The Indonesian Netflix horror film Siksa Neraka aims to teach moral lessons to its audience, but it comes off as quite problematic. The simple narrative could have been great for children to follow, but the gore makes it inappropriate. The grisly, gory visuals are meant for an adult audience, but in that case, the narrative is too childish to be taken seriously. At the end of the day, neither kids nor adults would want to sit through Siksa Neraka. The film revolves around preacher Syakir and his family. Syakir was a religious man, and he tried to teach his four children moral lessons from a young age. He explained the idea of hell and heaven through stories and religious texts. Syakir tried to help them understand how one’s actions on earth can impact their afterlife journey. His daughter Tyas believed in every word he said because, as a little girl, she had witnessed a soul being tortured in hell. Even though Tyas admired her father the most, Syakir considered her too weak and foolish. He had no expectations from her, and it was only after a heartbreaking incident that he learned to value her.
Spoiler Alert
Why were Fajar and Saleh punished?
Syakir was proud of his eldest son, Saleh. He was well-educated and had a reputed job. Every time he returned home, he brought presents for the entire family. His siblings aspired to become like him; after all, he was the perfect son. Tyas admired Saleh as well, and she was a little surprised when he proposed that they all leave the house together for their sister, Azizah, to participate in a singing competition. It seemed all too wrong for Tyas; she knew their parents would be disappointed in them. She tried to warn her siblings, but they did not care about her opinion. Tyas had no choice but to accompany them. It was raining heavily that night, and when they attempted to cross the river, they all slipped and fell. The water current was too strong, resulting in the tragic deaths of Fajar, Saleh, and Azizah.
In their afterlife, Fajar and Saleh ended up in hell. They were brutally tortured and burned every second. They realized that their father had been right all along—one does face punishment for their actions in the mortal world. As it turned out, Saleh was not the perfect son his father always thought he was. He was not an assistant professor but a big gambler and schemer. Saleh used to sell dubious insurance schemes and never return the money. He was a gambling addict, and he did not care about the lives he ruined by his actions. Syakir was devastated when he figured out that Saleh had gotten his neighbors to invest in his schemes, and they lost most of their savings as a result. While Saleh managed to stay out of prison in the mortal world, he had to be accountable for his sins in his afterlife.
It was only after Fajar’s death that his mother, Ibu Rika, discovered that her son had been lying about the group studies he had been going to. He was quite the playboy, and it was only after his death that his mother found out about his many girlfriends. He had committed the sin of physically engaging with women before marriage, and therefore he was punished in hell.
What secret was Azizah hiding?
Azizah wanted to pursue music, but her father did not approve of it. She enjoyed singing, and she looked forward to performing in front of a large audience, but Syakir believed she should not sing in public. While this is not the only reason why she ended up in hell, it did seem to be a deciding factor. Azizah was Syakir’s youngest daughter, and she was adored by her family. While she seemed innocent, she was a bully at school. Towards the end of Siksa Neraka, we find out that Azizah had bullied her best friend to the point of suicide. She lacked empathy, which was why, even after finding out about Dini’s death, she decided to attend the music event. Tyas was surprised to see how unaffected Azizah was after finding out about Dini’s death. She thought her reaction was strange, but she never assumed that Azizah was responsible. In her afterlife, Azizah was sent to hell, and she was tortured ruthlessly.
Why was Tyas allowed to leave hell?
Tyas was the only one who survived the accident. She was hospitalized, and the doctors declared that her condition was critical. Tyas, too, was briefly transported to hell because, at that point, she was standing between life and death. She was heartbroken to see her siblings being tortured. She tried to stop, but it was beyond her control. While Fajar, Saleh, and Azizah were being beaten, burned, and mutilated, Tyas was left unharmed. It was only at the end of Siksa Neraka that Tyas figured out that the ones torturing her siblings were actually their own terrifying selves. Each of them had evil within them, and it was their evil side that brought them to hell and tortured them. Tyas did not have any evil in her, and that was why there was no one to torture her. Throughout her life, she has always made the morally right decisions. She might not have been the most intelligent of her siblings, but she was a virtuous woman, and that is why she was not punished. Tyas ultimately survived and returned to the mortal world. After holding three funerals, Syakir and Ibu Rika were glad to bring their daughter back home.
How did the accident impact Tyas and her family?
Syakir had always been hard on Tyas because she failed to ace her exams. But after the accident, he realized that she was the only one who followed his teachings and focused on becoming a good human being. It was perhaps because she had seen a tortured soul in hell when she was very young that she always believed in the teachings and knew that for every action she would have to face consequences in the afterlife. Syakir regretted his past actions and was resolute to become a better father to Tyas. Her siblings made fun of her because of how uptight she was, only to realize that they should have also followed the same path.
During Siksa Neraka‘s ending, Tyas became her parents’ only hope. Losing three children had impacted Syakir and Ibu Rika to a great extent, and Tyas tried to be there for her parents as much as she could. Tyas remained dedicated to her studies, and through her success and achievements, she made her parents proud. She was thankful to her parents, who continued to support her even after the dark times they had been through. As a family, they focused on moving forward in life, though the pain and the feeling of emptiness remained. They often visited the burial ground to pay their respects to Fajar, Saleh, and Azizah. Their deaths were a reminder of how little time one has on earth, which is why Tyas believed it was all the more important to do good and encourage others to do the morally right things to avoid punishment and enjoy an afterlife full of abundance.
