Review Text

Laskar Pelangi’: The Audacity of Hope

This is a movie adapted from a best-selling Indonesian novel. It took 40 days of filming on Belitung Island, Bangka-Belitung province. Involving 12 local actors, it reportedly cost Rp8 billion. With all the efforts of transforming Laskar Pelangi (Rainbow Warrior) into a moving picture, will it satisfy readers’ imaginations?

Laskar Pelangi, the novel, was written by Andrea Hirata in 2005, based on his own experiences. It is about an inspiring teacher and her 10 students in the poverty-stricken Kampung Gantong in Belitung. The poor condition of their school building does not dampen their high spirits and hopes for a better future.

Two years later, the novel became a phenomenon in Indonesia literature. With its humanistic touch, Laskar Pelangi has sold more than 500,000 copies and has won the position of Must-Read Novel in every corner of the nation’s bookshops and media review pages. It has finally overcome the domination of teen-lit, chick-lit and even religious novels, the popular theme of today.

Andrea entrusted the fi lming of the story to the respected figures in the film industry, Mira Lesmana and Riza, as producer and film director. In July 2007, Mira and Riri started the per-production, which took a year to finish. Together with the scriptwriter Salman Aristo they decided to create a different scenario for the film.

What is the main idea of the second paragraph?

From the "Laskar Pelangi" text above, we know that ....