Two war movies in one month, what has come over me?
- Robert Connolly is an intriguing Australian filmmaker, tackling varied genres and styles. In Balibo he takes on a controversial dark event from the 70s, the murder of five journalists in East Timor at the start of the Indonesian invasion. Much of the never-ending furore over the murders arises from the Australian government’s apparent collusion with the Indonesian authorities in hiding the truth for decades, but the story itself is a rousing one, bristling with themes such as courage and the importance of war-front journalism. Connolly frames his dissection of the murders around pudgy, burnt-out reporter Roger East (brilliantly played by Anthony LaPaglia) reluctantly being drawn in (by charismatic José Ramos-Horta in an excellent portrayal by Oscar Isaac) to investigate the journalists’ disappearance days earlier. Interwoven flashbacks of the journalists themselves, waiting for the invasion, are presented in a rather confusing handheld-camera style. Connolly’s direction is a mixture of clarity and muddiness, and the film fails to make for consistently compelling viewing, but the force of the story itself makes up for the messiness. A worthwhile drama. 3 stars.
- Beneath Hill 60 also presents a little-known wartime story, that of Australian engineers digging tunnels underneath the horrific trenches of World War I, but its style is very different, reverential and dramatized instead of sharply documentary. The movie, ably directed by Jeremy Sims, follows a late-joining engineer leading a band of engineers and sappers down into muddy, claustrophobic quagmires, fearful always of German engineers digging on the other side. The lead role is convincingly played by the always-excellent Brendan Cowell but some of the other performances are scratchy, and the script is infused with clichés and sentimental set pieces, yet the fascinating setting and story win through. I was struck by the closeness to my viewing experience with The Hurt Locker – once more I was repelled (probably against the filmmakers’ messages) by the hellhole operatically rendered, and I staggered out shaken but reconfirmed in my pacifistic leanings. A flawed but convincing portrait of war. 3 stars.