Riri Riza: Don't let standardization shackle you!

Riri Riza: Don't let standardization shackle you!

Gie, which is still playing in theaters in the country, has been
praised by many critics as the most important film to be made by
the nation's film industry this year. The film is about Soe Hok
Gie, an idealist and student activist who died young in the late
1960s. Certainly. there are many aspects of him that could make
his life an interesting film.

He is a Chinese Indonesian who
joined the student demonstrations against the old regime of
Soekarno and the communist party and helped bring Soeharto to
become the President. He was also among of the first to criticize
and make public the massacres of the communists in the first
years of the New Order regime. What makes him remembered to this
day is mainly his diary, which was later published as a widely-
read book titled Catatan Seorang Demonstran (Notes from a
demonstrator).

The following is an interview by contributor Iwan Setiawan
with the film's director Riri Reza

Question: What viewpoint do you employ when interpreting Soe
Hok Gie's life story and turning it into a film?

Answer: The spirit of this film is how to arouse many people
with the story of a young man that is continuously in search of a
way to remain honest and consistently reject any effort to draw
or persuade him to enter a particular circle. He believes that it
is truth and humanity that must be defended. This is what grips
my heart.

Employing this viewpoint, I have gathered many things about
Gie, ranging from a library of research material to records of
interviews with Soe Hok Gie's friends. Then I drew up phases of
Gie's life: his childhood, the situation where he and his family
lived, his readings, his attitude from the time when he was a
child up to a time when he rebelled. I have also included a
description of the relevant political situation, matters related
to his romantic side such as his hobby of making an adventure,
poetry writing and his love story.

So, Gie that is featured in this film as a figure that wants
to struggle to be pure and therefore destined to befriend
loneliness.

Is it the choice of this particular viewpoint that has made
this film, with a running time of 150 minutes, longer than other
films in general?

At first, this film had a running time of 240 minutes, but
finally we decided to shorten it to "only" 2.5 hours.

Right from the time when the film script was written, I had
made a plan that this film would never have a running time of one
or one and a half hours, like most local films. However, it would
not be realistic to make a film about a very long and important
era laden with romanticism in just a short time. Finally, the
present running time of 2.5 hours was decided upon.

Are you not afraid that the viewers will get bored and then
won't be able to fully enjoy this film?

No, because I trust what I have made, starting from the story,
the way the story is narrated to the nuances presented throughout
the film. In viewing something, we should not let the general
standards, such as a film intended for the general public having
a running time of 1.5 hours, shackle us. We should not hastily
conclude that the public will find it difficult to accept a film
with a long running time. I believe our society is smart.

What difficulties did you encounter during the making of this
film?

If you liken filmmaking to painting, then my difficulty in
making this film lay on the width of the canvas on which my
painting had to be made. This is not a film about a figure, but
about an important era of a great nation. It was in the midst of
this important era that Soe Hok Gie lived and waged his struggle.
Another difficulty was related to the visualization technique as
it forced me to bring to life again the atmosphere of the 1960s
in a detailed manner, encompassing the sound, the property, the
vehicles, the houses, the clothes and many other things. In
addition, I also had to conduct a lot of research about the
political and social situation of that period.

What actually do you want to get across in this film?

There are three things that I want to get across in this film.
First, I would like to explore an important period in this nation
that has very rarely been exposed, let alone discussed.

Second, I would like to talk about the role of our youth in as
much as they have always played a key role in the making of
Indonesia's history. From 1908, 1928 to 1966, the period when
Soe Hok Gie became an activist, the youth always played a major
role. What makes it extraordinary is that this is depicted
through the figure of Gie, someone who came from a highly
vulnerable social group, Indonesians of Chinese origin. I have
found that since I was eight and was still living in Makassar,
Chinese-Indonesians have often been victimized by many groups. I
have witnessed how the houses belonging to them have been
destroyed. Even when a Chinese-Indonesian beat his housemaid, all
Chinese-Indonesians had to bear the brunt. Gie came from this
circle and this is important to understand.

Is the making of this film your political statement?

From the very start I was fully aware that a decision to make
a film about Soe Hok Gie's life had to touch on politics. I did
not deliberately make this film a statement of my political
stance. My original intention was just simple: I only wanted to
tell the story of someone that we believe must be told to the
broader public, particularly the younger generations.

Have you decided to cast Nicholas Saputra as Gie because
youngsters were the target audience of this film?

I fully understand the controversy that may arise about
Nicholas Saputra playing the role of Soe Hok Gie. Not many people
understand what considerations must be taken into account when
making a decision in the making of a film.

First, Soe Hok Gie was not someone that made a fuss about
one's background, ethnic origin and so forth. Neither had he ever
joined the struggle put up by the Chinese ethnic groups.

I did not use an actor of Chinese origin, not because I don't
see any talent and capability on the part of actors of Chinese
origin. I put up posters and employed other ways to find actors
that would be suitable to play the role of Soe Hok Gie. It turns
out that Nicholas was the best.

What has made him the best?

Every decision that I have made in this film is based on
several things, namely the artistic, quality, credibility,
enthusiasm and commercial criteria. Nicholas Saputra meets all
these criteria. He is good not only in artistic or commercial
terms.

While a film is still a mere conception, its commercial aspect
is an important thing that will make this idea survive and later
be translated into a film work. Aside from meeting artistic and
quality criteria, a film must be commercially good. Soe Hok gie
is not a mere historical film laden with artistic merit as it is
also a film that is screened in 35 cinemas in 10 cities. It has
been made at a cost that is quite huge for the standard of this
"poor" country.

This is something that people, even those from the film
circles themselves, both film workers and film critics, do not
quite understand

How do you measure the success of a film?

For me it is very important that a film should be seen by many
viewers. In this way, the message of the film can be conveyed to
the public. This is the most crucial thing. To this end, a film
must be made, among others, with a full sense of responsibility
and valid data and must possess strong argumentation. A film is a
mass medium that is very likely to be viewed by many people and
can influence them.

Once, I was involved in the making of a film that was later
viewed by up to 2 million people, I have also participated in a
film that was just seen by some 20,000 people. In the final
analysis, every film has its own audience.