Balibo (2009)
Happy Australia Day, everyone!
Today we celebrate everything down-under from our one of our favourite countries (and we’re desperately sorry for our attempts at your accents today.) Whether we’re adoring your culture, loving your wildlife and stretches of open land, or simply marvelling at how you all survive living on the surface of the sun with all the killer animals – we cannot help but love Australia and Australians.
Following on from my article at I’m With Geek, I’m looking at an extremely underseen film that covers a dark part of Australian’s history, particularly with its relation to country, East Timor.
Focusing on the Indonesian invasion of East Timor (otherwise known as Timor-Leste) ,the film follows Roger East, an Australian journalist who is invited to the country by a young Jose Ramos-Horta, hoping to shine a light on the brutality that raids the country and its citizens. Flippant at first, East is enticed along when the young future president tells him of five Australian reporters who have gone missing whilst trying to uncover the truth…
As Roger East, Anthony LaPaglia is utterly breath-taking right until the bitter and fateful end. Starting off flippant and without a direction, as he gains more traction on the story and digs a little deeper into the truth. As his passion increases, so does his desperation and LaPaglia completely emotes this tragic tale. Opposite him is Oscar Isaac. By now, we should all know that he gives 100% to his roles and this one is no different. As the ardent Ramos-Horta confronts LaPaglia’s ignorance and is abhorred by the violence of the invaders, Isaac’s fiery performance completely electrifies the screen in a realistic and human way.
Robert Connolly adds the atmospheric heat to this palpable thriller that slips between two different narratives: East’s journey to discover the truth whilst Ramos-Horta wishes to bring awareness to the events happening Timor and that of the Balibo Five and their fateful deaths to equally discover the truth. Despite some moments of wobbily shaky cam, the intense parallels during this heightened time of occupation and violent descent immerse you in this gritty world of Balibo. The tension mounts in gripping ways that also showcases the ignorance of journalism and world media, particularly from the white based news outlets. At times uncomfortable, and very terrifying, Balibo sweats with real life horror.
Balibo is a thrilling exploration that tries to shed light on a situation unknown to a global audience. Whilst, like East, you are allured by the disappearance of the journalists Connolly gives a hefty focus on the residents who are fighting for freedom. This astute and intellectual film confronts your view point on media, war, and world relations that you may never have known. Certainly perhaps how Argo or No Escape should’ve been, just without the butchering of the facts and a sensitivity to the local people who equally suffered at the hands of the invasion whilst still honestly portraying the deaths of the Australians trying to help. Helmed by spectacular performances and intricately heated direction, Balibo is penetrating and enthralling.