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 total
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.
Featured review
This movie is historically inaccurate and over exaggerated. Some facts about the real historical events:
-The journalist Roger East was never cajoled out of his public service job by the young Fretilin foreign spokesman Jose Ramos Horta to work in East Timor, and nor did Ramos-Horta hand him an AUSTEO (Australian Eyes Only) dossier on the Balibo Five
-East and Ramos-Horta never trekked on foot to Balibo, and nor were they attacked by a US helicopter along the way.
-The Indonesians didn't attack up the hill in front of the Balibo fort, but from around the back of the village.
-The senior commander of the Balibo operation for the Indonesian army, Colonel Dading Kalbuadi, didn't put a pistol to the head of the journalist Brian Peters and shoot him dead. He was 10 km away at the time.
-East wasn't captured trying to send his last report from Dili's Marconi radio office.
-And it's unlikely that General Benny Murdani, the Indonesian army intelligence chief, was observing the executions of East and Timorese people on the Dili wharf on 8 December, dressed in a white safari suit, though he did parachute into Dili some time that day.
-The journalist Roger East was never cajoled out of his public service job by the young Fretilin foreign spokesman Jose Ramos Horta to work in East Timor, and nor did Ramos-Horta hand him an AUSTEO (Australian Eyes Only) dossier on the Balibo Five
-East and Ramos-Horta never trekked on foot to Balibo, and nor were they attacked by a US helicopter along the way.
-The Indonesians didn't attack up the hill in front of the Balibo fort, but from around the back of the village.
-The senior commander of the Balibo operation for the Indonesian army, Colonel Dading Kalbuadi, didn't put a pistol to the head of the journalist Brian Peters and shoot him dead. He was 10 km away at the time.
-East wasn't captured trying to send his last report from Dili's Marconi radio office.
-And it's unlikely that General Benny Murdani, the Indonesian army intelligence chief, was observing the executions of East and Timorese people on the Dili wharf on 8 December, dressed in a white safari suit, though he did parachute into Dili some time that day.
- oscarutomofisika
- May 12, 2012
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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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