The importance of being earnest

The Australian film industry seems to be going through a bit of a stage. There was a while there were all that was made was quirky comedies. With heart. And some were fantastic! But some were just lame. Like that one where Claudia Karvan and Guy Pearce swapped bodies... Lame and unoriginal.

But lately, we are making Important Films. Untold stories that MUST be told. That MUST be seen. Didactic tales of injustice and humanity's disgrace.

Sampson and Delilah.

The Last Ride.

And last night I saw Balibo.

Based on the true story of the invasion of East Timor by Indonesia, mere moments after independance from Portugal was declared. And the rest of the world knew that it was happenening. But thought it easier not to get involved.

There aren't many films that paint the journos as the good guys, the ones with integrity and courage. Five young guys from Channel 7 and Channel 9 were hungry for the story, hungry to tell the truth of the people who were voiceless on the international stage. So they went to the front line to film the invasion.

And they were captured. And killed. (Shouldn't really be a spoiler, it is a true story after all).

Roger East (another journo, brilliantly played by Anthony LaPaglia of Without A Trace and Sydney FC fame) is convinced by the incredibly charismatic Jose Ramos Horta (activist and future Timorese president, even more brilliantly played by Oscar Isaac - possibly the most beautiful face I have seen in months) to come to Timor to find the missing journos and tell the Timor story.

The film is beautifully shot. The edit is a little confusing, but I think that adds to the chaos and confusion of impending war. The bookending of the film with interviews of survivors of the Indonesian occupation is pretty unnecessary, but I guess it gives a bit of "this is where we got our story from" credence to the tale.

The plot makes the Indonesians look pretty bad. But then, the fact that Australia - only an hour away did NOTHING to assist the Timorese in '75 makes us look even worse really. (The film even asserts that Australian intel was used to help the Indonesians.) At the end of the film, IO pretty much felt like the human race is pretty much FUBAR.

...Think I'll need to get something light and fluffy into me soon!