As Indonesia invades the newly independent Timor Leste, the world sits back and does nothing – and five young Australian television journalists disappear.
Based on true events, director Robert Connolly elects to tell the story through two separate but interlinked narratives.
Filmed entirely on location, we follow the five themselves responding to rumours of incursions along the border. Four weeks later veteran war journalist Robert East (Anthony LaPaglia) arrives in Dili just days before the invasion in search of the missing men. It’s East’s relationship with the newly appointed Foreign Minister, José Ramos-Horta (Oscar Isaac), that is the core of the film as the war journalist looks for a trail whilst Ramos-Horta fears for his country.
The murder of all six journalists by the invading forces, something both Indonesian and Australian governments stubbornly refused to admit for more than 30 years, is superbly told, with both LaPaglia and Isaac excellent. Based on the book Cover-Up: The Inside Story of the Balibo Five by Jill Jolliffe, it’s a devastating, profoundly disturbing story.
Rating: 78%
Director: Robert Connolly (Paper Planes, The Bank)
Writer: David Williamson (Gallipoli, Don’s Party), Robert Connolly (Paper Planes, The Bank) – based on the book Cover-Up: The Inside Story of the Balibo Five by Jill Jolliffe
Main cast: Anthony LaPaglia (Lantana, Holding the Man), Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina, Inside Llewyn Davis), Simon Stone (The Eye of the Storm, Jindabyne)
(Timothy Mo’s Booker Prize shortlisted novel The Redundancy of Courage is an excellent accompaniment to the film, providing a wider insight into the Indonesian invasion).
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