Rating: 
Summary: Excellent film which works on many levels.
Review: What is this film about? Is it about political corruption and intrigue? Is it about how revolutionary movements start by promising a lot and end by delivering little? Is it about the conflict between love and duty? Or perhaps the cynicism of the press and the various and conflicting goals? The film could be about how hard it is to overcome fear and superstition. Maybe it is about doing small things to make the world better, but then reverting to dramatic acts when the small things don't work.Mel Gibson is a novice reporter for Australian news recently assigned to Indonesia. He wants to make a splash and climb the reportorial hierarchy. Billy Kwan (Linda Hunt in a stellar performance) takes him under his wing and educates him about poverty and teaches him to recognize the shadow play of politics. Billy also introduces him to Jill (Sigourney Weaver). They fall in love and have a wonderful scene in the rain. He commits a dramatic act that costs him dearly. (I don't want to give away everything.) Through it all we meet a cast of characters - reporters and diplomats - who are in turns fascinating and loathsome. The movie is beautifully photographed. The music adds to the atmosphere. Since I reserve a 5 star rating for true classics, this film gets only a 4. However I do recommend it very strongly.
Rating: 
Summary: Morality and The Media
Review: When I taught college level photography, this film,and the other classic of it's type, Under Fire, were shown as part of my curricula. This film asks a very simple question of all those who report the news and create visual documents of the world before them. The question is, is it morally acceptable to stand by and do nothing in the face of great evil just to get the shot or the story. You will know which is right by the time you have sat through this film. The choice is clear. This film will affect you every time you turn on the news or watch a documentary on a PBS station. You will find yourself more angry, more frustrated. more likely to ask yourself, "Can I stay on the sidelines as an distant, dispassionate observor?" I think you will find the same answer I did, as my students did, as many in the world are doing now. What is that answer? Only you know what lies deep in your heart and your concience. Only you can make those feelings a reality by acting on them. Do it, now, before you are the next innocent victim seen on a newsreel being beaten, gassed, hosed and shot by those who hold the reigns of power.
Rating:
Summary: An early classic from Peter Weir and Mel Gibson
Review: When I watch this movie (or "Gallipoli," from the same pair) I start wishing that Mel Gibson had stayed with Peter Weir and stayed in Australasia, rather than going to Hollywood and becoming a Major Star. Has he done anything as good since then? (Peter Weir seems to have made the transition more successfully. At least "Witness" was a modern classic.) In any case, THIS movie is full of believable people doing believable and interesting things. Linda Hunt does a great job playing Mel Gibson's assistant -- and entree to the Indonesian people. If you're a Mel Gibson fan, this belongs on your list with "Road Warrior" and "Gallipoli." It's a smashing good film!
Rating:
Summary: a classic
Review: You really feel like you are there in the hot and wet climate. Very well developed characters, and you do have a sense of the unease of the times, as well as the stunning beauty of land the events were set in. (well, those scenes were shot in the Philippines, but you get the idea) Even if you occasionally yell out "Now Mel, you are _not_ in a chick movie" while watching it, it is a great film.
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