Balibo (2009/Region Free Blu-ray + Region Four/4/PAL DVD Set Imports/Madman
Entertainment Australia)
Picture: B-/C+ Sound: B-/C+ Extras: B- Film: B-
PLEASE NOTE: The Blu-ray has all High
Definition extras and will play on any machine worldwide, while the DVD set can
only be operated on machines capable of playing back DVDs that can handle
Region Four/4 PAL format software and can be ordered from our friends at Madman
Entertainment at the website address provided at the end of the review. Blu-ray box image © 2009 Screen Australia
Limited, Film Victoria, The Premium Movie Partnership, Filmfest Limited and
Balibo Film Pty Limited.
A story
not widely known outside of Australia, East Timor announced its independence in
1975, only to be invaded by Indonesia a few days later and the resulting
genocide is so ugly that records still have not been established on what
happened, who is responsible and worse.
You see, this happened while the world turned its back, including Australia itself and this included journalists
from Australia. Robert Connolly’s Balibo (2009) finally tells the story in a wider sense.
The story begins in the
present with a now adult witness who saw all as a child telling the story, then
we flashback to all the events (including many she could not have seen) to see
how events unfolded. As this is
happening, five Australian reporters (doing their job) traveled to cover the
events and much more, but when all was said and done, disappeared and became
known as the Balibo Five. Longtime actor
Anthony LaPaglia (in one of his best roles to date) is reporter Roger East, who
is offered the strange job of taking over a press room in Timor and to find out
where the other reporters he knew so well have gone.
Though some of the
moments are what we have seen before and only because of the anti-journalist
trend we have seen continue to grow, it is still the story well-told. The actors are good, the men playing the
brave Balibo Five are totally convincing and the resulting film is strong
enough to make its points. It is an
important film from and about Australia
that means something and is about something.
With a screenplay co-written by Connolly and David Williamson (The Year Of Living Dangerously, Gallipoli), it is surprising this was
not hailed as a major event film in the U.S. and treated as such, but it shows
how the so-called independent film movement has killed movies of importance.
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image is a little softer and noisier than I
would have liked, but Director of Photography Tristan Milani does a good job of
bring the time period to life (the noise is not part of that, 16mm stocks were
used too with the 35mm film) and does not get carried away with anything fancy,
though I was not happy with the shaky camerawork. The
Dolby Digital 5.1 mix in both cases is not bad, but the PCM 5.1 on the Blu-ray
brings out the best in a soundtrack that is dialogue-based and often has
patterns of silence to increase suspense.
Extras in both formats
include six-part featurette on the making of the film, original theatrical
trailer, teachers study guide, Greg Shackleton’s original 1975 reports from the
scene of the crime(s), Deleted Scenes and a feature length audio commentary by
Connolly.
As noted
above, you can order this PAL DVD import set exclusively from Madman at:
https://www.madman.com.au/actions/channel.do?method=view
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Nicholas Sheffo