putri Marino) from Jakarta is asked to join the local team to investigate the matter.
Sanja reaches the Borneo island after a bizarre incident where a headless body was discovered with someone else’s head. The severed head belongs to Sergeant Thoriq Herdian. The body is believed to be of Dayak activist Juwing, who went missing a few weeks ago, based on the tattoos on his body. Eventually, she meets Inspector Panca Nugruha (Lukman Sardi) and Officer Thomas (Yoga Pratama) at the local police station. After seeing the body and understanding how Juwing died, she visits the site where the body was discovered.
The Mystical Presence of Ambong
Thomas introduces Sanja to Bujang (Yudi Ahmad Tajudin), who shares his theory about the cause of the murder of the ghost of Ambong in the forest. Back at the station, army officer Daniel arrives to keep a tap on her activities, as per the orders of her father, who is a reputed official. Soon after, she receives a letter about the Malaysian police department having found another beheaded body of an Indonesian person. But Panca hides this news from her for weeks. She travels to Malaysia to speak with a local policeman and receives photos from the crime scene. The locals keep sharing stories about Ambong’s mystical presence.
With Thomas’s help, Sanja catches Juwing’s nephew, Silas, after he breaks into a fight with an army officer. He reveals he acted out to avenge Juwing’s death. Bujang informs her about Ambong’s revolutionary past against the exploitation of the Dayaks. However, Thomas says the theories of Ambong’s ghost are just folklore. Later, they find another severed head with a phone inside the mouth. Through the details of all the victims, she finds some commonalities. It leads her to learn about their connection with Agam Yusof (Kiki Narendra), a local crime lord. Then, she realizes that the recent victim is Umi, who engaged in trafficking Dayak girls.
Inspector Panca & the Corruption
Panca orders Sanja and other officers to look for the missing Dayak girls. Despite his strict orders, she decides to arrest Agam. But Panca forces her to let him go. Since she tries to arrest him in Malaysia, Panca requests a new detective. Regardless, she connects the recent killings to the trafficking of Dayak girls. During her further investigation, she visits an abandoned factory where a masked person attacks her. Bujang hears her screams for help and informs Thomas, who comes to save her. Afterwards, another Dayak girl is found dead. While she continues the investigation, Panca gives her the transfer documents.
Panca offers a pen to sign the papers, and Sanja realizes it belongs to Agam, which means Panca works for Agam. Later, she realizes Panca forced Thomas to keep a watch on her. Panca is engaged in many illegal activities. He pays Thomas some money to keep his mouth shut. Thomas reveals that Panca was the masked man who attacked her in the factory. In the past, Sanja had also engaged in actions she was not proud of. So, she can’t condemn Thomas without confronting herself. Without anyone to trust at the station, she starts losing hope. At night, a fire breaks out in the woods. As she goes to help the locals, she imagines Arum, the only undiscovered Dayuk girl, next to her. It pushes her to go ahead with the investigation.
Borderless Fog (Kabut Berduri, 2024) Movie Ending Explained:
Does Sanja solve the mystery behind the murders?
After realizing Thomas’ betrayal, Sanja seeks Silas’s help to find the truth. They kidnap Agam and confront him. He admits that he forced the corrupt army officer Thoriq to kill a recent victim and seek revenge for stealing money for him. Later, someone sent Asraf’s severed head to Agam’s house, but Agam destroyed it. Agam claims Thoriq murdered Juwing but swears by his own innocence. After Sanja records Agam’s confession, Silas hopes to murder Agam. Since Sanja stops him, he runs away but the police soon catch him and Agam.
Thomas drives Panca into a car and traps him inside to make him confess to his connection to human trafficking. As Thomas records Panca’s confession, Panca deceives Thomas and shoots him dead. Meanwhile, in the borderless fog, Sanja discovers that Bujang was behind the recent murders. He acted out of his desire to revolt against the Dayaks’ survival struggles as the police kept ignoring their dire needs. Bujang pursued this mission after the deaths of Juwing and Asraf. He killed anyone who would bring attention to his cause. When she decides to arrest Bujang, she notices Panca tied nearby.
What do the final frames indicate?
Bujang beheads Panca and disappears into the thin air. While lost in the hazy fog, Sanja finds Arum, the last missing girl. Afterward, Agam gets arrested for serial murders. Sanja discovers the video of Panca’s confession that Thomas recorded. Losing all hope, she decides to leave the island. On her way out, she notices Bujang’s severed head tied to a tree and realizes how the cycle of violence continues on this island. So, she leaves with the knowledge that the mystery may remain unsolved. In the film’s last moments, we see a kid cleaning a bloodied shoe in a river, followed by a shot of fish swimming back and forth inside a tank.
The boy is likely the ghost of Ambong, but it represents any Dayak local who has lost hope and is left cleaning the blood from the belongings of their lost ones. The fish tank is from the place Sanja stayed on the island. It serves as a metaphor for how the locals remain trapped in a never-ending loop.
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