Red and White

This first entry in a proposed Freedom Trilogy is a provocative account of the Indonesian Republican Army's resistance to the Van Mook offensive, launched by the Dutch in the summer of 1947. Adopting the Full Metal Jacket template, screenwriters Conor and Rob Allyn split the action into boot camp and combat sequences to ensure we're always rooting for a rookie band of brothers against their barbaric colonial oppressors. The focus falls on teacher Lukman Sardi, who finds himself commanding a decimated unit and having to referee a feud between rustic Christian Donny Alamsyah and urban Muslim Marius Sinathrya before mounting a heroic rearguard. The training montages are standard issue, but director Yadi Sugandi makes solid use of the jungle setting, although his unwaveringly patriotic perspective reduces the characterisation to coarse stereotypes. The subject is fascinating, but the approach is flawed.