However, I'm rather disappointed with the plot of the latter part of the movie, but since this was based on true story then I really can't blame the screenwriter-I just expected better from such an important and respected man in Indonesia's history. The soundtrack and the casting were fabulous as well (umh, hello, you don't get any better than Nicholas Saputra!). However, I must say that when watched in a more relaxed mood, I really did enjoy the cinematography of this movie. No objections were made to the emphatic suggestion of homosexuality.I would have to agree with another comment giver on this movie about the vagueness of Gie's relationship with his father, the human side of Gie that only appeared in the latter part of the movie, the fact that Gie always seemed to be sheltered from the fistfights that rampantly broke up among the debaters at the university, and the narration style that was rather monotonous and unclear. In this film, however, the censor's scissors only affected a kiss that lasted a little too long. 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. Many issues surrounding Soe Hok Gie are still sensitive. In Riri Riza's film, Gie is played by the half-Indonesian, half-German young actor Nicholas Saputra, with whom Riza has worked before. He put reason above loyalty and refused to link himself to political parties, even though he was very committed and interested in politics. The post-colonial years were not easy for anyone, but certainly not for an unconventional free-thinker such as Gie. He died on his 27th birthday, by inhaling poisonous gases while climbing a mountain, his favourite sport. When Suharto took power, Gie was working as a teacher.

Gie was born a Catholic during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies and educated at the Canisius College and the Universitas Indonesia at a time when tensions under Sukarno were increasing. Despite its relatively small budget, this is an almost epic biographical film about the life of the Chinese/Indonesian writer and journalist Soe Hok Gie (1942-1969).

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