Movie · 1982 · Romance, Drama · 1h 54m · PG · English
Curator score: 5.2/10 (39.2K ratings)
A love caught in the fire of revolution.
Overview
A young Australian reporter tries to navigate the political turmoil of Indonesia during the rule of President Sukarno with the help of a diminutive photographer.
Mel Gibson, Sigourney Weaver, Linda Hunt, Michael Murphy, Bill Kerr, Noel Ferrier, Bembol Roco, Paul Sonkkila, Domingo Landicho, Kuh Ledesma, Hermino De Guzman, Ali Nur, Dominador Robridillo, Joel Agona, Mike Emperio, Bernardo Nacilla, Coco Marantha, Norma Uatuhan, Lito Tolentino, Cecily Polson
Curator Review
Verdict
An ambitious, uneven political romance that’s often more compelling as a mood piece and newsroom drama than as a cleanly balanced love story. Its on-location atmosphere, period detail, and Linda Hunt’s standout performance give it lasting value, even if the film’s perspective and tonal shifts can feel dated or messy.
Best for
Peter Weir completists
Viewers interested in 1980s political dramas and foreign-correspondent stories
Fans of lush, old-school studio filmmaking with location shooting
Audiences who don’t mind morally messy, imperfect romances
Skip if
You’re sensitive to colonial or exoticizing viewpoints
You want a tightly plotted thriller
You need a fully developed romance at the center
You prefer modern pacing and cleaner tonal control
Overview
Peter Weir makes the most of a volatile setting, turning Jakarta into a humid, unstable pressure cooker where journalism, diplomacy, and opportunism all blur together. The film has a strong sense of place and a restless, lived-in texture that still feels unusual for a mainstream studio drama of its era.
Worth noting
Its biggest strength is the atmosphere around the story: the political unrest feels immediate, and the film’s visual and musical sweep gives it a grand, melancholy charge. Linda Hunt is the clear standout, bringing wit, intelligence, and emotional precision to a role that anchors the film more than the nominal romance does.
Bottom line
That said, the movie is also frustratingly uneven. The love story can feel underwritten, and the film’s Western gaze on Indonesia is hard to ignore. Even so, it remains an intriguing, adult-minded work from a director who understands how to turn uncertainty into tension.
Top Letterboxd reviews
carrieandtracy · 560 likes
What an outrage that YouTube Premium has a better version of this movie than my shit DVD.
Edgar Cochran ✝️🍋 (4.5★) · 205 likes
Unforgettable. A fatal blow against Western colonialist imperialism and the exploitation of personal interests from journalism at the expense of irrational risks and relationships, all seen through, ironically, a Western exoticized look at a foreign land engulfed in social misery, internal struggle and political conflict. Perhaps the romance mechanism was introduced to gain Western attention and further distribution that would allow the auteur to introduce his stamp in Western territory after all, but the dramatic discussions held throughout are of… more Unforgettable. A fatal blow against Western colonialist imperialism and the exploitation of personal interests from journalism at the expense of irrational risks and relationships, all seen through, ironically, a Western exoticized look at a foreign land engulfed in social misery, internal struggle and political conflict. Perhaps the romance mechanism was introduced to gain Western attention and further distribution that would allow the auteur to introduce his stamp in Western territory after all, but the dramatic discussions held throughout are of… more
Patrick Willems · 204 likes
I, too, would throw journalistic ethics out the window for 1980s Sigourney Weaver
Bobby Finger (3★) · 156 likes
“They don’t make ‘em like this anymore” in a good way: elegant and meandering, lush on-location production, music by Maurice Jarre AND Vangelis
“They don’t make ‘em like his anymore” in a bad way: uhhhhhhhhhhhhh everything else
TajLV (3.5★) · 145 likes
In 1982, both Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver were at the top of their game. Gibson was in the midst of his Mad Max period, while Weaver was kicking intergalactic ass as Ripley in the Alien franchise. It was a stroke of genius getting them together to headline in this adaptation of C.J. Koch's novel about the political turmoil of Indonesia during the decline of President Sukarno. Gibson plays Australian journalist Guy Hamilton, while Weaver is British attache (and spy)… more In 1982, both Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver were at the top of their game. Gibson was in the midst of his Mad Max period, while Weaver was kicking intergalactic ass as Ripley in the Alien franchise. It was a stroke of genius getting them together to headline in this adaptation of C.J. Koch's novel about the political turmoil of Indonesia during the decline of President Sukarno. Gibson plays Australian journalist Guy Hamilton, while Weaver is British attache (and spy)… more
1983 · Drama, War · 2h 8m · R · Curator 5.3/10 (14.4K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, MGM Plus, Philo, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A smart, tense newsroom-and-revolution drama that overlaps strongly with the film’s journalism, ethics, and romance-adjacent tension.