Rudy Habibie

Rudy grows up in Indonesia; he loses his father during the war, and his father tells him one thing: be useful to your country. Years later he goes to Germany on a scholarship to study aeronautical engineering. He lives as a poor student in Aachen; the money is short, the weather is cold and the course is hard. In the same period there is a political split among the Indonesian students and Rudy is trying to found an association. He also meets Ilona. Hanung Bramantyo directs. Reza Rahadian plays Rudy. The narrative rests on a real person: B. J. Habibie studied aeronautical engineering in Germany, worked there for years and then returned to Indonesia; he later became the country's president. The film is the prequel to an earlier one about his marriage, and this returns to his youth. The subject is what belonging to a country means; Rudy is studying far away and argues constantly between staying and going back. Student life in Germany is given in detail: the hostel, finding work, the language and what being foreign means day to day. It did well commercially in Indonesia and the films about Habibie became a series. Its limit is tone; the narrative turns at times into a tribute and the character is too ideal. Who it is for: viewers who like Indonesian cinema and biography from real events. Who it is not for: it is long, the emotional emphasis is high, and the romantic strand slows the narrative.