Balibo

Introduction

In 1975 the small nation of East Timor declared independence after 400 years of Portugese colonial rule. 9 days later, Indonesia invaded East Timor and most of the events surrounding this invasion have remained secret for for more than 30 years. The Balibo of the title is a small town on the East Timor border with Indonesia and the scene of the execution of the Balibo 5, a group of journalists working for Australian television networks and covering the hostilities. The Balibo 5 were:

Australian reporter Greg Shackleton, age 29, HSV-7 (Seven Network)
Australian sound recordist Tony Stewart, age 21, HSV-7 (Seven Network)
New Zealand cameraman Gary Cunningham, age 27, HSV-7 (Seven Network)
British reporter Malcolm Rennie, age 29, TCN-9 (Nine Network)
British cameraman Brian Peters, age 24, TCN-9 (Nine Network)

Balibo, the film, is based on the book Cover Up by Australian journalist Jill Jolliffe who had met the men in East Timor before they were killed. The film begins with a meeting between Australian veteran correspondent Roger East (Anthony LaPaglia) and East Timorese official Jose Ramos-Horta (Oscar Isaac), the young and charismatic Secretary of Foreign Affairs. East's previous work is well known to Horta, who wants East to leave his easy life in PR to become the head of his country's News Agency. East isn't convinced until Horta shows him details of five journalists that have recently gone missing.

East heads to East Timorand, slowly and inexorably drawn into a quest for the truth over the fate of the Balibo 5...

**NOTE** Balibo won a few Australian Film Awards in 2009, with Anthony LaPaglia winning Best Lead Actor, Oscar Isaac winning Best Supporting Actor, director Robert Connolly receiving Best Adpated Screenplay and Lisa Gerrard getting the Australian Screen Music Award for Best Feature Film Score.

Picture/Sound

Review disc was a DVD-R with only a 2.0 Stereo soundtrack, and it has a rather intrusive counter across the top of the screen. Obviously this won't be there on the retail disc but I can't therefore comment with any certainty on the quality of the picture or sound. Both were more than adequate for the job in hand. It's also worth mentioning that the score by Lisa Gerrard is suitably haunting and atmospheric.

Extras

None, missed opportunity to at least include a documentary on the Balibo 5 and Roger East even if it is just recovering ground.

Overall

Balibo is another adaptation of a true, shocking and controversial story from our recent past. Due to the circumstances involved, the film is bookended with a modern day East Timorese woman providing testimony to an Australian official about what she remembered regarding events, and due to the uncertainty of what really happened to the Balibo 5, there are parallel storylines of the missing journalists and LaPaglia's hunt across East Timor for the truth.

It's worth remembering in this modern age where we are used to embedded reporters and foreign correspondents using satellite phones, live links and equipped with kevlar vests and helmets, that back in the mid-70's journalists and their film crews were only issued with their film equipment - all five are portrayed in shorts and t-shirts/short-sleeved shirts. The Balibo 5 knew that their lives may have been in danger, particularly from the persistent shelling prior to the invasion, but believed that their status as Australian nationals (and journalists) would ensure that they were not marked as military targets. This probably explains the sequence leading to their deaths where they film until the last minute, flee whilst under fire and then give themselves up to the invading troops, only to be summarily executed. Earlier in the film, Shackleton is also filmed painting the word Australia and his nation's flag on the side of a building that they considered to be the local Australian embassy - this house has been preserved by the East Timor government to this day and is now used as a community learning centre.

What is clear that with modern equipment and their own transport, rather than relying on locals to drive them, the five journalists may well have not only been able to flee safely from the invading Indonesians but also alert the Australian authorities to their plight, or at least their own TV networks given the suspicion that both the Australian and US governments supported the invasion. The following East is in the same position but instead has to walk across the country to Balibo, a rather exhausting and very dangerous journey for someone in middle age in the middle of an invaded country.

The performances are superb, especially the two central ones of LaPaglia and Isaac - the latter, the performance of a young official who would in the end become President of his own country after being in exile at the United Nations for 24 years. The film has an almost documentary feel to it and the dual storylines work to its advantage in that, whilst the fate of the Balilbo 5 is a possible recreation, you are tracing the steps of the main characters at similar junctures in their journeys.

A rather superb film and a nice surprise from the Without A Trace actor.   The sad and sobering thing is that without the interest of either the Balibo 5 or East, the East Timor invasion and its consequences would be of little interest to many Western eyes.  Recommended.