“One of the most ambitious films ever made in Indonesia.” - Rotterdam International Film Festival
Low in budget but epic in nature, significance and scale, Riri Riza's Gie is a chronological biography drawing its fundamental details from the posthumous diaries of the legendary activist Soe Hok Gie (1942-69).
Initially shunning politics in post-colonial Indonesia, Gie's drive for truth and justice saw him join the anti-government activist union of college students. Even when the government changed, he refused to cosy up to the new regime and remained a voice of reason - a tenacious watchdog - refusing to form alliances with any one political party.
Riza's film does not focus on politics, however - he mainly concentrates on Gie as a romantic idealist who enjoys the cinema, dreams of being a writer and indulges in mountain climbing.
“Gie is also about today's Indonesia, a country attempting to free itself from the corrupt years of Suharto and now facing the increasing influence of fundamentalist Moslems on cultural life.” - Rotterdam International Film Festival