‘Red Before Dawn’ Review: Drama Revisits the Indonesian Revolution

Few people outside of Indonesia are likely to be familiar with the war of independence that began there just as WWII was coming to an end, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths at the hands of both Dutch soldiers and warring sectarian factions. The country finally achieved full emancipation from the Netherlands in 1949, though the wounds opened by the long and often brutal conflict would remain for the decades that followed.

Prolific Indonesian director Garin Nugroho revisits that pivotal historical period in Red Before Dawn (Merah Sebelum Fajar), a wartime road movie that condenses multiple aspects of the revolution into one rocky and dangerous trip through hostile territory. Following a cast of diverse characters who journey from Jakarta to Yogyakarta in 1946, facing countless obstacles but growing closer along the way, the film attempts to show how people from various ethnic and religious backgrounds managed to finally unite behind a single flag.

On paper the idea is intriguing, and Red Before Dawn benefits from both an ambitious set-up and a highly cinematic setting, traveling through lush jungles and fields, rivers, villages and ancient ruins as the gang makes their way across the countryside in the year following Indonesia’s declaration of independence. Where the film falters is in its rather didactic brand of storytelling, with actors reciting reams of expository dialogue and situations that tend to feel more demonstrative than dramatic.

The pedagogical nature of the filmmaking is evident from the opening scene, which uses a theater piece to depict how the Dutch army showed zero mercy toward Indonesian freedom fighters during the war, labeling them as terrorists and executing them at will. (Estimates of casualties on the Indonesian side range from 100,000 to 250,000, with several million more displaced, versus roughly 15,000 dead on the Dutch side.) Animated sequences are also used to depict the inner thoughts of the film’s hero and narrator, Frans (Nicholas Saputra), a “half-blood” whose mixed Dutch and Indonesian heritage makes him a living, breathing example of the colonial battle that tore his country apart.

A respected engineer carrying a briefcase full of valuable geological surveys, Frans sets out on a mission to deliver his plans to the newly formed independent government that has set up shop in Yogyakarta, while other parts of Indonesia still remain under Dutch control. He enlists an Indian driver, Qasim (Bront Palarae), to steer their truck across deadly lands, bringing along a blind radio operator, Arya (Nagra Pakusadewo), who hopes to spread the revolutionary gospel over the airwaves. Along the way they also pick up a Chinese nurse, Fifi (Laura Basuki), and the lounge singer, Bandriah (Tissa Biani), making for an eclectic ensemble hailing from all walks of Indonesian life.

The 600-mile journey brings them face-to-face with hordes of their violent countrymen, whether it’s devout Muslims standing their ground, Chinese landowners facing persecution or a host of gun-toting rebels who see Frans and his crew as enemies rather than as fellow combatants. People get shot, stabbed, taken prisoner and kicked around, yet the tension is never high enough in a film that should be more thrilling. Music sequences, including a few songs performed by Biani, add some lightness to the proceedings, as does a romantic subplot between Frans and Fifi that winds up feeling superfluous.

Nugroho, a writer-director-producer who has nearly 40 movies under his belt in a career spanning over four decades, displays a solid level of craft throughout the adventure, especially in village settings that mix rural life with scenes of wartime devastation. But his narrative is ultimately more illustrative than organic, as if he needed to cover as many facets of the conflict as possible within a two-hour feature, not to mention explain the stakes to us over and over again, thus deflating much of the suspense.

Still, the traumas that Frans and the others face manage to leave their mark by the end of the journey, accumulating into a vision of the Indonesian revolution that underscores how violent the era truly was, yet how it was also filled with passion and hope among the people. True to its title, the film depicts the years before the dawn of a new nation as red ones indeed, marked by plenty of bloodshed but also a burning desire for freedom.