Adapted from Leila S. Chudori's well-regarded novel, Yosep Anggi Noen's film follows an idealistic young student down a perilous path of protest in the final years of the Suharto dictatorship.
By Guy Lodge
Plus IconGuy Lodge
Film Critic
@guylodge See All
PAL8 Pictures In an age where some call themselves activists merely through social media posting, stories of the dangers, consequences and occasional, very hard-won rewards of boots-on-the-ground political activism have additional potency. Though Yosep Anggi Noen‘s compellingly angry and anguished “The Sea Speaks His Name” is set predominantly in the 1990s, chronicling grassroots student resistance to Indonesian military dictator Suharto in the fraught final years of his punishing New Order regime, this impassioned political thriller is as universally timely as it is historically specific and eye-opening. It bears a message for anyone moved to act or speak out against corrupt institutions and administrations in the present day.
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