The Year Living Dangerously: Indonesian based movie

Indonesian TV has a rather strange taste in movies. Repeats of every movie ever made by Steven Seagal, Jean Claude Van Damme and Vin Deisel are their bread and butter. One movie we are not likely to see on public TV, but one which paints a picture of Indonesia in the ’60’s in The Year of Living Dangerously, starring Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver. Set in pre-Suharto Jakarta, the film tells the story of journalist stud Guy Hamilton (played by Gibson) who job chasing the latest local political gossip. Guy Hamilton becomes involved with British Embassy employee Jill Bryant (played by Sigourney Weaver). The backdrop to this whole movie is the turbulent time in Indonesian history when the Sukarno regime was coming to an end, and Suharto would announce his presence on the world scene, by a violent over throw of the country’s top generals.

Filmed in 1982 the film the movie came quite early in Mel Gibson’s carrier. Banned by former dictator Suharto for its graphic depiction of his tumultuous and bloody rise to power in the 1960s, The Year of Living Dangerously was finally screened in Indonesia on 6 November 2000, after his removal from office.

Here are some comments by people who have seen The Year of Living Dangerously.