The movie opens in 1942, when Japanese's jets are bombing Habibie's hometown, and I already had like ten things to complain in the first 10 minutes. Fortunately, the rate is not going constantly (the movie is 142 minutes long!).
Lesson learned: Don't judge a movie by its first 10 minutes. (Maybe 15, because if it doesn't impress you by then, you have the very right to give it up.)
True to the title, the movie is focusing on Rudy Habibie's journey as a student in Germany. There are a lot of things going on as an international students at those times, not to mention that his family is not very well-off. A lot of press has overly promoted the movie as "Habibie's First Love Story", which is really wrong, because the movie is so much more than that. We get to see why as a scholar Habibie decided to put himself into the crazy politic world, his obsession with plane, and his attachment to Ibu Pertiwi, Indonesia. I'm glad that they put Ilona's storyline in such a manner that gives us an insight about who she really is to real life Mr. Habibie, though they must add romantic and dramatic elements everywhere to make the story likeable enough.
I think it is square to say that Rudy Habibie is a well acted movie, but really dragging here and there. The problem with Indonesian movie is that everything is always overly soap-operatic (is that even a word?). There are some scene that needs to be dramatic, but replaying it like a few times in one go is not going really well, at least for me. I mean, this is not a hundredth episodes long soap-opera. Who will really forget anything from the last hour? The unnecessary flashbacks are also a bit distracting, repetitive, and at times getting boring.
As an unpopular opinion penguin, I'm not really a big fan of director Hanung Bramantyo. I will forever be disappointed by his 2013 movie Soekarno, that to me fails to portray one of the coolest figure in Indonesia. To be fair, I haven't watched many other movies he directed, but I'm not keen on ones that I watched either. That being said, I have already had some kind of expectation of dramatic amount that will be sparked on this movie before hitting the cinema. Though other than that, I can say I am pretty satisfied with Rudy Habibie, and would probably name it as my favourite Hanung Bramantyo's movie.
It is really too easy to make me like this movie. Like, person wise, I adore Mr. Habibie so much. Seeing his up and down journey for two and half hours is to me a happy joyful ride. Movie wise, I don't like it better than the first sequel Habibie & Ainun, but I enjoyed the movie pretty well. I noted some major disapproval, but overall it is again one of few Indonesian Movies that I'd recommend to you all!
x
Michelle
Well... About My First Ten Minutes. Technically, I can't really get over the first bombing scene in Pare-pare. If you can't do it right, don't. Because this is a very good movie, and those pretty lame special effects (we called it Indosiar's effects) are ruining it altogether. Why they can't do better, though, I don't know why. I believe after the massive success of Habibie & Ainun, this movie should have a pretty big budget to spend. A lot of my friends dislike Indonesian movies, and honestly there are plenty of reasons why: plot holes, shallow stories, weak characterisations, and careless touch. A lot of stupid sex-horror-comedy titles are not helping at all. Things are getting better, they really do, but many details are waiting to be repaired here and there. Well, Leo DiCaprio and Alejandro Inarritu are going as extreme as The Revenant--we really need to catch up, don't we? "Saya belum menyerah dengan film Indonesia, itu fakta, masalah, dan solusinya."
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