Balibo

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Cast

Anthony LaPaglia
as Roger East

Damon Gameau
as Greg Shackleton

Nathan Phillips
as Malcolm Rennie

Gyton Grantley
as Gary Cunningham

Mark Winter
as Tony Stewart

Oscar Isaac
as José Ramos-Horta

Bea Viegas

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Critic Reviews for Balibo

Audience Reviews for Balibo

• Oct 26, 2014

  This truly riveting and important political thriller exposes without any concessions a horrendous episode in History that has been kept in silence for a long time, and it is always fluid in the way it shows us what happened to Roger East in parallel with the tragic fate of the Balibo Five.
  Carlos M Super Reviewer
• Jun 23, 2012

  I'd no idea what the movie is about before watching it except that it's based on real events. And based was it!! Clarifying so at the very outset when it instead chooses to mention "This is a true story." wouldn't have helped much though. While taking inspirations from real events, the movie gets incredibly, & more importantly, unnecessarily melodramatic. It seems as if reality takes a back stage for a scripted drama, thereby rendering the main story far less interesting. I reckon that fictionalization is essential at times, but here it's overdone. Better than general Lifetime Movie, but not good enough. Of course, it's not a TV movie, but that shouldn't quite matter. While not good enough, it's tolerable enough. My experience might have been different had I not known that it's based on real events (ignorance may have adjusted my expectations), but then if it wasn't based on real events, I doubt I'd have gone for it. All talks. Give it a go or let it go. Whatever.
  familiar s Super Reviewer
• Sep 19, 2009

  This truly is inspired filmmaking! Australian writer/director Robert Connoly's political thriller Balibo sheds light on war crimes that have been covered up for more than 30 years. Boldly political and unashamedly provocative, it tells the true story of 1975 and the murder of five Australian journalists in East Timor in the lead-up to the invasion by Indonesia. In November 1975, four weeks after five journalists are reported missing in East Timor, veteran Australian foreign correspondent Roger East (La Paglia) is approached by 25 year old Jose Ramos-Horta (Isaac) and offered a job as head of East Timor's news agency. Refusing to accept the official reports that his colleagues were killed in crossfire, East sees the job as an opportunity to uncover the truth and travels with Ramos-Horta to East Timor. Intercut with their journey is the story of how the five Australian journalists, four weeks earlier, made their way to Balibo determined to film the impending Indonesian invasion. The Indonesian assault is particularly compelling and marks one of the most shattering finales in Australian film history. This film engages a new audience who knows nothing of this extraordinary piece of history. Regardless of historical knowledge, more powerful is the feeling of pride for the Balibo Five who rushed to East Timor's side when the world turned its back.
  Cinema F Super Reviewer
• Aug 15, 2009

  It is very hard to criticize a movie with such a sensitive subject but I am here to give an honest opinion about movie quality not a statement for a political satisfaction of the governments. Three quarters of the movie are so slow that few people left the cinema, and the director was hoping that with the last quarter can have an impact on the audience to forget the first three boring parts and at the end receives a positive mark… but he couldn’t do that! The total experience was a lack of aesthetically recognizable value of any kind. As a history lesson this film has some value, as an art work, I’ll rather forget it!
  Panta O Super Reviewer

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