the film is called Balibo and in October 1975, while living in Sydney Tony and Cynthia Brett Young invited a journalist friend to join them for a meal to hear about his latest assignment in East Timor, the former Portuguese colony to the north of Australia.
When their friend arrived he looked visibly shaken. His horror story is the subject of Balibo, January's film at Sutton Life Centre.
Balibo (cert 15) tells of a group of five Australian-based journalists, several of them British, who were murdered by Indonesian soldiers in a village called Balibo. They had gone to report on the invasion of East Timor by Indonesian soldiers, and Tony's and Cynthia's friend was the last person to see them alive. He had warned them they were in imminent danger, but they said that's what they were there to cover. A few days later he was the first to report their deaths. Another journalist Roger East (Anthony LaPaglia) is then persuaded to investigate the incident further. Balibo, a political thriller and true-crime story, is based on East's dangerous search for the truth.
Variety called Balibo .."a tense, character-driven thriller … allowing viewers with little or no prior knowledge of the subject to engage instinctively with the Balibo Five”.
Friday, 30 January at 7pm. Refreshments, £3 (Friends £2). No booking needed.
Sutton Life Centre, 24 Alcorn Close, Sutton, SM3 9PX