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The Siege at Thorn High (2025) by Joko Anwar: When the Classroom Becomes a Battlefield

  • Writer: dailyentertainment95
    dailyentertainment95
  • Aug 11
  • 3 min read

Short Summary – Promise, Peril, and Prisoner of Chaos

In the near-future Jakarta of 2027, Edwin—a substitute teacher driven by a promise to his dying sister—joins Thorn High, a detention school for troubled teens, to find his long-lost nephew. But when anti-Chinese riots engulf the city, the school transforms into a warzone, and Edwin must fight for survival alongside the boy within its besieged walls.

Detailed Summary – A School’s Turn from Sanctuary to Siege

  • Edwin’s mission is personal: his sister's dying wish leads him to Thorn High, a facility for delinquent youth.

  • The students—brutal and volatile—instantly perceive Edwin as an outsider and a threat.

  • Just as he locates his nephew, civil unrest morphs into riots, trapping them amid growing violence.

  • The school hallways become battlegrounds. Edwin and the boy fight back-to-back as students turn into merciless adversaries.

Director’s Vision – A Social Alarm Clock in Action-Thriller Disguise

  • Joko Anwar frames the story as a cautionary dystopia, set just four years ahead, to reflect on real societal fault lines.

  • Originally written in 2008, the script was postponed until 2024, when the team felt Indonesia still hadn’t resolved its historic ethnic tensions.

  • With Amazon MGM’s backing, Anwar crafts his first non-horror film—a high-stakes blend of action, thriller, and allegory.

Themes – Survival, Identity, and the Echoes of History

  • The unleashed riots mirror the dark legacy of the 1998 anti-Chinese pogroms, reframing historical trauma through a near-future lens.

  • Thorn High symbolizes a fragile safe space destroyed by societal collapse and institutional failure.

  • Edwin’s role probes how personal vows and ancestral wrongs compel one t

Critics Reception – Thrills Meet Thoughtful Provocation

  • Indonesian outlets like Cinemags commended the harrowing prologue and urgent reflection on national trauma.

  • Republika highlighted its vivid unpacking of violence and discrimination still plaguing society.Overall: Critics underscore how the film turns action spectacle into a mirror on contemporary racism and unrest.

Reviews – Praise, Provocation, and Polarized Perspectives

  • Adam Putra (Letterboxd): Celebrates it as Joko Anwar’s most daring and complete film, “triggering and disturbing… expertly crafted and brilliantly conceived.”

  • Keke A: Calls it a waste; argues that complex social themes devolve into surface-level violence and family drama.

  • Vin (Letterboxd): Values its brutal thematic clarity, even as dialogue feels explicit and exhausting.Overall Summary: Reception is polarized—some hail its fearless storytelling, others critique its execution and narrative focus.

Why to Recommend Movie – Urgency Woven into Brutal Intimacy

  • Delivers adrenaline-fueled action while refusing to shy away from social consciousness.

  • Anchors its brutality in emotional stakes rooted in familial loyalty and historical wounds.

  • Emerging as a distinctive ASEAN thrill melodrama with the global caliber of production and thematic depth.

Movie Trend – East Indies Thriller with a Conscience

Part of a growing trend of Southeast Asian genre cinema that uses action-thriller frameworks as vehicles for confronting regional histories and social fractures.

Social Trend – Storytelling as Reckoning

The film amplifies a cultural trend of confronting unresolved societal trauma onscreen—forcing collective introspection on race, history, and institutional neglect.

Final Verdict – A Siege You Won’t Forget

The Siege at Thorn High packs explosions and survival drama with the resonance of history’s burden. Joko Anwar’s vision turns a derelict high school into a crucible: brutal, unflinching, and riven with spectral echoes of real-world injustice. A film that fights on behalf of past voices—held hostage by time and violence, but finally given a voice.


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