IMDb RATING
7.0/10
2.9K
YOUR RATING
War correspondent Roger East and the young Jose Ramos-Horta travel to East Timor to investigate the murders of the Balibo Five in 1975.War correspondent Roger East and the young Jose Ramos-Horta travel to East Timor to investigate the murders of the Balibo Five in 1975.War correspondent Roger East and the young Jose Ramos-Horta travel to East Timor to investigate the murders of the Balibo Five in 1975.
- Awards
- 13 wins & 22 nominations
Thomas M. Wright
- Brian Peters
- (as Thomas Wright)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe movie's release in Jakarta International Film Festival in 2009 was canceled due to the sensitive nature of the topic for the Indonesian government.
- GoofsThe word "firefight" was not in use in 1975. It would have been called a battle.
The term "firefight" came into use in 1899 and was defined as a brief exchange of fire between combatants.
- Quotes
Roger East: No... No... I'm Australian.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Behind the scenes of Van Diemen's Land: From Balibo to Van Diemen's Land (2009)
Featured review
Beautifully done.
As someone with a long-standing interest in the history of East Timor, I had mixed feelings about this film, and how the people and events would be depicted. However, Robert Connolly did a great job, considering all of the constraints of a limited budget that he had. It did not go into minute detail about the historical events, but nor did it dumb down and sex up.
What happened to the Balibo Five and Roger East is only a very small fraction of the story of what happened in East Timor in 1975, and there will be accusations that the deaths of half a dozen Westerners are given more prominence than what happened to a far greater number of East Timorese. However, the East Timorese actors in the film, none of whom were professional actors, were tremendous - not least as they were reenacting events that they and their families were familiar with.
What happened to the Balibo Five and Roger East is only a very small fraction of the story of what happened in East Timor in 1975, and there will be accusations that the deaths of half a dozen Westerners are given more prominence than what happened to a far greater number of East Timorese. However, the East Timorese actors in the film, none of whom were professional actors, were tremendous - not least as they were reenacting events that they and their families were familiar with.
- ken_westmoreland
- Jul 11, 2009
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- The Balibo Conspiracy
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $922,612
- Runtime1 hour 51 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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