The Year of Living Dangerously

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

Following last week’s Witness, here is another film from Australian director Peter Weir, the 1982 movie The Year of Living Dangerously. Like Witness, it also deals with clashes between various cultures and factions, and asks whether one must put the concerns of individuals over the commitment to one’s personal career or associations. This story centers on Indonesia in 1965 ruled at that time by President Sukarno.

Steel drums play to establish the tropical setting before the dark visuals reveal anything discernible, accentuating the possible danger that exists here. There is shadow puppetry on building walls that entertains children, but the playful action contains violence. The image shows how danger exists here, and implies the corruption of innocence. The use of the puppet image is used again later. The action takes place in Jakarta. Reporter Guy Hamilton (Mel Gibson) arrives in the city on his first overseas assignment as he hopes to make a name for himself. Diminutive Billy Kwan (the female Linda Hunt, winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for this role) is a male Chinese Australian photographer, and is by far the most interesting character.

Billy types information about Guy in a dossier and notes his impressions in a voice-over. Billy says Guy is an enemy here because he is a Westerner and Sukarno doesn’t like the West, and he is the voice of the Third World. Potter, Guy’s predecessor in the job, was to meet him for a briefing but suddenly left saying his wife was ill. Kumar (Bembol Rococ), the man who works at the magazine branch office, says Potter was probably sick of Jakarta, summing the man up as an uncaring foreigner who did not care for the country.

Kumar says they have the first air-conditioned hotel because Americans and Europeans there like it cool. The Indonesians are used to the heat which is symbolic of the political climate. At a club, Billy says he worked with Potter. Billy introduces Guy to other journalists including the lascivious Peter Curtis (Michael Murphy) who writes for the Washington Post. They all know how hard it is to work there without contacts. Billy’s narrative shows his opinion of Guy as he observes how he, like “most of us become children again as we enter the slums of Asia.” One senses the childlike feelings of “laughter and misery, the crazy and the grim, toy town and a city of fear.” These feelings come from the joys and fears derived from being naive and vulnerable in an uncertain landscape, just like a child. Billy says Guy is scorned because he symbolizes the West, and Guy says he feels like a “spittoon” as some spit at him.

Billy, as if trying to be Guy’s mentor, takes him to the poorest section of the city, and says the bible and later Tolstoy once asked, “What then must we do?” to help others. Tolstoy went to the poorest section of his city, and was so moved he gave all his money away. Billy asks Guy if he would do the same? Billy notes that five dollars would be a small fortune. Guy says it’s a drop in the bucket, and wouldn't have any real effect. Billy says that’s what Tolstoy concluded. Billy says one shouldn’t think about the grand scheme, but “do whatever you can about the misery that’s in front of you. Add your light to the sum of light.” Guy gives the standard journalist answer that a reporter must not get involved personally in the subjects of the story. Billy later narrates his assessment that Guy is ambitious and self-contained. He is moderate to conservative in politics, but Billy sees possibility in him, what he calls the “unmet friend.” He seems to be assessing him for a role to play.

 Guy goes to the President’s palace the next day and meets the other journalists who must wait a long time until Sukarno is finished his breakfast in a sort of scornful attitude toward the West. The other reporters have made their contacts, but Guy has difficulty getting an interview. He broadcasts at his station, saying that Sukarno attempts to walk a precarious “tightrope” between the right-wing Muslim military and the communists. His boss in Sydney said he didn’t provide hard news, just something that could be observed back in Australia.  So Guy is feeling the pressure to produce.

Guy is feeling miserable as he sits in his leaking office. Billy shows up and asks if he got an interview. Since he didn’t, Billy says Potter sabotaged Guy by leaving early without helping him get established. Guy says he’s waited a long time for this chance and if he doesn’t deliver, his career is through. Billy says outside of Sukarno, who would he want to interview? Guy says Aidit, the head of the communist party there. Billy says he can get the interview for him, and has already paved the way. It will make “quite a stir internationally,” he says. Guy is a little suspicious of Billy being on speaking terms with Aidit. Guy says if he can arrange it, then he will give Billy all the film rights exclusively. Billy is happy, saying he wanted “a real partnership” but didn’t pursue it with Potter because he didn’t like the man, probably because he didn’t see any potential with him in getting the truth out about the people of Jakarta.

Their newspaper piece talks about how Sukarno has made an arms deal with the Indonesian Communist Party. The story shows up in one reporter’s newspaper, and it’s well written. The journalists are jealous, calling him “Sir Guy,” and Billy “The Black Dwarf,” mocking their accomplishment. The Washington Post reporter, Pete, says the story is a lie, and Aidit just used an inexperienced reporter to put forth some propaganda. He says Sukarno wouldn’t risk a civil war by arming the communists. The journalist says he’ll debunk Guy’s story and “piss” on it. They start to fight, but the British reporter, Wally (Noel Ferrier) diplomatically calms them down and says that maybe the piece should have included some skepticism concerning the deal, but admits it was well-written. He gets Guy and Pete to shake hands as professionals.

Some time passes as Pete asks what does Guy do for sex, and mentions the cemetery, where Billy says that’s where the prostitutes hang out. Pete says the sex is great, but one guy says the prostitutes are riddled with venereal disease. Billy, sarcastically commenting on the plight of the prostitutes, says that “starvation is a great aphrodisiac,” which comments on how these westerners are exploiting the local poverty. There is a reference that Billy hangs out with the most beautiful girl in town, but Billy says it’s a friendship. At the bar, Pete hires a small, strange man to do some singing and dancing for Guy, who is embarrassed by the humiliation the person is subjected to just for some money. Billy is angry at the display and Guy is embarrassed by this additional example of the lack of concern for the plight of the local inhabitants.

Guy and Billy walk to Billy’s place. Billy points out a picture of a dwarf and says, “The one great advantage of being a dwarf is that you can be wiser than other people and no one envies you.” Billy probably sees himself as having intellectual power that nobody wants to acknowledge. Billy says Guy “doesn’t see” in an emotional sense the reality around him because of his journalistic distancing, which suggests Guy is not capable at this point of doing anything about the problems of the world. Billy adores Sukarno, and believes he’s really trying to help his people. He says he is a genius, admired as a god among his populace. There are pictures on his wall showing people scrounging for rice, but Billy complains that is not what the journalists are reporting. Billy isn’t concerned about how artistic his photography looks, he is only interested in the contents of what he is depicting. He is the opposite of what he said of Guy, because he becomes involved with the people he interacts with. For Billy, the subjects of the reporting come first for him.

Guy notices Billy’s puppets, which brings us back to the opening sequence of the film. Billy says Guy has to understand Wayang, the Sacred Shadow Play, to understand Java. The Puppet Master is entitled the Priest. They call Sukarno the Great Puppet Master, because he balances the left with the right, politically. The shadows of the puppets represent the souls of people, and the screens on which they are projected is heaven. Watching the shadows is what one concentrates on as there is the constant struggle between the right and the left. The Forces of light and darkness are in an endless balance. All of this symbolism provides a supernatural, other-worldly dimension that transcends reality. In the West, Billy says, people want answers for everything: it is either all good or all bad, right or wrong. But, in Asia there is a different philosophy, where no such final conclusions exist. Billy implies that there are no simple, easy answers to complex problems, and the desire is for balance, not the vanquishing of one side over the other. As a mirror is obscured by dust, and a fire hidden by smoke, all things become clouded. So, there are no perfect heroes, because men can be fickle and selfish, subject to desires, allowing the soul to be blinded. In this mythic scenario there is a dwarf, who serves the Prince, (as Billy feels he serves Sukarno?) Guy notices a photo of Jill Bryant (Sigourney Weaver), whom Billy calls “My Jilly,” a familiar nickname, with the “my” showing possessiveness on Billy’s part.

They observe Col. Ralph Henderson (Bill Kerr), the British military attaché, at the hotel, who Billy says Guy should meet. Jill is also there coming out of the pool, and Billy tells her he wants her to meet Guy. Jill says she is ready to go back home to England in a couple of weeks and is looking forward to it. Henderson bullies the waiter, one may say he acts imperialistic, because the man added ice to the gin and tonic, and the Colonel says that’s what the Americans want. He then wants to race Guy in a swimming contest. Billy comments that winning at games is very important to the British, which also hints at England’s past hunger to rule the world. Guy lets Henderson win.

In voice-over, Billy wants to find things that he and Guy have in common. He notes that both he and Guy have mixed heritage, mothers who are Australian, but Billy’s father is Chinese, and Guy’s dad is American. They “are not quite at home in the world,” he says, not fitting well into any one place, which makes them outsiders, not embraced as family anywhere. Kumar’s dad is being pressured by the military to pay protection money for his shop. His pride is at stake when Guy has extra cash and offers it to Kumar. Kumar says, “for my father, I’ll play the beggar.” The scene stresses the dire economic situation in the country, and the corruption as those in charge exploit their own people.

There is a communist party protest at the American Embassy. Kumar says the PKI, the communist party, is getting a great deal of support, and the marchers carry signs showing Sukarno’s image. Kumar says the PKI will provide discipline. But Billy, as was shown, is not a believer in any one political answer, and points out that Stalin gave discipline to Russia and wiped out 10 million people as the price for it. The protesters bring a dump truck carrying rocks and they throw them at the embassy. They then start to ram the car with Guy and company in it with a truck. Billy and Gus get out and record video and audio of the mob. Instead of embracing the media attention, the crowd starts to attack the two men, and one cuts Guy with a knife on his leg. But being dedicated journalists, their main concern is that they recorded the footage. The adrenaline rush of getting the story is what dominates Guy’s desire, and Billy wants to expose the anger at the West for not helping the Indonesians.

As Billy bandages Guy’s leg at Billy’s place, Guy looks at Jill’s photo. Billy asks what he thinks of her, and he says the British, like the Colonel, act too superior. Billy says she isn’t like that. The man in the photo with her is a French journalist with whom she was involved, but he was transferred to Saigon. Billy says it’s difficult for Jill because men want to get her in bed within five minutes of meeting her. Billy is pointing out how the sexist attitude toward women dominates here, and reduces Jill to being a sex object. Guy makes an unkind joke that it’s Billy’s job to keep the men at bay, like he’s a eunuch. Guy realizes his insensitive remark and apologizes. Billy says he asked Jill to marry him, but she turned him down. So despite his earlier statement of just being friends, he, too, is attracted to her. Guy sees the file Billy created on him and starts to become agitated wondering who Billy is working for, such as the communists or the CIA. Billy says he keeps files on everybody and isn’t working for anyone. He says he and Guy are friends and make a good team. He then jokes, saying how they even look alike, having the same eyes.

Billy says when he types “here on the quiet page, I’m master. Just as I’m master in the dark room, stirring my prints in a magic developing bath.” The poetic words take on a supernatural and ritualistic connotation. He is like the Puppet Master in his solitude, away from the judgments of the world concerning his small size, as he manipulates those moments he has frozen in time through his power. As he looks at the pictures he has put on his walls, he says he shuffles their lives like cards, having a sort of control over them. Outside his realm these people will decay, become others, “betray their dreams,” and will eventually turn into ghosts.

Billy brings rice and a toy to a woman, Ibu (Norma Uatuhan) and her sick child. He gives her money for a doctor. He narrates that he tries to make her and her boy understand that the water they drink and bathe in carries disease. His words demonstrate how he tries to practice what he preaches, trying to help those right in front of him. In another place Billy says that Ibu could lead a good life. This idea of circumstances of birth determining survival comes up again later. Here she must beg and probably sell herself, and Billy knows her story is repeated a million times over. The film emphasizes the anguish and impoverishment that results when those in power, whether foreign or domestic, continually exploit and neglect the poorer nations. Billy again asks the question that he posed to Guy, “What then must we do?” He concludes that we must give love to whomever God puts in our path.

As poor natives look at money exchanged in the club, the journalists are drinking champagne, as Wally says he has bought a bungalow. The others wonder why anyone would want to take up permanent residence there, seeing their role as information scavengers who are just there to feed and move on. At Wally’s place, there is a party, with Billy, Guy and Jill in attendance. Wally’s house boy brings him a drink, and Wally tells the servant that he spoils Wally. Wally strokes him, suggesting a gay relationship, that is exploitative given the socio-economic situation. The Colonel is there also and says that Guy is young and can be forgiven for speculating in one of his articles about a famine. Guy stands his ground by saying the event was not speculation. Billy asks Jill about the article and she says it was a bit melodramatic. The next shot is of Billy looking at Jill’s photo and saying, “And so it begins,” which probably refers to the romance that will occur between Guy and Jill. Billy may be jealous but at the same time wanted the two to meet, and is instrumental in advancing the relationship because he wants what’s best for Jill.

Perhaps on purpose, Billy does not show up at the news office to meet Jill for lunch. Guy offers to drive her to Billy’s place. On the way, he asks what she thought was melodramatic about his story. She says she was a witness to the famine, so she is not just getting the news second-hand, but has seen the atrocity and wants the information revealed in the most effective way. From a writing standpoint, she felt he repeated the physical description of the children with signs of starvation more than necessary. He jokingly turns up the radio as if to drown out criticism.

As they get out of the car, the children touch them, and Jill comments that they rub against their white skin, which implies they have been programmed to believe it is special, possibly superior, or lucky, because the whites are so rich in comparison to themselves. She asks why did he let the Colonel win the swim race, and he admits that maybe it is because the man looks like his father, bald and with a mustache. She knows that his father died in the war because Billy told her, which shows Billy furthering their connection. Billy is not at his house. Jill says Billy seems to be no threat with the way he looks, and wanders into all the embassies, gathering information, with nobody wanting to make a scene about trying to throw him out because of his vulnerable size. She tells Guy that Billy keeps files on people he cares about, that he’s not an agent, as Guy still suspected. She also points out a picture of the woman, Ibu, and her son, who he has adopted and tries to help. Guy has to do interviews and invites her, jokingly saying she can keep an eye on the melodrama.

Later he asks what she does at the embassy and she is not very forthcoming, so he guesses she is a spy. It starts to pour, and their drinks come, which become flooded by the rain. They are drenched and get to his car. They laugh when he asks what is it they are drinking, and she says it’s green stuff, and then he plays off of what the Colonel said earlier by saying the drink should come with ice. Her hat is soaked and he puts it on and says he should get one for the interview, which she says he can have hers cheap. He drops her off, asks her out to dinner, but can’t get her to go since she is leaving soon, saying it’s too complicated. He says dinner isn’t complicated. He calls later, but she refuses to talk with him. Despite their chemistry, she has already been hurt before and doesn't want to get emotionally invested if there is no future for the two of them.

Billy tells Guy that he has an invitation to a ball at the British Embassy, and gives him an incentive to attend by saying Jill will be there. Billy is again acting like a go-between. The Colonel is suspicious when Guy swoops Jill outside so they can kiss. She says she can’t leave with him because it will cause a scandal and she reminds him she will be leaving soon. Disappointed, he goes, but she hops in his car. The Colonel yells after her asking what is she doing? They are living dangerously in a different way, the one involving matters of the heart. There is a curfew reminder at the party to emphasize the danger and restrictions here. But not for these lovers, as they drive through an armed roadblock that has fire burning in drums as the soldiers start firing at them. They duck and laugh wildly afterwards, showing how their passion has literally made them reckless. Later, Billy strokes Guy’s bullet scarred vehicle, as if vicariously enjoying Jill’s excitement and at the same time feeling the pain of not being able to give her joy.

We return to Billy’s narration as he again looks at Jill’s dossier. He is like a psychiatrist analyzing his patients as he reviews their charts. Or maybe he sees himself as a person who has been underestimated as to his power, and views himself as someone who can alter the course of things, through his analysis and manipulation of others. He is much more poetic, and is a better writer than Guy. He says of Jill, she “has little religious feeling, yet has a reverence for life. This is a spirit like a wavering flame which only needs care to burn high. If this does not happen, she can lapse into the promiscuity and bitterness of the failed romantic.” Billy sees Jill as a person who can either soar or crash in the pursuit of love, and since he is not the one she loves, he takes it upon himself to supply her with the best man.

At the journalist's bar, the men make sexually suggestive comments about the fact that Guy and Jill left the embassy together. They make lewd remarks, but Guy’s reaction is to push away the leering Pete, and leave. As one of them says, accurately, Guy is in love. The next scene has Guy trying to fix the car while Jill sits in it. The two talk about staying and leaving. She says she wants to travel to see firsthand what is going on, not read about it in some “yellow journalism” piece, making a joke about the low quality of his type of news coverage.

Working at her job, she reads a top-secret communication. She goes out. It is raining and the slick, wet streets are symbolic of her sexual arousal and longing for Guy. She goes to his office, pulls him out and they go to have sex. She confides in him that arms are being shipped to the local communists, which means there will be a civil war. She says she told him this not for a news scoop but to save him. She says if the communists take over they will kill all foreigners. But, for him, because he is a reporter, he must stay. He says Sukarno won’t be able to separate the Muslims and the communists, as Billy had hoped.

Billy meets Guy at his office and admits that he was also told in confidence by Jill of the arms delivery. Billy says even if Guy gets independent confirmation about the arms shipment, everyone will know he received the information from Jill, and that will destroy her career and make her a security liability. Guy says he can’t just sit on this story, since he most likely sees it as a warning for the people of Jakarta. But he really wants to run the story because of his desire to be a news-breaking reporter. Billy walks away from him in disgust.

In another narration as he reviews Guy’s file, Billy says Guy has changed, and maybe Billy was wrong about him. Billy sees Guy as being capable of betrayal, since he sees how he put Jill in a precarious position because of his ambitions regarding his job. He says that he abuses his journalist position and has become addicted to risk. He makes a “fetish” of his career, and “all relationships temporary,” if they hinder his zeal to get the story. Billy asks why can’t Guy give of himself, why can’t he “love.” Yet we saw at the bar that he wasn’t admitting to using Jill just for sex, and has true feelings for her.

Guy goes to docks wanting a source to confirm when the shipment of arms will come in. But he is warned that if he accidentally talks to a communist party member, he will be in danger. He does a lot of traveling with Kumar to find where the shipment might arrive. Kumar has them stop at what was an old Dutch villa to rest for the night, but Guy has a troubled dream about being drowned by Tiger Lilly (Kuh Ledesma), who runs the place. She earlier took a dive into a filthy swimming pool, showing how there is no escape from the squalid conditions in the country. His dream shows him psychologically experiencing the danger to him (and probably the people) in Jakarta. Earlier Kumar said that the communists might bring order to the country. Guy now realizes Kumar is with the PKI. Kumar admits that there must be violent change to raise his country out of its poverty and corruption. Kumar says Tiger Lilly is higher up in the PKI and there is a death list which Guy is on. Kumar so far has protected him, but says Guy must cease asking about the shipment of arms.

Back at the hotel, Guy tries to call Jill. Pete, blaring American rock and roll music, wants to celebrate with Guy because he has been assigned to Saigon, where the Vietnam War is heating up. He flaunts his money, and the blaring music, along with dancing with the local girls, show he has no respect for the population. He sees the situation only as a source of exploitation. A man there pulls out a gun and tells Pete and Guy to leave, the scene illustrating the anger at the foreigners’ selfish presence. The two men drive and are accosted by a gang of prostitutes. Pete wants to continue to take advantage of their poverty and leaves to go with the women, while Guy becomes repulsed by the scene, probably feeling guilty about the sordidness of what he sees around him and to which the foreigners contribute.

Guy goes to the British Embassy, but is told that Jill is not available. Billy walks to Ibu’s place but sees women dressed in white, the color of mourning in Asia. Ibu and a holy man are performing a death ritual. Billy walks away and sees a picture of Sukarno, but he is no longer showing signs of adulation. He sees people still fighting in the streets for rice, as children scoop it off the ground. He joins the journalists at the bar celebrating Pete’s assignment and talking about Sukarno’s arrival in the city. Billy mocks them, saying wherever there is misery that is where the press goes, but he says they don’t do anything to relieve the suffering. He has footage of the grain fights if they want it to show the plight of the common people, instead of just reporting the splashy news stories. Billy says they should tell the truth about Sukarno, who has also changed (as he said about Guy). He now sees Sukarno also as a betrayer, with his empty speeches, as he builds “monuments to his vanity” while his people are starving. Billy agrees that Sukarno uses his people as objects of pleasure. But, Billy accuses the reporters of doing the same, as he accuses Wally of exploiting young boys for sex and Pete indulging himself with young girls. They attack Billy, but Guy shows up and stops them, as Billy runs off.

Guy catches up with him, and in the background there is a car on fire and there is graffiti over Sukarno’s posters, with PKI written on them. A homeless man crouches in the corner. It is a hellish landscape. Guy says the story was too important to withhold to protect Jill. Billy says he would give up the world for her, but Guy, “wouldn’t even give up one story.” He says he believed in Guy, and thought he was a man of “light.” He gave him the stories to write because he wanted him to “feel something” about what was “right,” He says he and Jill gave him their trust. In casting himself as a type of god, Billy says to Guy, “I created you.” He gave Jill (like Eve) to Guy (his Adam), and now took her back because Guy doesn’t deserve her. He gave him the stories, to try to make him feel things, see what was right. He walks away in disappointment, feeling Guy has let them all down.

Back at his place, Billy cries as he looks at a photo of Ibu’s child as mournful operatic music plays, and he repeats, “What then must we do?” typing it over and over. At a reception, Guy confronts Jill, and he says he did the broadcast but made sure it was confirmed by the communists. She tries to excuse his actions, saying she knew he was a journalist when she told him of the arms information, but the hurt on her face is obvious, and she walks away.

Billy has lost all faith in his leader, believes he has harmed the woman he loves by picking the wrong man for her, and has seen the death of Ibu’s boy. He makes a Christ-like sacrifice to carry the sins of his country and others, including himself, to bring attention to the suffering of the people. He rents a hotel room and hangs a sign out of the window that reads, “Sukarno, Feed Your People.” There is a rush of police to his room, and after they break in, Billy falls out of the window. Guy is there after following the rush of people and covers Billy’s broken body. Billy smiles at Guy before he dies, as if forgiving him.

Guy finds Jill at Billy’s place where she wants to get his files before the authorities get there. Guy says he was murdered and Sukarno didn’t even see it, so he feels that his death was in vain. He tells her he didn’t want to hurt her by running the story, but doesn’t want to lose her. She is leaving the next day.

Over the radio there is news that the government has been taken over. There are troops that stop Guy’s car as he heads to the airport. They are near the palace, and he acts like he's going there as a journalist, but a guard hits him in the head. Hortono (Domingo Landicho), the driver, takes him to Billy’s place. Both of his eyes are bandaged as Hortono leaves to go with his family. Kumar shows up and says that the PKI failed, and the Muslim generals have taken over, making Sukarno a “puppet” of the right. This ironic statement reminds one of how Billy once thought of Sukarno as the “Puppet Master,” balancing the good and the bad. Kumar’s words show how Billy had misplaced his faith. Kumar says he himself is a dead man since the military is killing all of the known communists. Guy offers him a cigarette like a man smoking before the firing squad starts shooting. As Billy said how in another country Ibu would have lived well, Kumar asks Guy sine Kumar is not a stupid man, why does he live like a poor person all of his life when stupid people in Guy’s country live well? Guy can’t answer the question. Kumar says Billy was right, that Westerners do not have answers anymore, which is symbolized by Guy laying there, mute, and blind, useless. Kumar recites a Japanese saying about water from the moon, which means something you’ll never have. Guy takes the bandage off of one eye, risking blindness, and tells Kumar to get him to the airport and then Kumar can drive away to safety.

As they go through a checkpoint, they see the military lining people up and shooting them. After Guy shows his journalistic papers, the military luckily let him drive away, not risking an incident with a foreign correspondent. At the airport, the security guards confiscate Guy’s tape recorder, and he lets them have it. Jill is waiting for him in the airplane. He has made the choice to put the woman he loves ahead of his job, as Billy would have wanted.

Next time, short comments on four recent films.