Balibo (film)

Balibo is a 2009 Australian war film directed by Robert Connolly. Based on true events, the film follows the story of the Balibo Five, a group of journalists who were captured and killed while reporting on activities a few months prior to the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in December 1975. The film, which takes its name from the town of Balibo, is loosely based on the 2001 book Cover-Up by Jill Jolliffe, an Australian journalist who met the men before they were killed.

The film follows dishevelled journalist Roger East, played by Anthony LaPaglia, who travels to East Timor in late 1975 to investigate the deaths of the Balibo Five. Oscar Isaac plays the young José Ramos-Horta, who would later receive the Nobel Peace Prize and become the second President of East Timor, who joins East in the movie. Filming began in June 2008 in Dili, East Timor, and the film was released the following year.

Plot

The film starts in the present day, when an Australian journalist interviews a woman named Juliana, who as a young girl witnessed Roger East's capture and execution by the Indonesian invasion force. We see events from Roger East's point of view, as he investigates the imminent Indonesian invasion of East Timor, and the fate of the Balibo Five, five Australian journalists who went missing prior to the Indonesian invasion.

Then the point of view changes to the Balibo Five's actions in the town, from their departure in Australia, to their arrival in East Timor and being embedded in a Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (abbreviated as FRETILIN in Portuguese) unit near the border.

Then the story switches between Roger East's attempted investigation upon the fate of the Five, and the Five's events in the area, and some of Juliana's story.