TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Despite series of protests and even legal notices launched by several former activists of the May 98 incident, Indonesian actor and first-timer film director Lukman Sardi insisted that his movie does not explore political side of the major riot that once happened in Jakarta on May 1998. Instead, according to Lukman, he uses the riot as the setting of a family drama that he tried to convey in the film entitled 'Di Balik 98' (Behind the 98 Incident).
“We don’t accentuate the political event. This is a film about a struggle of family members in keeping the family whole,” said Lukman after the press screening ‘Behind 98’ in Djakarta Theater, Central Jakarta on Wednesday 7.
“The film does not discuss about May ‘98, it brings out the other side.”
However, Lukman said that he has done research on books by B.J. Habibie, Fadli Zon, and Sintong Panjaitan to back up the setting of the fiction. He realizes that his film contains a sensitive issue and he will let the audiences to interpret it freely.
RINA ATMASARI
