E-Motion Entertainment: Rio Dewanto (left) and Laura Basuki (center) in Love & Faith.

When people see the film poster for Love & Faith, they may think that it'€™s just another ordinary romance film.

But don'€™t let the title fool you. The romance-driven scenes in the movie make up only a small portion of the film. The main focus of the film is on the struggles of a family man and a leader, while giving audiences a glimpse into the lives of bankers back in the day.

The drama is the film adaptation of Tidak Ada Yang Tidak Bisa (Nothing is Impossible), a biography on banker Kwee Tjie Hoei, or Karmaka Surjaudaja, written by former state-owned enterprises minister Dahlan Iskan.

The film, which will be released on March 5, takes place in the independence period, when young Tjie Hoei moves to Bandung with his family.

During the Bandung Lautan Api tragedy in 1946, his family is forced out of their home and ends up living in the storage room of someone else'€™s house.

Young Hoei has to work to help his father (Ferry Salim) make ends meet. Teenage Hoei (Rio Dewanto) is unable to continue his education after high school due to financial issues, so he works as a part-time physical education teacher in a school and runs a small repair shop with a friend.

At the school, he meets a student named Lim Kwei Ing (Laura Basuki), who develops a crush on him and asks him to tutor her privately. Hoei tries to keep his distance but gradually falls for Ing as well.

They grow closer and Hoei resigns from his teaching job to work at a factory. His good performance there earns him a job promotion and he marries Ing in 1959.

After they get married, Ing'€™s father, Lim Khe Tjie, who is a major stakeholder at NISP (now OCBC NISP) bank in Bandung, asks Hoei to work there, but he declines the offer.

Hoei'€™s mother-and father-in-law go to Hong Kong to visit family but they are unable to return home because of the regime change from Sukarno'€™s Old Order to Soeharto'€™s New Order.

When the bank is at the brink of bankruptcy due to fraudulent practices committed by its directors, Hoei finally accepts his father-in-law'€™s request to work there to save it.

Board of directors dislike Hoei and underestimate him because he is only a high school graduate. But Hoei dedicates himself to learning about banking to solve the bank'€™s issues.

He successfully takes down the board and becomes president director of the bank.

But soon enough life throws more challenges his way again.

He has to face death threats, deal with personal issues and must make a difficult work-related decision.

Rio and Laura are captivating in their roles, although they fail to maintain Sundanese accents.

Director Benni Setiawan successfully captures Bandung in the 1950s with its vintage cars, classic outfits, old houses and buildings.

Unfortunately, sometimes the plot lacks detail.

But overall, after recently being bombarded with fluff in theaters, Love & Faith is something new that is worth your time.

'€” JP/Novia D. Rulistia

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