Peter Weir's film of drama, romance and political intrigue - set against the backdrop of a turbulent 1960s Indonesia - is an outstanding study of identity and innocence in a postcolonial world. Mel Gibson is great as Guy Hamilton - a naive, but well intentioned rookie reporter - but the film absolutely belongs to Linda Hunt's mercurial performance as Billy Kwan, the diminutive fixer and cameraman, for which Hunt was rightly awarded an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

Peter Weir's film of drama, romance and political intrigue - set against the backdrop of a turbulent 1960s Indonesia - is an outstanding study of identity and innocence in a postcolonial world. Mel Gibson is great as Guy Hamilton - a naive, but well intentioned rookie reporter - but the film absolutely belongs to Linda Hunt's mercurial performance as Billy Kwan, the diminutive fixer and cameraman, for which Hunt was rightly awarded an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

Não fiquei deslumbrado com o filme. Uma obra que nos coloca a observar o uso manietado da imprensa, por alguém com intuitos de inverter as condições politicas e sociais da Indonésia. No meio de tantas personagens, a mais cativante de ver é até mesmo a actriz Linda Hunt que é a personagem mais intensa e misteriosa deste filme em que faz (e bem) de um homem indonésio com uma "segunda agenda" ao serviço da verdade de um país. Mel Gibson e Sigourney Weaver (deslumbrante aqui), estão ok. O filme não foi assim tão cativante quanto esperava... mas é interessante.
6/10

Gostei muito do ambiente do filme: realidade crua e dura dotada de um certo mistério num cenário exótico pleno de intrigas. É claro que a Sigourney Weaver, nos anos 80 tinha um ar saudável e de todo recomendável...

The Billy Kwan character is the heart of the film. His passion for the world of the unseen (both the spiritual world and the world of the poor, unseen by the eyes of the elite) offers a strong counterpoint to the respected journalists covering a contentious political situation. Weir develops the "sight" metaphor nicely, if not a bit obviously. This is a film that has its heart in the right place--not the most artful, but a solid viewing now and again.

Linda Hunt does a great job. And Mel is not so bad.

Hard now to imagine Gibson giving a 5-star performance. But he did. Once.

I’ve always wanted to see this film, partly because it was directed by Peter Weir and partly because it has a very cool title. It also has a very young Mel Gibson, who was just coming off of working with Weir on Gallipoli. The film is about the adventures of an Australian journalist’s exploits in Indonesia during a coup attempt and is somewhat reminiscent of The Killing Fields, but with more of a mainstream romance in the background. I was somewhat distracted throughout the film because the main character’s name is Guy Hamilton, which is the same name as the guy who directed Goldfinger (and a couple of other Bond movies). I guess no one in their right mind would find that distracting. Otherwise this was solid, but a little less noteworthy than I had expected given the pedigree and cool title.

Peter Weir allows a rather rote story of Westerners in a foreign land to thrive, with unsentimental photography and a memorable gender defying performance.

A rather straightforward romance against a historical backdrop, but features some great performances and interesting sequences.