immediately after reading the script. Singer Glenn Fredly was interested in playing Doni because he considered the character, an ultra-conservative Catholic, an interesting role, given the sensitive religious situation in the country. Revalina S. Temat, who had appeared in Bramantyo's 2009 film "Perempuan Berkalung Sorban" ("The Girl With the Keffiyeh Around Her Neck"), found her role as Menuk interesting and more serious than her recent work in horror films. Endhita, whom Bramantyo called for the role, expressed interest as soon as she received an outline of the plot. Ade Irwansyah, writing for "Tabloid Bintang", notes that the film is a "microcosm" of Indonesia, which has numerous religious groups that often come into conflict. Irwansyah writes that Bramantyo intended for viewers to think of the religious conflicts that happen daily, and how to deal with differences in culture and beliefs, while Bramantyo has called the film his own personal interpretation of the country's religious situation. The film critic Eric Sasono noted this was apparent from the film's tagline, "Is it still important that we are different?", and suggested that Bramantyo feared that Indonesia was becoming a monolithic state. According to Sasono, the conflict in "?" is settled when the characters begin believing that all religions are good, and all praise God; thus, all religious conflict would end if people were to accept other beliefs. "The Jakarta Globe" describes the film as a "study of the role and state of Islam in modern Indonesian society". Sasono noted that the Muslim majority in the film did not have their motives shown explicitly, be it for the use of the racist term "" or for attacking Sun's restaurant. After comparing the actions of Muslim groups in "?" and Asrul Sani's films "Al Kautsar" (1977) and "Titian Serambut Dibelah Tujuh" ("Titian Serambut, Divided by Seven"; 1982), Sasono suggested that Bramantyo may have been expressing a fear that these groups no longer needed provocateurs to attack others. He notes that a scene in which a Catholic priest is stabbed by two men on a motorcycle reflects a September 2010 case in Bekasi, which had become a national issue. He further describes the camera angles as vulgar, abandoning subtlety, but suggests that they made the work more dramatic; he indicates that this was readily apparent with a scene in which part of a mosque falls apart.  "?"