Bali 2002

There were some confronting scenes which really hit home the devastation victims and their families have had to endure. The acting and directing overall was good enough to want to watch each episode until the end. It wasn't intended to be a blockbuster but a timely documentation of the pain and suffering of the victims and the investigation occurring at the time. And that's exactly what this series is. For the critics attacking the actors; I think they played their roles very well, particularly as traumatised victims both during and after the bombings. I think perhaps they could have shared more stories or followed the progress of the victims' recoveries in more depth, but that's just nit-picking to reach the 600 word count required by this review.

I could not stop watching. A good overview of the Bali Bombing with actual footage. Entertaining, both dramatically and emotionally. This four part series takes you through time from before the event, during and after. It also looks at the medical breakthrough by Fiona Wood and her spray on skin. Plus both Indonesia and Australian forensic and detective work to find the cause, reason and perpetrators that caused this devastating act and many to follow. I could easily watch this again and strongly recommend you do!

There is one actor missing from the IMDb cast - Sophia Forrest who played a large part in this production.

The first 2 episodes were super full on. My anxiety was threw the roof! I was on the edge of my seat...even though I knew what was going to happen it was still terrifying waiting for it and they built the suspense well.

There's blood and gore so don't watch it you're not ok with things like that.

The last 2 episodes were well done and the acting was good.

The whole thing just really makes you feel so sad for the victims and their families. I shed many tears at the end.

The only disappointing thing is the footballer in real life actually got as burnt as he did by saving other people, which wasn't shown in the show. He was a hero.

My Review - Bali 2020 My Rating 7/10 Streaming on Stan On the 20th Anniversary of the cruel and callous terrorist attacks on Bali's tourist hotspots, this 4 part dramatisation series explores how everyday heroes from Bali, Australia and beyond defied the odds to bring order from chaos and hope from despair it also portrays the pain and loss that the victims experienced.

It's particularly disturbing after watching this series to read that the Islamic militant Umar Patek was granted early release weeks before 20th anniversary of the terror attack that killed 202 mostly Australian tourists.

In 2021 the 82-year-old former head of Jemaah Islamiah, an al-Qaeda-inspired group behind the attack that killed 202 people.

People from 21 nations died in the blasts on 12 October 2002 on the popular holiday island of Bali. The two bombs had ripped through Paddy's Irish Bar and the nearby Sari Club in the Kuta tourist district.

Directors Peter Andrikidis and Katrina Irawati Graham have done a splendid job as well as the script writers Marcia Gardner, Justin Monjo and Kris Wyld.

It's not a long drawn out series and achieves a good balance between telling the personal story of loss of some of the victims without exaggeration or sensationalism .

It also presents the critical political events that in some ways hampered the investigations between the Indonesian Crime authorities and the Australian Investigation Team headed by Graham Ashton, the former AFP officer and, later, chief commissioner of Victoria Police.

Richard Roxburgh in my opinion gives one of his best performances as Graham Ashton it a far removed role from his usual edgy roles such as Cleaver Greene in Rake . He is almost understated as the chief investigator who has to negotiate a fine line between observing the cultural differences that threaten to destroy the vital evidence his team needs to find the murderous terrorists responsible.

It's an impressive cast led by Claudia Jessie as British tourist Polly Miller, Rachel Griffiths as burns specialist Dr Fiona Wood, Richard Roxburgh as Australian Federal Police Commander Graham Ashton and Sean Keenan as AFL star Jason McCartney.

The other revelation for me disclosed in this story was the fact that the vital intelligence predicting possible terrorist activity at the time was either ignored or not considered urgent by The Liberal Government headed by the PM at the time John Howard .

The subject matter is disturbing and may distress some viewers but the Producers have done justice to this terrible event.

It was really quite confronting to see this tragedy re-enacted. The show is tasteful, showing actual footage while pairing it with the narrative of the storyline.

It was thought provoking and the cast have done a good job in portraying the chaos and trauma well.

Perhaps would have liked a bit more character development before the bombs went off as well as additional characters however looks it's been executed well.

Sadly user: "mkennedy-36926" has written a rather inflammatory and negative review. The fact this person hasn't got a basic grasp of the English language when it comes to spelling or grammar shows their absolute lack of intellect.