The Year of Living Dangerously (1983)

Powerful

Nice effects though.

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

President Sukarno of Indonesia was able to maintain control of the nation by forging an uneasy alliance with the PKI--the country's communist party. However, this scared the nations of the West and upset both Muslims and the military which tended to be further right politically. This film is set in the mid-1960s....during Sukarno's final days as the true president of his nation. And, at this point the nation might swing to communism or become run by right wing reactionaries. Ultimately, the right staged a coup and kept Sukarno around a bit longer as a figurehead, but General Suharto and his supporters went on to butcher perhaps a million or more communists during a lengthy purge. Someone watching this film today could easily not understand this political context...as well as the country's nearing civil war at the same time Southeast Asia was in crisis.Mel Gibson plays Guy Hamilton, an Australian journalist working in the capital, Jakarta. His assistant, Billy (Linda Hunt) seems drawn to the left and does much to guide Guy's stories. At the same time, Guy has fallen for a British lady from their embassy--though she (Sigourney Weaver) doesn't sound the least bit British. Through the course of the film, the country moves left and then right...and danger abounds.This was a very well made drama, though I did have a quibble about the character played by Michael Murphy. He was an American reporter who could best be described as an evil, lecherous pig and it felt disingenuous to have him be the only American in the film...not that jerks like this guy didn't exist. Otherwise, compelling and worth seeing.

THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY is an Australian film shot by Peter Weir that looks at a military coup in Indonesia in the 1960s. The story is told through the eyes of Aussie reporter Mel Gibson, in one of his early fresh-faced star-making turns, and is one in a slew of similarly violent journalist abroad-based true stories made during the era (THE KILLING FIELDS perhaps being the best of these).It's an engaging story for sure, but I found the film a little lacklustre. Too much of it seems to focus on a romance with the fine Sigourney Weaver, and there isn't much political context. In fact, I found that the film only really gets going in the last 40 minutes or so and until that point the pace flags. Towards the end, however, we get some excellent plot twists and some very hard-hitting material, and it's very good indeed; a shame that the rest of the movie didn't follow suit.My enjoyment of the tale was also spoilt by the presence of Linda Hunt playing a young Chinese guy in the ultimate Hollywood example of 'yellow face' make up. Hunt is never convincing and a complete distraction, especially when you hear her soft feminine vocals coming out of this supposed guy's mouth. The Spock ears don't help much either. I was astonished to read that she won an Oscar for this caricature performance, which to my mind is no better than that of Peter Sellers in MURDER BY DEATH.

The movie feels like a great job in overall. The story fits nicely in showing a reporter's story, both the drama, and adventures sides, with a hint of mystery and thriller sides. The characters are also designed quite authentically, having their interactions being natural enough on screen. But the main jewel is the background depiction. As an Indonesian I really appreciate this due to the movie did a great job in creating the locations that really look like Jakarta in those days. This happens on both ends at the high office buildings as well as the riverside slums. the extras and supporting characters were cast very meticulously, showing authentic Indonesian faces, whereas they're actually Filipino. Any Indonesian like me would quickly spot the weirdness of the natives speaking perfect English without the accent, which you can rarely find with natives even nowadays. The acting in overall feels also nice. Mel Gibson did enough to portray the drive of a young reporter to find his break, and Sigourney Weaver did enough also in portraying the undecided lover. But Linda Hunt really did steal the show as her character gets very much mysterious that incited the audience's curiosity.

Sadly, the author of the book only wrote two novels and this one thankfully was made into this great film. The dialog of Linda Hunty's character is so intelligent you might want to keep a Thesaurus handy. Alos Michael Murphy, so underrated is perfect. Of course looking at the very young Sigourney and Mel is very pleasant. The plot is exciting and really proves something. That these Dictators, in this case Sukarno come and go and come and go. The photography and scenes are stunning. I don't care to see two people actually 'doing it' on the screen. If you like that sort of thing watch a porno! The scene between Gibson and Weaver when they run to the car to get out of the rain and just look at each other........wow, you can really feel the Heat big time. You can really learn things about the World from this film.I hate remakes but this one if done right could be great.