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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/0c1e3195_8e6e_4ab4_864c_97035f28a726.jpeg]]
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3''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 and Roger East's investigation into the murder of [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balibo_Five the Balibo Five]].
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5Freelance journalist Roger East ([=LaPaglia=]) is approached by East Timorese politician José Ramos-Horta (Isaac) with the offer to head the country's government 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 to cover the beginning of the Indonesian invasion.
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7!!List of tropes applying to the film:
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9* {{Acrofatic}}: Roger is mildly 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.
10* AintTooProudToBeg: [[spoiler:Roger begs for the Indonesian military to spare him when they drag him out to be executed. [[TheHeroDies It doesn't work.]]]]
11* AntiHero: Ximenez, who is willing to resort to torture against his enemies but is ultimately a heroic man.
12* AnyoneCanDie: With the exception of [[spoiler:José]], [[spoiler:Juliana]], and possibly [[spoiler:Joao]], the entire cast is dead by the end of the movie.
13* ApocalypticLog: Greg Shackleton's newsreel on the plight of the Timorese people becomes this, as well as [[spoiler:Roger East's desperate news telegram to Sydney while the invasion escalates and soldiers are closing in on him]].
14* BerserkButton: Roger hands José a NoHoldsBarredBeatDown for calling him a coward.
15* BewareTheNiceOnes: The usually cheerful and amiable José snaps and gives Roger a ''vicious'' TheReasonYouSuckSpeech for prioritizing the deaths of the Balibo Five over the countless East Timorese civilians killed by the Indonesians.
16* 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 executed by firing squad 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.]]
17* BlackAndGreyMorality: The FRETILIN are willing to use torture against their enemies, but they're leagues better than the Indonesians, who make it a policy to execute civilians on sight and commit countless war crimes.
18* BoomHeadshot: [[spoiler:Gary is shot in the head by an Indonesian military officer while trying to negotiate the Balibo Five's safety.]]
19* BreakTheComedian: The wisecracking José is left emotionally broken after discovering the village slaughtered and crosses the DespairEventHorizon. While he recovers, he remains much more serious than he was prior.
20* BreakTheCutie: CheerfulChild Juliana is shown to be traumatized and broken by the Indonesian occupation of East Timor in the present day.
21* CowardiceCallout: José calls Roger "a fucking coward" who solely cares about himself and his career, unfavorably contrasting him to the five Australian journalists who had the guts to come and try to show the world the horrors that were happening.
22* CowardlyLion: Roger is clearly reluctant to enter the war-torn East Timor and nearly abandons the country entirely after being shot at by an attack helicopter, but he ultimately decides to stay in the country to document the Indonesian invasion. [[spoiler:Tragically, this ultimately leads to his death.]]
23* CracksInTheIcyFacade: Roger East starts off as a gruff and selfish cynic who doesn't care about East Timor's plight. The first indicator he isn't as much of an asshole as he seems is when he kindly teaches a young child how to flip a coin. Sure enough, he eventually comes to genuinely care about what happens to the small country and ultimately chooses to remain in East Timor during the Indonesian invasion as a foreign correspondent.
24* DeadpanSnarker: José is almost always ready with some sort of snarky quip.
25--> '''Roger:''' ''(while listening to Indonesian propaganda over the radio)'' What are they saying?\
26'''José:''' They're saying, "there's an Australian journalist in East Timor. When you see him, be sure to slit his throat."\
27''({{Beat}})''\
28'''José:''' ''[[MoodWhiplash (cheerfully)]]'' Good night, Roger.
29* DefiantToTheEnd: Downplayed. [[spoiler:Roger]] begs for his life before being executed, but he also repeatedly insults his killers before they shoot him.
30* DespairEventHorizon: José crosses it after the village massacre. He manages to recover after being promoted to Foreign Minister.
31* 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 promptly being impaled with a bayonet.]]
32* ForTheEvulz: The Indonesian military ruthlessly slaughters all civilians in sight in spite of it providing no tactical advantage whatsoever.
33* ForegoneConclusion: [[spoiler:Even if you aren't familiar with the history, it's fairly obvious the Balibo Five are dead from the get-go.]]
34* FriendToAllChildren:
35** Shackleton and Malcolm are shown happily playing with the local children at the Portuguese fort.
36** Roger is quite kind to Juliana, teaching her how to flip an Australian coin and generally being rather polite to her.
37* GoodShepherd: Padre Silva, a Portuguese priest who refuses to abandon his parishioners even if it means he'll likely die during the Indonesian invasion.
38* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler:Roger is executed by firing squad during the invasion of Dili.]]
39* HeroicSacrifice:
40** [[spoiler:When Ximenez and Roger are surrounded by Indonesian troops, Ximenez lures them away so Roger can escape, being implicitly shot dead in the process.]]
41** [[spoiler:Roger chooses to remain behind in East Timor to run the state news agency to cover the war, knowing he'll likely be killed. He's ultimately executed by Indonesian troops during the invasion of Dili.]]
42* HeroicBSOD: Roger and José are emotionally destroyed once they see the village they stayed in the previous night has been massacred by the Indonesians.
43* IntrepidReporter:
44** 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.
45** The Balibo Five, who put their lives on the line to document the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in the hopes of attracting the outside world's attention.
46* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Roger. He's a cynical, gruff coward and pretty self-centered in general, but he's shown to be fairly kind to the hotel owner and his daughter, he gives a tortured prisoner water, and he ultimately comes to deeply care about the fate of East Timor.
47* JumpScare: An artillery shell suddenly going off behind Shackleton while he makes a news report.
48* KarmaHoudini: The Balibo Five and [[spoiler:Roger]]'s killers respectively go unpunished.
49* KilledOffscreen: [[spoiler:Ximenez]]'s HeroicSacrifice happens offscreen, with the camera instead focusing on Roger fleeing from the scene.
50* KnightInSourArmor: Roger is a cynical, scruffy journalist content to write fluff news stories until he retires. However, he ultimately proves to be a rather brave IntrepidReporter who becomes invested in East Timor's well-being.
51* ManlyFacialHair: Tough-as-nails FRETILIN fighter Ximenez sports a beard.
52* MightyWhitey: Averted hard. [[spoiler:Both Roger and the Balibo Five fail to accomplish anything meaningful in the grand scheme of things, and their efforts to help result in them being killed by the TNI.]]
53* MissingWhiteWomanSyndrome: Discussed. José calls out Roger for seemingly caring more about the death of five white journalists than the countless East Timorese 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.
54* MoralityPet: Joao and Juliana are the only people Roger consistently treats kindly.
55* MultipleGunshotDeath: [[spoiler:Roger]] is executed by being shot with a sub-machine gin, riddling him with bullets.
56* NiceGuy:
57** José is perpetually friendly and laid-back, and tolerates a lot of Roger's cowardice and rudeness with nothing but affability.
58** Joao is soft-spoken and polite almost to a fault.
59* TheQuisling: Roger witnesses Ximenez torturing an East Timorese man who was apparently working for the Indonesians.
60* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: During the invasion of Dili, women are segregated and raped by Indonesian soldiers.
61* RapidFireNo: [[spoiler:Roger]] right before he's executed by firing squad.
62* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: José delivers a brutal one to Roger after he seemingly cares more about the Balibo Five than the East Timorese village he just saw massacred.
63* RefusedTheCall: Roger declines José's offer to head the East Timorese government 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]].
64* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: [[spoiler:Gary]] is suddenly shot in the head while trying to negotiate with an Indonesian military officer.
65* UncertainDoom: [[spoiler:Joao]] chooses to remain in Dili in spite of the impending invasion, but what happens to him is never shown, though it's implied he was killed by Indonesian soldiers.

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