Dilan ITB 1997 is an interesting place to take a franchise that has spent years making Dilan synonymous with teenage romance. The latest film moves him into a considerably more adult stage of life: university, work, political activism, and the uncomfortable business of figuring out what to do with the past when you're supposed to be building a future. That shift is the film's biggest strength. It is also what makes it feel noticeably different from the earlier Dilan movies.
Dilan is now studying at ITB's Faculty of Art and Design and working as a freelance artist after returning from Cuba. More importantly, the film places his personal life against the increasingly tense political climate leading into Indonesia's Reformasi period. Student activism and the country's political turmoil aren't merely background decoration; they become part of Dilan's transition into adulthood. That gives the film considerably more substance than a straightforward romantic sequel.
Ariel Noah's Dilan is also a different proposition from the teenage version audiences may remember. The character still has the humour, confidence and rebellious streak associated with him, but there is now a greater sense that his choices have consequences beyond whatever romantic drama is happening around him. The film is interested in the question of what happens when the charming, impulsive boy has to become an adult with actual convictions.
Niken Anjani's Ancika remains central to that transition. Their relationship is tested by the demands of Dilan's increasingly complicated life, while the return of Milea—played by Raline Shah—brings his romantic past back into the present. The film consequently isn't simply asking whether Dilan and Ancika love each other; it is asking whether a relationship can survive when one person is still carrying unfinished business from an earlier chapter of his life. That makes the romance more mature, even if the film occasionally falls back on familiar melodramatic beats. The political setting is arguably the more interesting element.
The story takes place in 1997, with the country moving toward the upheaval of 1998. Dilan's involvement in the student movement allows the film to connect his personal coming-of-age story with a much larger national transition. The Indonesian Film Censorship Board describes the film's central concerns as the tension between past love, the politics of 1997–98, and Dilan's need to close an old chapter in order to move toward adulthood. That framing works particularly well because Dilan himself is caught between two kinds of history: his own romantic past and the country's increasingly turbulent present.
The film isn't trying to become a comprehensive political drama, and it shouldn't be judged as one. Its historical backdrop is primarily there to shape Dilan's personal development. Still, the inclusion of the student movement gives the story a sense of stakes that the earlier films, naturally, didn't have. Visually and atmospherically, the film also benefits from its period setting. Bandung in the late 1990s provides the nostalgia you'd expect from the franchise, but the political unrest gives that nostalgia a darker edge. This isn't simply a return to the romanticised world of youthful Dilan; there is an awareness that the period being remembered was also one of enormous uncertainty.
The film is not without weaknesses. Its combination of romance, political drama, family material and franchise continuity occasionally makes it feel as though several different movies are competing for attention. The return of Milea is obviously significant to the Dilan mythology, but her presence also risks pulling the story backwards just when the film is most interested in moving Dilan forward.
Some of the emotional beats are also fairly predictable. Anyone familiar with the franchise will have a good idea of the broad territory the film intends to explore, and the screenplay isn't particularly interested in subverting those expectations. But predictability isn't necessarily fatal here. This is ultimately a film about closure. And Dilan ITB 1997 understands that its protagonist cannot remain frozen in the version of himself that audiences first met. He has to confront the people, choices, and emotions that belong to his past before he can properly decide what comes next.
That gives the film a surprisingly fitting place within the larger franchise. The Indonesian Film Censorship Board identifies it as the conclusion to the Dilan 1990, Dilan 1991, Milea: Suara dari Dilan and Ancika: Dia yang Bersamaku 1995 cycle. It therefore carries the slightly unusual responsibility of functioning not merely as another sequel, but as the closing chapter of a much larger romantic saga. And thankfully, it doesn't try to pretend that closure means forgetting. It means accepting that some parts of your life belong to the past.
Dilan ITB 1997 works best when it treats Dilan as a character who has finally reached the age where being charming and rebellious isn't enough. He has to make decisions about love, politics, work and his future, and the film gives those decisions enough weight to make this feel like a genuine transition rather than another instalment designed simply to keep the franchise going.
It can be melodramatic, occasionally crowded and somewhat over-reliant on the emotional history of the franchise. But the combination of romance, late-1990s nostalgia and the political atmosphere of Indonesia on the eve of Reformasi gives it a distinctive identity. Ariel Noah brings a more mature quality to Dilan, while Niken Anjani and Raline Shah give the romantic history enough weight to make the question of moving forward feel earned.
Most importantly, the film understands what its title is really signalling. This isn't just Dilan in 1997. It's Dilan at the point where being young is no longer an excuse. The boy who once made a personality out of never taking anything too seriously now has to decide what he actually believes in—and who he wants to become. For a franchise built on teenage romance, that's a surprisingly fitting way to grow up.
Final Score- [7.5/10]
Reviewed by - Anjali Sharma
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Publisher at Midgard Times