I have waited a while to see this movie, being an Englishman married to an Indonesian lady and living in Indonesia. My Bahasa is not great and I was thankful for excellent sub-titles, a rarity on Indonesian films.
Overall, the film is good and worth a watch but whether it accurately depicts Soekarno I have to question. With the exception of the lady playing Fatmawati who for me was the star of this film, I came away with the view, right or wrong, that Hatta was the engine and brains while the somewhat passive Soekarno was the voice and mouth-piece.
Maybe Soekarno was an opportunist who ironically was in the right place at the right time and had the credentials to lead the nation - or maybe it would have happened anyway, not as portrayed by the film by careful manipulation of the Dutch and then the Japanese.
The story about Soekarno first marriage with Inggit was very vague to say the least and without having researched Soekarno life story (or wishing to) I am nonetheless curious if such a honest man as Soekarno was portrayed to be and so much in love with Fatma Wati that he felt the need to subsequently take other views which seemed in direct contravention of the principles he initially spoke in the first union of the Parliament in 1945 (the first speech of the Pancasila).
There was a lot which flattered to deceive. The acting was fine but the directing and the cinemaotophy were poor in my view compared to much classier films I have seen in recent days.
Definitely a story to be told but I would have appreciated it being told more objectively. The film was too biased and its International audience potential suffered as a direct result of that.
