The film follows Zainuddin (Herjunot Ali), a young, poor, and orphaned Minangkabau man who falls in love with Hayati (Pevita Pearce), a woman of high nobility ( bangsawan ) from a prosperous family in Batipuh. Hayati’s family and her uncle, Datuk Meringgih, forbid the union due to Zainuddin’s lack of lineage and wealth. Heartbroken, Zainuddin moves to Makassar, becomes a successful journalist, and befriends a mixed-race woman named Mulia (Revalina S. Temat). Years later, Hayati, now unhappily engaged to the wealthy but boorish Aziz, reunites with Zainuddin on a voyage aboard the steamship Van Der Wijck . Hayati confesses her enduring love, but before they can reconcile, the ship sinks in a storm, resulting in Hayati’s death. Zainuddin survives but succumbs to grief.

The primary obstacle to Zainuddin and Hayati’s love is not personal animosity but the inflexible caste system of Minangkabau matrilineal society. Zainuddin is an orphan without a suku (clan); in adat terms, he is an outsider, a "nobody." The film visually emphasizes this through mise-en-scène: Hayati’s family home is large, ornate, and elevated, while Zainuddin’s living quarters are sparse and low to the ground. When Datuk Meringgih states, "Adat cannot be broken," the film critiques how tradition, rather than protecting community, becomes a tool for exclusion and emotional violence.

Tenggelamnya Kapal Van Der Wijck (The Sinking of the Van Der Wijck), originally a 1938 novel by Hamka (Haji Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah), was adapted into a feature film in 2013 by Sunil Soraya. The narrative, set in the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia) in the early 20th century, transcends its romantic plot to serve as a critique of Minangkabau adat (customary law) and colonial social hierarchy. This paper argues that the film uses the central tragedy—the sinking of the ship—not merely as a dramatic climax, but as a metaphorical deus ex machina that forcibly dismantles the artificial social boundaries erected by both tradition and colonial modernity.

The steamship Van Der Wijck is a symbol of Dutch colonial progress—steel, steam, and punctuality. It represents a modern world supposedly free from village adat. Yet, on the ship, class divisions persist. The first-class deck is occupied by Europeans and the wealthy indigenous elite (like Aziz), while Zainuddin and Hayati, though traveling in different classes, remain trapped by their past. The ship’s sinking reveals the hubris of colonial technology: modernity cannot solve human cruelty or natural tragedy. In a poignant scene, as the ship lists, a Dutch officer shouts orders in a language the native passengers cannot understand, highlighting the failure of colonial structures to provide true safety or equality.