JP/Agustina Wayansari

As a filmmaker, Robert Connolly is unusually political. And one thing that easily riles him is the unresolved case of the demise of five Australia-based journalists known as Balibo Five.

Connolly decided to channel his anger in a more useful way. He made a movie about the shady events surrounding the death of the five journalists. His intention was to open up new discussion about the issue. The film has been shown in festival circuit around the world.

The Indonesian government, predictably, banned the film from being screened in local theaters arguing that it incorrectly depicted the Indonesian security apparatus and had the potential to open old wounds.

Connolly said that by impo-sing the ban the Indonesians have missed their chance to learn about this aspect of their country's shady past.

"Both the Indonesian and Australian governments have been hiding the story for more than 30 years. I think it is a great opportunity for a film to reveal the truth about what happened," Connolly told The Jakarta Post in an interview at a small caf* in the ground floor of his Melbourne office.

Besides, audiences always like history as it is depicted in movies, said the 42 year-old filmmaker.

Shooting the film was an arduous undertaking for Connolly.

Connolly started the research seven years ago, interviewing family members of the Balibo Five, who covered the military operation unleashed by the Indonesian Military to occupy the small territory, which just been decolonized by the Portuguese government in 1975.

He also went back and forth to Timor Leste to talk with people in the recently independent country and gathered all evidence from ground zero.

At some point, the issue got under his skin.

"The more I did my research; I realized that I had come to the point where I decided I had to make this film. As an Australian I feel it is a terrible part of our history. As I developed the project, I became very affected by what happened there and how many people died *during the annexation*," he said, adding that the country lost around 200,000 people during the invasion in 1975.

Connolly said that as an Australian, he felt even more ashamed that now, Australia, as well as Indonesia, had economically benefited from the Timor Leste oil field.

Australians, he pointed out, owe a great deal to the East Timorese. During World War Two, at least 40,000 East Timorese died supporting Australian troops in their fight against the Japanese.

"They were offered money by the Japanese but they refused to betray Australians by taking the money," Connolly said.

As much as he liked the end result of Balibo, Connolly said Balibo was hard to shoot as he was entangled in financial problems at the beginning of the project.

Things began to shape up when he met actor Anthony LaPaglia who offered financial aid for the movie.

Anthony LaPaglia, a close friend of Connolly, is cast as Roger East - a central figure in the Balibo saga. Driven by his instinct, this senior journalist returned to East Timor to find what really happened to his fellow journalists who had gone missing while covering the Indonesian invasion.

The two worked together in a movie titled The Bank (2001) and LaPaglia will greatly assist Connolly next year when the film is released for the American market.

In spite of his reputation as a politically charged director, Connolly is not a well-known figure in Indonesia and he would have likely remained so had it not been for the ban from the Film Censorship Board (LSF). He had a strong expectation that the movie could be shown to the Indonesian audience.

He expressed his disappointment over the ban and hoped that the government would soon lift the ban so that the film could be freely shown in the country.

"After all, this movie is not an attack on Indonesia. It is also very critical about the Australian government and its involvement *in the East Timor occupation by Indonesia*," he said, adding that as the event happened 34 years ago during the Soeharto government, it should be seen as a remnant of the past.

Connolly believes that the present government is radically different from the New Order and that Indonesia has changed into a country in which freedom of expression is highly respected.

But Connolly also was very surprised and intrigued by the latest development in Indonesia.

The ban has created more demand for his movie and it has opened up a discussion about how to push the limits of freedom of expression. He found it very exciting, he said, showing what Twitter returned when he typed in the word "Balibo". He was amused that a great number of Indonesians were talking about it online.

With so many movie awards under his belt - his previous movie Romulus, My Father (2007) depicting the struggle of immigrants facing adversities in Australia after World War Two, won the Australian Film Institute (AFI) Award as best film - it is fair to say that Connolly already has sound judgment and what he is supposed to do with his film. He said that he never consulted any government officials, including those from Indonesia. He sought to retain independence.

"As I was working on the film, I was aware that some media releases said that the Indonesian government hoped to have its point of view. But I don't want this movie to show any government's point of view," he said.

"I want a movie that shows the truth. Once a government is involved, you are losing your independence," the soft-spoken filmmaker said.

He said that as a filmmaker it was important for him "not to feel that his movie had an answerable point of view of any government".

Once the movie was completed, the next step was how to bring the movie to the outside world.

Connolly has been busy promoting Balibo over the last 30 months, traveling from one festival to another. But it seems that hard work paid off, with the movie being a great success in Australia. The movie has also opened up public discussion about the complicity of the Australian government in the crimes against the East Timorese.

Surprisingly, soon after it was released at the Melbourne Film Festival last August, Balibo was invited to be screened in the Parliament House in Canberra.

"I still could not believe it as Balibo is a very sensitive issue to the Labor Party *which currently holds power*," he said.

The Labor Party was also in power when the Indonesian invasion of East Timor took place.

He is happy with the international recognition that the movie received around the festival circuit. The film was screened at Pusan Film Festival in Korea, which he attended about three months ago and the response was rapturous. It received a similar response in Toronto Film Festival and London Film Festival.

The only response that mattered to Connolly was one given by the East Timorese.

"People in Timor found the movie very moving, he said, adding he dubbed Balibo in the local language Tetun as he is aware that people in the newly independent country would have a hard time reading the dialogue from subtitles, given the low literacy rate.

"It is a pity that the only place it couldn't be screened is Indonesia."

FILMOGRAPHY

Balibo (2009) : Writer, Director

Lucky Country (2009) : Executive Producer

Romulus, My Father 92007) : Producer, Assistant Director

Three Dollars (2005) : Screenplay

The Bank (2001) : Screenplay

The Monkey's Mask (2000) : Producer

The Boys (1998) : Producer

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