Stealing Raden Saleh Movie Review: A no-frills fun heist thriller

The heist genre received an invigorating shot in the arm after the super success of Money Heist. Prior to the multiple season-spanning bank heists, we had films like the Oceans franchise, National Treasure, and The Italian Job that became revered as pulpy cult classics all over the world.

In many ways, director Angga Dwimas Sasongko's Stealing Raden Saleh is a throwback to those campy heist thrillers where there were more double-crosses than your average M Night Shyamalan film and where the likeable protagonists weren't suave gun-toting criminals, but a goofy and motley group of accidental thieves.

Cast: Iqbaal Dhiafakhri Ramadhan, Ari Irhan, Rachel Amanda, Andrea Dian

Director: Angga Dwimas Sasongko

Streaming on: Netflix

Language: Indonesian

The film begins with Piko (Iqbaal Dhiafakhri Ramadhan), a young college student, who moonlights as an art forger, making money out of one of his inspired artworks. His best friend is Ucup, a con artist, and together, they do small-level art crimes. However, an immediate need for money makes them take up a huge job that involves the political machinery, art forging, and the thieving of a national artifact. For any heist film worth its salt, it is important that the recruitment montage is in place, and it is fun to see Piko and Ucup bring together the right people for the job. Gofar (Umay Shahab) and Tuktuk (Ari Irham) are the getaway drivers, Sita (Andrea Dean) is the mind and money behind the project, and Fella (Rachel Amanda) is the muscle. It is fun to see them plot a way to steal the titular painting, and when a spanner is thrown in the well-devised plan, the film ventures into revenge territory.

Points to the makers for not dialling up the seriousness of the film because Stealing Raden Saleh is a film that thrives on its levity. It never forgets that the protagonists are not superheroes. Most of their plans don't work properly, and it is only individual flashes of brilliance that salvage things. This approach hugely benefits a film that doesn't shy away from randomly dialling up the emotional quotient by breaking into a song montage when the team is forced to go on separate ways.

The strongest weapon is definitely the comic abilities of the cast, and this is milked to perfection. Although each of the cast members is strong in their scenes, they work better as a team, and the antics of this ensemble are hilarious. While there is a hint of Stealing Raden Saleh being a high-stakes heist thriller, the treatment of the narrative is rather simplistic. In such films, you must not argue about the logic of some scenes, and it is better to just go with the flow, as Piko and team charm their way into stealing not just the painting, but some of our hearts as well.