Gie

Riri Riza's 2005 Indonesian film tells the life of the activist Soe Hok Gie. An Indonesian of Chinese descent, Gie undergoes a political awakening during the last years of Sukarno and the rise of Suharto; he becomes known for his writing and organising at university and then sees those who take power following the same road. He died on Mount Semeru a day before his twenty-seventh birthday. The film rests on Gie's diaries and presents him not as a hero but as someone growing steadily more isolated, opposing both the regime and his former comrades. Touching on the mass killings after 1965 was a bold choice in Indonesian cinema at the time. Nicholas Saputra plays with restraint. The film runs past two and a half hours and some sections repeat. Who it's for: viewers interested in Indonesian history, student movements and political biography. Who it's not for: anyone unfamiliar with the political context who will struggle to follow events, or wanting fast narrative.