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The Year of Living Dangerously Customer Reviews (1 - 3 of 27 Reviews)

Romance and intrigue amid squalor and poverty
Guy Hamilton is an opportunistic Australian journalist looking to make his name in Indonesia so that he can go on to bigger and better things. Hamilton (played by Mel Gibson) is lost amid a foreign culture and political machine so competely alien to him and gets help from Billy Kwan (played in a cross-gender role by Linda Hunt), an educated native who is desperate to do something about the rampant poverty he sees every day. The two develop a partnership: Guy supplies the words, and Billy, the images. However, their partnership undergoes strain due to their contrary aims: Guy wants to break the story of Communist aggression and insurrection, while Billy wants to blow the lid off of the poverty in his country. Guy's response is that people don't want to hear about starving kids. Things are complicated when Guy falls for a British diplomat (Sigourney Weaver, whose beauty and brilliant performance make up for a marginal British accent) who gives him the story he wants, but broadcasting it may just be bad for everyone. At end of the movie, everyone has committed themselves to what they feel is important, and for some, it isn't what one would initially imagine them choosing.

This is another 80s gem from Peter Weir, who is simply brilliant in setting up an utterly realistic impoverished Indonesia circa 1965. The acting, as I mentioned, is excellent: Gibson has rarely been better, and Weaver is one of the greatest living actresses today. Linda Hunt got much recognition for the role of Billy, but this is no gimmick or Oscar-bait performance--Hunt shows a compelling portrait of betrayed patriotism. Weir, as in Gallipoli, shows a weakness for the music of the times, and there is some 80s synth in the movie again (this time, from Vangelis). Other than this, though, this is a movie which is compelling all the way through and comes highly recommended from this viewer.

Smoldering
They just don't make these kinds of films anymore that blend romance,action,intrigue, political machinations, and manage to keep it modern and original. Set against the backdrop of Suharto's regime, Mel Gibson plays an investigative Australian reporter hunting stories against martial law uprising. Just 26 years old when he played the leading man, Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver shine. It's a classic!

[Three-and-a-half stars out of Four on 4-1 star scale] Mel and Sigourney perfectly cast in this underrated film!
Southeast Asia Era conflict film with
interesting characters caught in between.
Linda Hunt as asian man is BELEIVABLE!
Directed by one of Gibson's Aussie mates.

Recent Gibson trouble stemming from drunk
driving arrest makes parts of this film
(and Conspiracy Theory w/ Julia Roberts)
more interesting. Mel was pulled over for
drunk driving test and had tape of his
'conspiracy theory' [note small letters!]
father espousing remarks that khazars are
responsible for current wars; speech was
made at Willis Carto meeting in '03 in
Washington, D.istrict of C.riminals.
Cop didn't like what he heard and drunk
Mel asked if Cop (named Mee) was a jew?
Of course he wasn't. Media, still mad @
Gibson over Catholic film, 'The Passion
of the Christ', has attacked Mel relent-
ely since, though Gibson has appologized.
Mel whould have stood firm for what he &
father said, if they really believed it.
But of course he was drunk. I always say;
the Sober mouth speaks what the drunk mind
thinks. This is a case of reverse! Stay
tuned!

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