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First printed at www.movingpicturesnetwork.com

Reviewed by Elliot V. Kotek
(from the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival)

Directed/Written by: Robert Connolly
Novel (“Cover-Up”) by: Jill Jolliffe

Starring: Anthony LaPaglia, Oscar Isaac, Nathan Phillips, Gyton Grantley, Damon Gameau, Tom Wright and Mark Leonard Winter

After 400 years of Portuguese colonial rule, East Timor gained its independence. Nine days later, Indonesian forces invaded. During this time of turmoil, it’s estimated that 183,000 people died. East Timor’s leader, José Ramos-Horta, was exiled for twenty-four years, winning a Nobel Peace Prize (1996) and finally returning to his newly independent nation upon its liberation in 1999.

Attempting to cover the transition of East Timor from colonial rule and the resulting incursions and ultimate invasion from neighboring Indonesia, small Australian news crews from channels Nine and Seven (neither wanting to be out-scooped by the other in that 1975 world when the nightly news was the primary communicator of world affairs) headed to the border town of Balibo, hoping to capture on film and to reveal to the world the catastrophes being committed by Indonesian forces.

The account of the cold-blooded murder of those crews, no member of which had even reached his thirtieth birthday, and the search for those crews by Australian newspaper journalist Roger East, are captured by Robert Connolly’s harrowing feature.

The journalists are each portrayed to perfection by young stars of Australia’s vibrant acting scene. And longtime U.S.-based, Australian-born Anthony LaPaglia (“Lantana,” “Sweet and Lowdown”) stepped out from his Golden Globe-winning role locating missing people on CBS’s television show “Without a Trace” to step into the role of Roger East, the journalist who followed the news of the missing news crews to Balibo to attempt to secure their safe return, and whose own future was sacrificed in the quest to convey the country’s fate.

Director Robert Connolly picked up major awards around the globe in 2002 as the director of “The Bank,” followed it with successful forays into both directing and producing, and is back behind the camera again on “Balibo.” The immediate impact the film has had on a case that’s been languishing beneath bureaucracy since the mid 1970s is nothing short of a miracle. Just prior to the TIFF 2009 screening of his film, an announcement was made that war crimes charges against the Indonesian government for the murder of the “Balibo Five” are being investigated.

Does the media still have the power for good? Does film have an impact beyond the screen? It’s nice to be reminded that it does. And for the Balibo Five, and for East Timor itself, Connolly’s film is a tour de force that not only awakens a cause but, by its international presentation, creates awareness for a region whose troubles – and very existence – are not known of by many outside its borders.

Photo top: Anthony LaPaglia; courtesy of Toronto International Film Festival

Watch a video interview with “Balibo” director Robert Connolly and actors Oscar Issac and Damon Gameau