Erwiana Sulistyaningsih

The migrant worker who fought back

In 2013, like hundreds of thousands of other migrant workers, Erwiana Sulistyaningsih moved to another country (Hong Kong) in hopes of a better tomorrow. Just eight months later, she returned to her native Indonesia covered in burns, bruises and open wounds, struggling to see and barely able to walk. Erwiana shared that she endured months of torture at the hands of her employer, a 44-year-old mother of two, who told Erwiana that her family would be killed if she did not perform her duties. Nor was Erwiana paid; when she was sent home, she had $9 in her pocket.

But Erwiana could not be broken, nor could she be silenced. She spoke out against the woman, who faces charges including causing grievous bodily harm and common assault, and with the support of family Erwiana is advocating for better laws to protect others who may share her fate, placing a spotlight on the plight of a vulnerable and often invisible population. It is brave women like her who speak up for the voiceless who will create lasting change.

Robert Redford

The godfather of indie film

You could argue that the only person who has done 

more for American independent film than Bob Redford is John Cassavetes, and that’s because Cassavetes practically invented it with great actors shooting on a shoestring budget and dealing with all the subject matters that Hollywood wanted to ignore because of their lack of commerciality. That was Cassavetes: just go out in the middle of the night and shoot the damn thing.

Redford, on the other hand, created a utopia in the middle of conservative Utah for successful filmmakers to interact with young filmmakers, and thus Sundance — the laboratory and festival — was born. Take Bob Redford out of the equation and Steven Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith, David O. Russell, Paul Thomas Anderson and other top filmmakers might have had a much rockier road.

This year we were reminded of the consummate actor Bob Redford is. In All Is Lost, he gave an Academy-worthy performance that epitomized not only his dramatic dexterity but also who he is as a man: ornery, resourceful and indomitable. He’s the only person in the movie, and if you think that’s easy, you need a psychiatrist. It is a titanic performance (using a seafaring reference purposefully) in an edge-of-your-seat movie, and it makes me think of his other great roles: The Candidate, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting and All the President’s Men. He went where very few dared to go and continues to do so.

He’s a renaissance man dressed like a cowboy, and he had the balls to go round for round with Paul Newman on a series of practical jokes that my word limitation and TIME won’t permit me to include, but they were as hilarious as they were historic.

He has only one fault. Over the past 20 years, we’ve been going out to lunch. Bob always gets away without paying the bill. I saw him a couple of months ago and reminded him of that, and he said, “You pick the place and the expensive wine and I’m in.” We dined for 31⁄2 hours, drank expensive wine and told some whoppers of stories. As we walked out of Graydon Carter’s Monkey Bar, the woman came for the check. Bob patted his pants and sport jacket and said he didn’t have his wallet. It was as good a performance as I’ve seen, and made me laugh so hard that I put it on my account.

If you’re lucky enough to hang out with Bob Redford, get ready for an opinionated, brilliant, insightful discussion of moviemaking from the point of view of a legendary actor and pioneering director-producer. Just prepare to pay the check.

Abu Du’a [a.k.a. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi]

The world's most dangerous man

By the long, bloody Iraqi summer of 2005, al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) was punching back against U.S. and coalition forces violently — and effectively. We lost 217 U.S. troops in three months alone. One of the key AQI leaders was a brutal battlefield commander, Ibrahim bin ‘Awad bin Ibrahim al-Badri ar-Radawi al-Husseini as-Samara‘i, also known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Abu Du‘a. Despite intense military and intelligence efforts and at least one targeted air strike, Baghdadi eluded capture and for five more years led those who killed thousands of Iraqis and Americans. Since 2011, there has been a U.S.-funded $10 million bounty on his head. But the worldwide hunt did not prevent him from moving into Syria and last year taking command of the deadliest Islamist group there. The lesson of Baghdadi is that human guile can usually beat a high-tech solution. For decades to come, the U.S. and its partners will be hunting terrorists like Baghdadi. The key to killing or capturing them will be intelligence built from the ground up, not just strikes from the sky.

Kim Jong Un

North Korea's mercurial autocrat

Most important, Kim’s disregard for a desperately poor citizenry raises the eternal North Korean question: How much suffering can human beings tolerate? Unless he starts taking care of his people, the young generalissimo may be the first Kim to find out.After being mentored by one of history’s more ruthless dictators, Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un spent his first year in power kicking North Korea’s tires. He put its citizens through a wringer of drills, parades, maneuvers and alerts. He also tested the region and the world with missile launches and, in early 2013, a nuclear detonation. But he seems to have moved on to the extravagance phase — partying on a pleasure island, adopting a wayward former NBA player — without perhaps dwelling enough on survival. The detention of an American tourist and the killing of his uncle Jang Song Thaek jeopardized much needed business contracts and foreign-currency streams. These actions also distanced China, a key ally, and bolstered South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s hardening line with the North.

Most important, Kim’s disregard for a desperately poor citizenry raises the eternal North Korean question: How much suffering can human beings tolerate? Unless he starts taking care of his people, the young generalissimo may be the first Kim to find out.

Abdullah Gul

A Turkish moderate with a tough choice ahead

Turkish politics is too masculinist and polarized, but Turkey’s 11th President, Abdullah Gul, stands out with his moderate tone and conciliatory style. In the run-up to the general elections in June 2015, both those who support him and those who doubt him agree that his role in Turkish politics has recently been amplified.

As Foreign Minister, Prime Minister and President, Gul has for many years been an ally of Turkey’s dominant political figure, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but also his main rival. When the Gezi Park riots erupted last year in protest against a decision by Erdogan to build a shopping center in the park, Gul declared that peaceful assembly was a democratic right. After Twitter was blocked, he was among the millions of citizens who broke the ban. “A complete shutdown of social-media platforms cannot be approved,” he tweeted.

Turkey’s democrats have high expectations of Gul, some of which have been shadowed by his signing of controversial bills. Gul is now at an important crossroads. He can choose a calmer life or go back into active politics to push for the democratization that the country sorely needs today.

Nicolás Maduro

The man who holds Venezuela's future

Last year, as Nicolás Maduro ran for the Venezuelan presidency, he received a visitor from the beyond. He was praying in a chapel when a bird flew in, circled him three times and began to whistle. Maduro said he felt the spirit of the late Hugo Chávez, his mentor and former President, who had come to bless his bid for high office.

The Maduro campaign frequently invoked Chávez during the contest, and perhaps it helped. Maduro won — but only just, and not without the opposition alleging electoral irregularities. A year on, lacking Chávez’s firm grip on power, Maduro is struggling as a litany of ills, from soaring inflation to food shortages, fans popular discontent. All this in a country that many in the region trade with or depend on for cheap oil. Whether it collapses now depends on Maduro — and on whether he can step out of the shadow of his pugnacious predecessor and compromise with his opponents.

Kirsten Gillibrand

The U.S. Senate's rising Democratic star

When she was my intern, no task was too small for Kirsten Gillibrand. She did a lot of casework, following up with farmers and veterans, solving their problems. She was great with constituents. That kind of dedication is always an indicator of good things to come.

When she first ran for the House, I thought that race was impossible to win, but she never gave up and she did it. She has taken that same bright, tenacious spirit I saw in her as my intern to the House and then the Senate, serving her constituents and fighting hard on issues like sexual assault in the military.

Don’t ever underestimate her. She can go as far as she likes. If Kirsten Gillibrand wants to be a rock star, she’ll be a rock star. But she’d make a great President. When she draws a line in the sand, everyone knows not to cross it.

Rand Paul

The libertarian champion

Any political party worth its salt is always on the lookout for converts. But no one in either party today brings the level of missionary zeal to the task that Rand Paul does. From Berkeley, Calif., to Detroit, my Kentucky colleague has been cheerfully clearing a path for Republican ideals in the unlikeliest precincts. And he’s done it with rare magnanimity, making common cause with anyone who agrees that an all-powerful government in Washington is a threat to individual liberty — and to the American project itself.

He has also embraced the 11th commandment made famous by Reagan, “not to speak ill of any fellow Republican.” But the real secret to Rand’s rapid rise from a Bowling Green operating room to the center of American politics is his authenticity. It’s a trait that’s obvious to anyone who has seen him come out of a D.C. television studio in Ray-Bans and shorts, or hold the Senate floor for half a day to get answers from an imperious White House.

Spend five minutes with Rand and it’s clear he doesn’t care what you look like or where you’re from. He’s beating the bushes for anyone who prizes liberty, and he’s forcing people to rethink the Republican Party. He’s showing them we’re as serious about the Bill of Rights today as we were in 1860, when another Kentucky Republican built our party’s first great coalition. He’s having fun too. And that’s contagious.

Thuli Madonsela

South Africa's fearless public advocate

Thuli Madonsela is an inspirational example of what African public officers need to be. Her work on constitutional reform, land reform and the struggle for the protection of human rights and equality speaks for itself. As South Africa’s public protector, with her ability to speak truth to power and to address corruption in high places, Madonsela has been outstanding.

To speak about corruption in high places is often subversive and always embarrassing. The machinery of state can be called upon to intimidate or even destroy and eliminate whistle-blowers. It therefore requires extraordinary courage and patriotism to do what Thuli Madonsela has done. Yet in standing up for the truth as she sees it, she has assured herself a place in the history of modern South Africa and among the tiny but growing band of African public servants giving us hope for the future of our continent.

Jerry Brown

California's turnaround artist

Things are looking up in California. Governor Jerry Brown has eliminated a $26 billion deficit, getting legislators to make painful cuts and persuading voters to increase their taxes. Last year California was a national leader, creating 320,000 private-sector jobs. Our unemployment rate dropped from 12.5% to 8%.

How did that happen? Governor Brown preached restraint. His frugality comes in part from three years as a Jesuit seminarian. I recall his refusal, in 1975, to replace the old carpet he inherited from Governor Reagan. When it became threadbare, with a sizable hole, he still refused to repair it — believing if he lived modestly others might too and would save the state money.

Always ahead of his time, he’s focused on fighting climate change, improving poorly performing schools, building America’s first high-speed rail and overhauling California’s broken water system — supporting America’s largest agricultural economy.

Angela Merkel

The transformer of Germany

For me, nothing epitomizes Angela Merkel’s leadership more than her role in the 2006 World Cup. As hosts, we Germans were concerned about how we would be perceived — the dark shadow of history still loomed. We had assembled a young, hungry, decidedly “un-German” team. A team that historically was disciplined, organized and physical — which perfectly fit the image of our culture — became one that was free-flowing, creative and energetic. There were growing pains, and the criticism was harsh. She remained supportive, and Germans ultimately embraced the new approach. We as a nation were comfortable showing a pride not seen or felt in generations. Merkel had presided over a transformational moment. After the triumph of 2006 came 2007 and a financial crisis; once again she had to convince skeptical Germans that change was needed — to rescue Europe’s economy. The quality of her leadership — firm, measured and agreeable — helped return Germany to a place of respect on the football pitch and in the global arena.

Barack Obama

The President speaks about the Affordable Care Act from the Rose Garden.

The U.S. president's demise may be exaggerated

“Rumors of my political demise may be a little exaggerated,” Barack Obama said in April 2013 at a press conference marking the first 100 days of his second term. Things have been going downhill ever since. The President has had a rough year. His policies have been solid, especially overseas, but his execution has been sloppy to the point of disastrous. His decision not to intervene in yet another Middle East war — Syria — was prudent, but empty talk of “red lines” and “Assad must go” led Vladimir Putin, among others, to doubt Obama’s toughness. At home, his legacy will depend on the success of Obamacare, and yet the historic incompetence of its launch nearly destroyed the program. But he’s also right: we have seen only the first 66% of Obama’s presidency. He still has plenty of time to recoup and thrive … if he can only manage to manage better.

Narendra Modi

The divisive politician poised to lead the world's largest democracy

Elections are reactions, often negative reactions. That is surely the explanation for the breathtaking rise of Narendra Modi, who — if the opinion polls are accurate — is poised to become India’s next Prime Minister, and thus the world leader chosen by the largest electorate on the planet. India is currently ruled by Manmohan Singh, a mild-mannered 81-year-old technocrat with no political power of his own and a passive leadership style. Reverse every one of those traits and you have Modi, the charismatic, intense, utterly decisive head of Gujarat, one of India’s fastest-growing states. Most Indians believe that their country has lost its way as its growth rate has been almost halved while inflation has soared. Modi has a reputation for quick action, encouraging the private sector, and good governance. He also has a reputation for autocratic rule and a dark Hindu-nationalist streak. But those concerns are waning in a country desperate for change.