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The Year of Living Dangerously Customer Reviews (1 - 3 of 26 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!

A love affair in Indonesia
The movie takes us back to Jakarta year 1965, where a group of international journalists is covering the political problems of Indonesia with a government on the verge of collapsing.

An Australian correspondent (Guy) allies with a half Indonesian-Australian photojournalist named Billy who knows the culture extremely well fishing for the great story.
In the meantime, Guy gets introduced to a beautiful lady working inside the British Embassy. Passion and romance begins between the two in an atmosphere full of political unrest and constant danger.
Beautiful sceneries of the real culture of Insdonesia mixed with a strange love affair between the two main characters in this movie.
If you wish to spend 2 relaxing hours, where love and action are involved in a very nice country, The year of living Dangerously falls very well in that category.

Similar good movies:
Havana
Saigon
The Bridges of Madison County

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