High expectations overwhelm 'Gie'

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Gie; Drama, 2 hours 27 minutes. Starring Nicholas Saputra, Jonathan Mulia, Sita Nursanti, Indra Birowo. Directed and written by Riri Riza; A Miles Films production (Bahasa Indonesia). **1/2 (out of ****). Opening on July 14.

Gie was one of the most anticipated movies of the past year for a few reasons, but mainly because the majority of local productions have ranged from plain bad to abysmal, with very few exceptions.

Another reason is because the emerging contemporary film scene, after it was crippled during the 1990s, has been dominated by (bad) teen and horror flicks. So, a mature drama about an uncompromising political activist who died young was expected to bring some depth and a drop of inspiration to the scene.

Furthermore, the film was made by Riri Riza, the most celebrated figure in the local industry, whose films, whether his involvement was in direction or in producing (count Rumah Ketujuh/Seventh House out), have been milestones for their quality.

Recently, a local film observer and critic even accused the Cannes film committee of cronyism, as the committee had picked a not-so-stellar Singaporean film over Gie. The critic admitted he had not seen the latter, but for the aforementioned reasons, he thought it had to be a great film.

After watching the movie, however, it's clear that the people at Cannes are not stupid.

This movie, sadly, falls flat due to its lack of focus, lame screenplay and dialog, as well as its skin-deep approach to Gie's character and Indonesian politics.

This is very unfortunate because Gie, or Soe Hok Gie, was a legendary student activist whose sharp and critical writing has been immortalized in several books.

Born in 1942 during World War II, Gie came into the spotlight as a student at the University of Indonesia's School of Literature, when he was actively involved in the 1960s student movement against the Soekarno government.

A prolific contributor to several publications at that time, Gie was daring, frank and unbending in his ideals; a quality unmatched in his successors until today.

Leading a modest life, he once sent a lipstick and a mirror to former fellow student activists who sold out later and became the very legislators they used to criticize.

His idealistic approach, however, often left him isolated, but he could not care less. An avid mountain climber, Gie died in 1969 while scaling Mount Semeru in East Java.

Riri Riza's film is the first to portray Gie's life.

It begins in Gie's teenage years, set in a Chinese-Indonesian neighborhood. The film started out well and continued so for the first half-hour, although the pace was too slow, and the audience finds out the critical, idealistic and anxious character of the young Gie (played quite well by newcomer Jonathan Mulia).

These traits are revealed in how he sticks up for the poor, how he stood up for his best friend, Han, who was physically abused by his family, and other scenes.

The excellent cinematography, the intricate setting with great details promised that better things lay ahead over the next two hours.

Unfortunately, it does not deliver. The characters are portrayed in a superficial manner -- for example, Gie likes to read, speak up, watch art films -- distancing the viewers instead of letting us relate to him, let alone be inspired by him.

Gie is also overwrought by lame and preachy lines about politics, which leaves the impression that the filmmaker does not really have knowledge on this subject, but is hardly trying to cover it up.

Perhaps Riri should have focused on, say, the friendship between Gie and Han, the latter of whom was a victim of the massacre of Communists, as he was a sympathizer of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). Or maybe he could have focused on the friendship between the activists, or Gie as a rare-breed activist hailing from the Chinese-Indonesian community.

Instead of focusing on a specific theme or event, it appears Riri was trying to tell too many things at once, that the movie became a montage of events and is often confusing, not to mention dull.

In a bid to humanize Gie, Riri also inserted some mushy romance, which only made the characters even more flawed.

The actors are not damaging to the film, but are not really convincing in their portrayals either, particularly Nicholas, whose average work here only reminded of criticisms as to why a Eurasian actor was picked to play a Chinese-Indonesian.

Even the thematic score and songs on the original soundtrack are baffling. The already unimpressive music should have been subtle, but instead it often drowns out the narration. And then suddenly, a rock song blares on screen and (gasp!) it's Bob Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone -- which is very much not in tune with Gie's rigid portrayal and the tone of the film.

Nearing the end of the film, all we were waiting for was the moment Gie dies. Which is, needless to say, really, really sad.