'Year of Living Dangerously' to get first RI screening
'Year of Living Dangerously' to get first RI screening
By Daniel Cooney
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP): Banned by Indonesia's former dictator Soeharto for graphically depicting his tumultuous and bloody rise to power in the 1960s, the movie, The Year of Living Dangerously, is set to be screened here for the first time.
Organizers of the city's annual film festival said last week they planned to feature the 1983 movie next week.
Set amid rising political tensions, extreme poverty and bloody demonstrations, many regard it as a definitive celluloid depiction of the world's fourth most populous nation.
The story centers around the ouster of founding President Sukarno in 1965 and the subsequent killing of hundreds of thousands of suspected communists.
The film focuses on foreign journalists covering the turmoil. Starring Mel Gibson, Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hunt, it is based on a novel written by Australian author Christopher Koch.
Hunt won an Oscar for her portrayal of a cameraman with a social conscience.
Jakarta objected to the movie even before filming started in 1983. Australian-born director Peter Weir was forced to shoot it in Sydney and the Philippines' capital, Manila.
The head of the Jakarta International Film Festival, Natacha Devillers, said Indonesia's formerly strict censor board had said it would not prevent the Nov. 8 screening.
"This will be the first time it has been shown here," she said.
"The censors have said they will not block the showing of anything political."
Devillers said Indonesian censors had relaxed many of their strict rules since Soeharto was forced from office in May 1998 after 32 years of autocratic rule.
Soeharto, a former army general, replaced Sukarno in 1965 after a still-unexplained mutiny by leftist army officers. Soeharto placed Sukarno, Indonesia's founding father, under house arrest where he died in 1970.
Current President Abdurrahman Wahid took office a year ago promising to push through democratic reforms. One of Sukarno's daughters, Megawati Soekarnoputri, is Vice President.
Wahid has called for greater liberalization of the entertainment industry and encouraged an independent and critical press. He also has called for a reappraisal of the events of 1965.
Ironically, some analysts and journalists in Indonesia have labeled 2000 as another year of living dangerously, after a spate of bombings and fierce sectarian and separatist clashes.