History Film / Balibo

* RefusedTheCall: Roger declines José's offer to head the East Timorean state news agency, and only enters the country to figure out what happened to the Balibo Five. He ultimately accepts his offer at the end, [[spoiler:which sadly results in him being at ground zero of the Indonesian invasion]].

* KilledOffscreen: [[spoiler:Ximenez]]'s death is kept offscreen, [[SoundOnlyDeath and is only signified by the sound of gunfire.]]

Freelance journalist Roger East ([=LaPaglia=]) is approached by East Timorese Foreign Minister José Ramos-Horta (Isaac) with the offer to head the country's state news agency, to document an impending Indonesian invasion. Though East declines, he looks into it and discovers that five Australian journalists - Greg Shackleton (Damon Gameau), Malcolm Rennie (Nathan Philips), Gary Cunningham (Gyton Grantley), Brian Peters (Thomas Wright), and Tony Stewart (Mark Winter) - had entered before him and gone missing. Deciding to investigate, he enters the country, and - with Horta's aid - begins tracing their steps to discover their fate. Intercut with their storyline are flashbacks to the journalists's ill-fated journey into Balibo.

Freelance journalist Roger East ([=LaPaglia=]) is approached by East Timorese Foreign Minister José Ramos-Horta (Isaac) with the offer to head the country's state news agency, to document an impending Indonesian invasion. Though East declines, he looks into it and discovers that five Australian journalists - Greg Shackleton (Damon Gameau), Malcolm Rennie (Nathan Philips), Gary Cunningham (Gyton Grantley), Brian Peters (Thomas Wright), and Tony Stewart (Mark Winter) - had entered before him and gone missing. Deciding to investigate, he enters the country, and - with Horta's aid - begins trading their steps to discover their fate. Intercut with their storyline are flashbacks to the journalists's ill-fated journey into Balibo.

Freelance journalist Roger East ([=LaPaglia=]) is approached by East Timorese Foreign Minister José Ramos-Horta (Isaac) with the offer to head the country's state news agency, to document an impending Indonesian invasion. Though East declines, he looks into it and discovers that five Australian journalists - Greg Shackleton (Damon Gameau), Malcolm Rennie (Nathan Philips), Gary Cunningham (Gyron Grantley), Brian Peters (Thomas Wright), and Tony Stewart (Mark Winter) - had entered before him and gone missing. Deciding to investigate, he enters the country, and - with Horta's aid - begins trading their steps to discover their fate. Intercut with their storyline are flashbacks to the journalists's ill-fated journey into Balibo.

''Balibo'' is a 2009 Australian war film directed by Robert Connolly and starring Creator/AnthonyLaPaglia and Creator/OscarIsaac, focusing on the early days of the Indonesian invasion of East Timor.

Freelance journalist Roger East ([=LaPaglia=]) is approached by East Timorese Foreign Minister José Ramos-Horta (Isaac) with the offer to head the country's state news agency, to document an impending Indonesian invasion. Though East declines, he looks into it and discovers that five Australian journalists - Greg Shackleton (Damon Gameau), Malcolm Rennie (Nathan Philips), Gary Cunningham (Gyron Grantley), Brian Peters (Thomas Wright), and Tony Stewart (Mark Winter) - had entered before him and gone missing. Deciding to investigate, he enters the country, and - with Horta's aid - begins trading their steps to discover their fate. Intercut with their storyline are flashbacks to the Balibo Five's ill-fated journey into Balibo.

Freelance journalist Roger East ([=LaPaglia=]) is approached by East Timorese Foreign Minister José Ramos-Horta (Isaac) with the offer to head the country's state news agency, to document an impending Indonesian invasion. Though East declines, he looks into it and discovers that five Australian journalists had entered before him and gone missing. Deciding to investigate, he enters the country, and - with Horta's aid - begins trading their steps to discover their fate. Intercut with their storyline are flashbacks to the Balibo Five's ill-fated journey into Balibo.

* BittersweetEnding: Heavy on the bitter, to the point of bordering on a DownerEnding. [[spoiler:The Balibo Five were executed in cold blood by the Indonesian military, Roger is killed during the invasion of Dili, and East Timor is taken over by Indonesia, leaving José in exile. However, East Timor is liberated in 1999, and José is able to return to his country.]]

* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler:Roger is executed by Indonesian soldiers during the invasion of Dili.]]

* MissingWhiteWomanSyndrome: Discussed. José calls out Roger for seemingly caring more about the death of five white journalists than the countless East Timoreans who have been slaughtered by the Indonesians. Roger explains that he intends to exploit this to draw attention to East Timor's plight, but José is unconvinced.

* TheQuisling: Roger witnesses Ximenez torturing an East Timorean man who was apparently working for the Indonesians.

Freelance journalist Roger East ([=LaPaglia=]) is approached by East Timor Foreign Minister José Ramos-Horta (Isaac) with the offer to head the country's state news agency, to document an impending Indonesian invasion. Though East declines, he looks into it and discovers that five Australian journalists had entered before him and gone missing. Deciding to investigate, he enters the country, and - with Horta's aid - begins trading their steps to discover their fate. Intercut with their storyline are flashbacks to the Balibo Five's ill-fated journey into Balibo.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler:Tony, having locked himself in a room after being surrounded by the TNI, realizes he's going to be killed no matter what he does and accepts his fate, opening the door and is impaled with a bayonet.]]

* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler:Tony, having locked himself in a room after being surrounded by the TNI, realizes he's going to be killed no matter what he does and accepts his fate, opening the door and allowing himself to be impaled with a bayonet.]]

* FriendToAllChildren: Shackleton and Malcolm are shown happily playing with the local children at the Portuguese fort.

''Balibo'' is a 2009 Australian war film directed by Robert Connolly and starring Creator/AnthonyLaPaglia and Creator/OscarIsaac, depicting journalist Roger East's investigation into the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balibo_Five Balibo Five]] murders.

Freelance journalist Roger East ([=LaPaglia=]) is approached by East Timor Foreign Minister José Ramos-Horta (Isaac) with the offer to head the country's state news agency, to document an impending Indonesian invasion. Though East declines, he looks into it and discovers that five Australian journalists had entered before him and gone missing. Deciding to investigate, he enters the country, and - with Horta's aid - begins trading their steps to discover their fate.

* BittersweetEnding: Heavy on the bitter, to the point of bordering on a DownerEnding. The Balibo Five were executed in cold blood by the Indonesian military, [[spoiler:Roger is killed during the invasion of Dili, and East Timor is taken over by Indonesia, leaving José in exile. However, East Timor is liberated in 1999, and José is able to return to his country.]]

* HeroicBSOD: Roger and José are reduced to tears once they see the village has been massacred by the Indonesians.

* IntrepidReporter: Initially subverted by Roger, who is more than content to live out the rest of his days writing fluff news stories and not at all interested in going to East Timor. However, once his curiosity is piqued, he becomes increasingly invested in the country's fate and ultimately decides to head the state news agency to cover the war.

''Balibo'' is a 2009 Australian war film starring Creator/AnthonyLaPaglia and Creator/OscarIsaac, depicting journalist Roger East's investigation into the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balibo_Five Balibo Five]] murders.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: José delivers a brutal one to Roger after he seemingly cares more about the Balibo Five than the East Timorean village he just saw massacred.

* {{Acrofatic}}: Roger is fairly overweight, but he's able to outrun an Indonesian helicopter trying to kill him, and he later manages to handily beat the much younger and fitter José in a fight.

* MissingWhiteWomanSyndrome: Discussed. José calls out Roger for seemingly caring more about the death of five white journalists than the countless East Timoreans who have been slaughtered by the Indonesians. Roger explains that he intends to exploit this to draw attention to East Timor's plight, but José is unconvinced.

''Balibo'' is a 2009 Australian war film starring Creator/JonathanLaPaglia and Creator/OscarIsaac, depicting journalist Roger East's investigation into the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balibo_Five Balibo Five]] murders.

* BittersweetEnding: Heavy on the bitter. The Balibo Five were executed in cold blood by the Indonesian military, [[spoiler:Roger is killed during the invasion of Dili, and East Timor is taken over by Indonesia, leaving José in exile. However, East Timor is liberated in 1999, and José is able to return to his country.]]

''Balibo'' is a 2009 Australian war film starring Creator/JonathanLaPaglia and Creator/Oscar Isaac, depicting journalist Roger East's investigation into the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balibo_Five Balibo Five]] murders.