What strikes you when watching the documentary, is the split screen technique used. Amir Muhammad had taken a rare opportunity to follow an Indonesian film crew on their set of the movie Gie, a story set in the tumultuous transition of power between Presidents Sukarno and Suharto. What more, the movie was made in times of political uncertainty in Indonesia in the new millennium too.
The split screen used wasn't a strict 50-50 split, but the sizes changed quite frequently from scene to scene. At times you see certain events with time juxtaposed between the screens, or events totally off tangent from one another. There are plenty of things to see and it served to be quite difficult to absorb fully the sights and sounds in just one sitting. Amir revealed that it was the first time he visited Indonesia, and so through the shoot and editing, he wanted to reflect that sensory overload in a country totally new to him. Also, they had a record number of tapes shot for this documentary, hence through the technique, enabled him to squeeze as much as he could within the run time constraint.
The Year of Living Vicariously contained numerous interviews with cast and crew of Gie, be they the main leads, director, or even the cameo casts. The topics covered practically everything under the sun, but predominantly focused on current affairs and politics, in the earlier days of Sukarno/Suharto, and in the current political climate. There are quite a number of candid opinionated remarks which make you go hmm, or laugh out loud, or just poignant.
And you could see shades of the style which will evolve into The Last Communist, with the song singing bits in overdrive in TLC. Probably one of the best parts about Vicariously, is the frequent interjections of folks telling Indonesian folk tales. I'm sure almost everyone in the audience love to hear stories of old, and stories spun from our neighbours' rich history.
All in all, an enjoyable movie, and after watching this and The Last Communist, I couldn't wait for Village Radio
