There a nice film I see lately on the theatre. The film called “Gie” based from Soe Hok Gie diary entitled “Catatan Harian Seorang Demonstran” (for those who don’t know Soe Hok Gie, he is one of the leaders of the demonstration against Soekarno’s regime back in the 60’s. He is a student from University of Indonesia, Faculty of Letter [now Faculty of Cultural Science], and Majoring in History…………..and if you are an Indonesian and doesn’t know about this………. where have you been for all the time of your life??? You should at least dig your history material and find out about it…except you are an Indonesian barbarian nomadic tribe).

I were delighted when I see this film, the filmmaker really got the soul of the time and space…..they really got the scent of Indonesia, especially Jakarta in the 60’s. I enjoy much of the show until finally I realize something….something rather strange, not about the movie, not about the filmmaker, not about the actor (despises that actor was a famous rising star young actor name Nicholas Saputra……….my friend say that he still cannot break away from the symbolical of Rangga, his early character in the famous movie AADC / Ada Apa Dengan Cinta ….he looking good in “Gie” thanks to the filmmaker that really great about building the scent……..but enough of the correction, let my friend comment it later on)…….. but more about the audience. I felt quite surprised to see many of the audience were in fact teenager about 13 to 19 with the most new trendy look……….or usually called AGJ or AGATA (Anak Gaul Jakarta/ Jakarta Spoiled Kid)……I quite surprise to see them coming to the movie, with the republish “Catatan Harian Seorang Demonstran” book at their hand to see their nation’s chapter of dark history………………….

But then again, I ask myself…why this AGJ interested suddenly in this thing….a thing that they usually prefer to ignore………(well many AGJ were rather bad in the historical lesson)………..why this happen?

Then I remember the question of my friend when she become a moderator for “Gie” movies campaign in my campus…….it’s not a coincidence to say that the filmmaker were corporate with The Historical Club from University of Indonesia, Faculty of Cultural Science, History Department…..my friend ask this to the audience…….”do you come here to see and learn about Soe Hok Gie?? Or just want to see Nicholas Saputra and ask for his autograph??”………………you can guess the answer for yourself, most of the audience were agree that they want to see Nicholas Saputra and the rest of the actor rather than learn and see Soe Hok Gie……..it’s a shame thought……..

Now….as I dive deeper and deeper to the AGJ data, I was sad to see that they don’t even knew what they’re seeing or read. They just see “Gie” not because they interested in him or want to know more about his spirit…….they just see it because they want to see the cast of the movie. The same goes with the book, they want to buy it just to show everyone that they have the book…whether or not they understand the real meaning stored in the book. Everything just a trend for they to follow……what saddens me more.

When I entered the theatre again to learn more about it, I hear people talking…”eh Nico keren yah …Nico gitu loh….blablabla…etc” (Nico were soooo cool…….blablabla…etc). And the conversation goes on after they came out from the theatre…… “Eh….udah punya bukunya blon??.........udah  tuh…………rada boring sih isinya, but anyway gambar Nico di situ keren………lagian kalo ndak punya kan gw bisa dianggap  ndak ngikutin………..blablablabla….etc” (sorry it’s hard for me to translated most of it)……...

I was silent when I hear it……..I can’t speak anything……..then I pass by some magazines stall, and I saw how the media promote the film greatly……..when I looked inside, I see how they forgot about the spirit of Soe Hok Gie. Rather than speaking of him, they lok toward the commercial side, and of course the mainstream side, that is of course more about the cast or so. Most of the media especially the youth magazine were only post the stuff of the film and the cast……rather than the true meaning and the pain of the film….the true meaning and the pain that Soe Hok Gie felt when he wrote his diary.

I don’t blame Riri Reza & Mira Lesmana, the filmmaker for all of this…….they were gambling to make this movie, gambling with their life at stake because some material of this film were forbidden to show in the public, save to make. The PKI Flag (PKI stand for Partai Komunis Indonesia or Indonesia Communist Party), the Genjer-Genjer song…that were forbidden this day by the law….and of course by the public authority such as the police, the MUI, and so on…and need more than a letter of permission to get the material done, because the material maker itself were afraid to make it…lest that they were judge as communist and got caught.

I don’t blame the cast either…….they work their way hard on this film……to get the aura of the dark period of Indonesia need more than a struggle to life……and I as the audience, appreciate what they work so hard……..they make me remember the war I once felt on the early years of my campus…..my years generation were the last to face the war to change this nation.

I just………….sad to see how ignorance this generation has become….the so called AGJ generation……….I was relieved to see how they not even care about their history….save to care their nation…they forgot that their happiness were a result of many sacrifice done by a people like Soe Hok Gie………..they happy state were in fact a goal that people like Soe Hok Gie trying to make……so the future children of Indonesia don’t suffer like Soe Hok Gie suffer………………………..I just see the AGJ generation only care about their cloth, their trend, and of course they shape….a shape soon vanish when the time comes.

I ended this with one quote by an anonymous historian that says……”The people that forgot and ignore their nation history were lesser than a barbaric people”