The Siege at Thorn High

The film opens with a flashback to May 1998 riots in Jakarta, sparked by economic turmoil and corruption. Brutal violence targets the ethnic Chinese community under the stereotype that they are wealthy. The scene establishes a historical backdrop for the discrimination that drives the characters' motives later.

In 2009 at a Jakarta senior high school, Panca tries to deliver his love letter to Silvi through her younger brother Edwin. Silvi approaches them herself and asks Panca to confess his feelings directly, neither accepting nor rejecting him. The moment underscores the unspoken tension between them.

During class, a teacher orders all students to go home due to rioting. On their way, the public bus carrying Silvi and Edwin is stopped by a mob, Silvi is taken away and raped, and Panca is unable to intervene while Edwin is left beaten unconscious. The sequence marks a brutal turning point that haunts the characters for years.

After regaining consciousness, Edwin runs home and discovers that his house is engulfed in flames. The tragedy compounds the trauma from the previous night and isolates him further. The event foreshadows a long path of searching and survival.

In 2027, Indonesia has become chaotic, and Edwin is now an adult who works as a senior high school substitute teacher. Silvi died, but before that she entrusted Edwin with finding her child, born from the rape seventeen years earlier. This mission anchors Edwin's actions throughout the film.

Edwin begins applying to be the homeroom teacher for Class 3F at Bukit Duri Senior High School, a place infamous for its unruly students. On his first day, the class treats him with contempt and Jefri even throws a wooden piece at the board. He also befriends Diana, a school staff member.

While walking through Jakarta's Chinatown, Edwin steps in to prevent an assault on Kristo. He recognizes Kristo's drawing talent and later clashes with Jefri over a class assignment. The encounter establishes the social fault lines haunting the school.

Jefri's gang kidnaps a person and confines them in an abandoned building, escalating the group’s brutality. The act foreshadows the wideness of the violence looming over the school during the riot.

That night Edwin and Diana visit a bar frequented by ethnic Chinese patrons. Edwin is attacked by a masked assailant and stabs the attacker in the leg. It is later revealed that the attacker is Jefri.

The following day Jefri is expelled by the principal for assaulting Edwin. For Independence Day, Kristo helps decorate the school, but anti-Chinese riots erupt across Jakarta, intensifying the danger to everyone at the school.

As anti-Chinese riots flood the city, Jefri's gang arrives at the school armed. Edwin, Diana, Kristo, and Rangga take shelter in the school auditorium to survive.

Edwin negotiates with Jefri while Rangga's father is brought into danger. Rangga's father is beaten, and Gerry tortures him as the situation grows more deadly. Edwin and the others try to keep the two safe while the siege continues.

Edwin makes his way through the ventilation shaft to disable the security signal jammer in the building. In the lab, Kristo reveals that he is not Edwin's nephew and that he was born in Malaysia; he knows Edwin's unknown parentage and his real origins. The revelation reframes Edwin's quest.

Edwin finally incapacitates Jefri after a brutal fight. Culap, Jay, and Dotty arrive but refuse to help Jefri and leave him to his fate; Jefri is killed in the confrontation.

A mob storms the school and loots its contents. Edwin escapes the chaos by getting into a car driven by Panca. A nearby child discovers and frees a person held captive by Jefri's gang, offering a glimmer of hope amid the devastation.