Balibo (2009) on Netflix
NR20091h 51mBiographyDramaHistory
As Indonesia prepares to invade East Timor, five Australian journalists go missing. José Ramos-Horta brings correspondent Roger East to report on the country and investigate the men's fate.
- Netflix4.3/5
- IMDb7.0/103,080 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
Five Australian-based journalists reporting near East Timor's border with Indonesia have gone missing as Indonesian forces prepare to invade. Four weeks later, the foreign correspondent Roger East arrives in East Timor at the request of José Ramos-Horta, the young East Timorese leader who wants his country's story told and the fate of the missing men investigated. East travels with Ramos-Horta, avoiding Indonesian patrols and passing villages whose inhabitants have been massacred. The five journalists make their own way from Australia and work alongside a FRETILIN unit near the border. The threat of invasion grows as East presses to learn the truth.
Cast
- Serge Balaamas Evan Shackleton
- Bea Viegasas Juliana
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Balibo (2009)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Balibo was banned by the Indonesian Film Censorship Agency before its planned premiere at the 11th Jakarta International Film Festival in December 2009. Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said the ban was to avoid a negative "global perception of Indonesia", and the military supported it, saying the film could harm Indonesia's relations with Timor Leste and Australia.
- An Australian coroner validated the film's version of events in 2007, ruling after a fresh review of the evidence that the journalists were executed as they tried to surrender to Indonesian forces.
- Robert Connolly said he did not set out to provoke Jakarta but wanted to examine a seminal moment in Indonesia's 24-year occupation of East Timor, when an estimated 183,000 people died.
- Balibo was the first feature film to be made in East Timor. Shooting in Dili began on 31 July 2008, with United Nations police closing off roads to allow the scenes to be filmed.
- The filmmakers shot 16mm-to-35mm visuals at the actual locations where the events took place, giving Balibo a documentary-style texture.
