-
June 25, 1965.
-
Dossier H-10: Hamilton, Guy.
-
Born 1936,
under the sign of Capricorn.
-
Occupation: Journalist with the
Australian Broadcasting Service.
-
Jakarta. First assignment
as foreign correspondent.
-
You're an enemy here, Hamilton,
like all Westerners.
-
President Sukarno
tells the West to go to hell...
-
and today Sukarno
is the voice of the Third World.
-
- Where you get visa?
- Sydney.
-
Something wrong with that?
-
Mr. Hamilton? Mr. Hamilton?
-
- Welcome to Indonesia.
- Thanks. You're...
-
Kumar, from Jakarta office.
-
Hortono. Driver.
-
- Where's Potter?
- Mr. Potter has gone. He left this.
-
Where's he gone?
-
Back to Australia.
-
Please follow me.
-
He was supposed to stay
and brief me.
-
He said he was sorry.
His wife was sick.
-
Of what? Him?
-
No, of Jakarta, boss.
-
Our first air-conditioned hotel.
-
Here, Americans and Europeans
pay to be kept cold.
-
Who's this?
-
CIA.
-
Nah, he's an embassy office boy.
Look at him.
-
You're both wrong.
He's the new A.B.S. Man.
-
How did our diminutive friend
know that?
-
That little twerp knows everything.
-
Guy Hamilton, right?
-
- Right.
- Billy Kwan.
-
I did a lot of film work
for Potter.
-
How do you do?
-
I felt sorry for you.
-
Dumped in your first posting
without contacts.
-
Adrift, hoping to
bluff your way through.
-
Wally O'Sullivan, Sydney Herald.
-
- Read your stuff.
- Mere trifles, dear boy.
-
Kevin Condon,
photo journo for Theta.
-
- And Pete Curtis, Washington Post.
- Hi.
-
- Pleasant flight?
- Yeah, it was all right.
-
- This your first overseas post?
- Yes, it is. Yeah.
-
Pity about Potter takin' off.
Can be hard here without contacts.
-
I'll survive.
-
- Taxi, sir?
- No, thanks.
-
You should take a taxi.
It's dangerous walking there.
-
- Taxi, sir?
- No.
-
Most of us become children again
when we enter the slums of Asia.
-
Last night I watched you
walk back into childhood...
-
in all its opposite intensities...
-
laughter and misery,
the crazy and the grim...
-
toy town and a city of fear.
-
Hey, English, huh?
-
Hey, capitalist.
-
Is it always like that here?
-
Don't take it personally.
You're just a symbol of the West.
-
Feel more like a spittoon.
-
- Where are we going?
- This is a little market for the poor.
-
"And the people asked Him, saying,
'What shall we do then?"'
-
- What's that?
- It's from Luke.
-
Chapter 3, verse 10.
-
"What then must we do?"
Tolstoy asked the same question.
-
He wrote a book with that title.
-
He got so upset
about the poverty in Moscow...
-
that he went one night
into the poorest section...
-
and just gave away
all his money.
-
You could do that now.
-
Five American dollars would be a fortune
to one of these people.
-
Wouldn't do any good.
Just be a drop in the ocean.
-
Ah. That's the same conclusion
Tolstoy came to.
-
- I disagree.
- What's your solution?
-
Well, I support the view that you just
don't think about the major issues.
-
You do whatever you can about
the misery that's in front of you.
-
Add your light
to the sum of light.
-
- You think that's naive?
- Yup.
-
- It's all right. Most journalists do.
- We can't afford to get involved.
-
Typical journo's answer.
-
Good luck for tomorrow.
You'll need it.
-
Go home. Get some sleep.
-
Take the one behind me.
-
You're ambitious, self-contained...
-
moderate to conservative in politics,
and despite your naïveté...
-
I sense a potential,
something immediately apparent.
-
A possibility.
-
Could you be the unmet friend?
-
Boss, take off your sunglasses
when you go in.
-
Palace guards say they can
tell assassin by his eyes.
-
- Good morning.
- Good morning.
-
Missed anything?
-
Yeah, 63 minutes
of excruciating boredom.
-
I got a feeling he's gonna make
a pronouncement this morning.
-
Oh, really, Kevin?
What makes you say that?
-
- Just a thought.
- Yeah?
-
When a thought crosses your mind, it's
been on the shortest trip in Jakarta.
-
What happens next?
-
Soon as Sukarno's finished breakfast,
we go up.
-
- How do you know when he's finished?
- He throws his scraps to us.
-
Sorry, chaps.
Age before beauty.
-
One, two, three.
Testing, testing.
-
It'll do his image a world of good.
-
The president will act...
-
- Of course I will...
- General?
-
No, not now.
-
Just come up here for a minute.
-
Are you gonna leave the U.N. Or not?
-
Korea respect Sukarno.
Not like...
-
Let me put it this way. If you
don't leave, what are you gonna do?
-
Can I come to your place?
-
If you leave the U.N.,
what are you gonna do?
-
In short, Jakarta is a city where
the questions outnumber the answers...
-
but one thing is certain:
-
That Sukarno's tightrope shuffle
between the Communist P.K. I...
-
and the right-wing military...
-
is looking more precarious
as the hours tick by.
-
This is Guy Hamilton
in Jakarta for A.B.S. News.
-
- Is that all?
- What do you mean?
-
- You could have written that from here.
- What about the tightrope image?
-
Everyone else thinks Sukarno
is in control.
-
Guy, that wasn't news.
It was travelogue.
-
Sydney out.
-
- Didn't like it, eh, boss?
- Stop callin' me boss.
-
Sorry.
-
Have one of these.
-
- Why are you creepin' around?
- I'm sorry. I didn't hear you come in.
-
- Geez.
- I keep equipment here.
-
Potter gave me a key.
Do you want it back?
-
Huh! Keep it.
-
- Did you get an interview today?
- What?
-
- Did you get an interview?
- No, I didn't.
-
You're in trouble.
Do you realize that?
-
It's early days yet.
-
All the top doors are shut
to Western journalists.
-
- Curtis got an interview.
- Curtis and Wally have got reputations.
-
They can't be ignored.
Your only way in is personal contacts.
-
Potter sabotaged you.
-
You want me to shoot myself?
-
Ten years I've waited for this,
and if I mess it up...
-
they'll send me back to the news room
in Sydney, and that's a graveyard.
-
If you could get
any interview you want...
-
excluding one with Sukarno,
who would it be?
-
- The leader of the Communist Party.
- I'll get it.
-
I can get you to him tomorrow.
-
- He doesn't give interviews.
- He does when he needs to.
-
He's a friend of mine.
I've already spoken to him about you.
-
- Why are you on speaking terms with...
- lf you want it...
-
it's yours.
-
It should make quite a stir
internationally.
-
If you can get me to Aidit, I'll give
you all the film work you can handle.
-
Exclusive.
-
That's great, old man. That's what
I've always wanted, a real partnership.
-
Why the break to me?
Why not Potter?
-
I didn't like him.
-
We'll make a great team.
-
You, for the words;
me, for the pictures.
-
I can be your eyes.
-
- Thank you very much, Mr. Aidit.
- Let's go, Guy!
-
We'll keep in touch!
-
I'll take this straight
to the airport.
-
- You'll be rushing to catch the flight.
- I'll make it.
-
If you shot that out of focus,
I'll kill you.
-
You worry about the words,
Hamilton.
-
Identification: Guy Hamilton
in Jakarta. Lead-in for story.
-
Exclusive interview with head
of the Indonesian Communist Party.
-
Piece begins in five seconds.
-
"Sukarno has yielded to the
demands of Communist Party members...
-
"in Indonesian cabinet that
a 'Fifth Force' is to be established."
-
- That's bullshit!
- The worrying thing is...
-
it's well-written bullshit,
and it's right here in my paper.
-
My paper wants me to match it.
-
Here they are now.
Sir Guy and the Black Dwarf.
-
Congratulations, Hamilton.
-
You've squeezed the test match
into two columns.
-
Sorry about that.
-
- Want a beer?
- Great.
-
Ali!
-
You really think Sukarno's gonna let
the Commies have their own army?
-
- That's what Aidit said.
- Aidit's lying.
-
- Maybe.
- Why report it?
-
- Maybe he isn't.
- You know why he let you interview him?
-
No. Tell us, Pete.
-
Because he knew a more experienced
journalist wouldn't have even filed it.
-
Really, Pete?
-
If Aidit told you he had a toothache,
you'd file it.
-
You've been after him for months
trying to get him to tell you something.
-
The story stinks, and you know it.
Sukarno's not stupid.
-
He lets the Communists have arms, and
we'll have a civil war here tomorrow.
-
- Yeah, that's right.
- There better not be.
-
- I'm gettin' married in December.
- Don't lose any sleep over it.
-
This story's bullshit,
and when I file...
-
I'm gonna piss on it
from a great height, mate.
-
You do that, buddy.
It's about the only...
-
- Guy! No!
- Simmer down! Stop it!
-
- Did you see that?
- Forget it.
-
Next time, pal.
-
Jesus!
-
I must confess, Hamilton...
-
that I probably would have infused it
with a little more skepticism...
-
but bitter resentment won't prevent me
from admitting it was a good piece.
-
Well done.
Now smile and shake hands.
-
Beauty among the squalor.
-
I took that with a 200 millimeter.
Got a natural elegance, haven't they?
-
All I ever see you shoot are tits.
-
Quit trying to sell us
the pursuit of abstract beauty...
-
and admit you're a pervert.
-
Billy, you're a professional.
Is that pornography or art?
-
If it's in focus, it's pornography.
If it's out of focus, it's art.
-
Definitely art. Mmm.
-
They really are
exquisite creatures, aren't they?
-
Let me ask you something. I've
worried about this since you got here.
-
- What do you do for sex?
- You're worried about that?
-
Whenever I hit the front page,
I get a hard-on.
-
- So what do you do?
- I go up to the cemetery.
-
Are you a necrophiliac?
-
It's where the prostitutes hang out.
-
Fantastic girls, Hamilton.
-
Best value-for-your-money ass
in Asia.
-
I'll take you up there
right now, huh?
-
- Some other time.
- Wise man.
-
- They're riddled with VD.
- You never heard of penicillin?
-
You will love this action.
-
You want to spend the night?
Costs you one dollar.
-
Starvation's a great aphrodisiac.
-
Keep it up, Billy. We'll just
nail you to the old cross, huh?
-
He can afford to be virtuous.
-
He's holding hands
with the best-lookin' chick in town.
-
She's a friend.
-
Sure she is, Billy.
-
You'd find that kind of relationship
hard to understand.
-
Get me the nails.
-
I'm gonna hang the little bastard up
right now.
-
You've been holdin' out on me.
-
Here we are. Come on.
-
Not too much, Hamilton.
Take it easy.
-
All right. That's enough.
-
Hey, Billy, grab one of these.
Go on! Go on.
-
Come on. Out of the way.
We're trying to eat here.
-
You ever have these?
This stuff is terrific.
-
I want you to meet your new best friend.
I bought him for you.
-
Dance for my pal.
-
- Do a dance for my pal.
- Okay.
-
- Get him outta here.
- I bought him for you, pal.
-
He's yours.
He goes wherever you go.
-
Oh, God.
-
- It was just a joke.
- Just a joke.
-
- Hey, Wally...
- Forget it.
-
- Sorry.
- Billy, it was a joke.
-
Forget it.
-
Billy, what's that weird noise?
-
It's the bamboo,
but there is a spirit here.
-
I hear him outside at night.
-
He came inside one night and spilled
some bottles of developer.
-
- Do you really believe that stuff?
- Absolutely, old man.
-
The unseen is all around us...
-
particularly here in Java.
-
G'day, sport.
-
G'day.
-
One of us.
-
Air-conditioning, huh? I thought you
were living like the people.
-
I keep a lot of film stock here.
It's kinder to it.
-
Kinder to you too, eh?
-
Okay, okay. But everything else here
is your basic Indonesia.
-
A normal man
of normal intelligence...
-
capable of having
normal children...
-
but whose body is a joke.
-
But the one great advantage
of being a dwarf...
-
is that you can be wiser than
other people and no one envies you.
-
You're not a dwarf.
-
That's what I like
about you, Guy.
-
You don't care, do you?
-
Or maybe you just don't see.
-
- Want some tea?
- Love some.
-
This picture of Sukarno...
-
- It's me.
- It's you. Yeah.
-
I dressed for the part.
-
He's quite a hero of mine.
I think he's a genius.
-
He's really trying to do
something for his people.
-
To them, he's a god.
-
That's the real Jakarta.
-
Scrounging for handfuls of rice
to keep alive another day.
-
That's a story you journos
don't tell in your reports.
-
- Nobody wants to hear it.
- Tell them anyway.
-
Why don't you exhibit these?
-
I don't care about the photographs.
I care about the content.
-
I'm not very aesthetically minded.
-
That explains all those
terrible shirts you get around in.
-
You like my puppets?
-
If you want to understand Java...
-
you have to understand
the wajang...
-
the sacred shadow play.
-
The puppet master was a priest.
-
That's why they call Sukarno
the great puppet master...
-
balancing the left
with the right.
-
Their shadows are souls,
and the screen is heaven.
-
You must watch their shadows...
-
not the puppets.
-
The right in constant struggle
with the left.
-
The forces of light and darkness
in endless balance.
-
In the West, we want answers
for everything.
-
Everything is right or wrong
or good or bad.
-
But in the wajang, no such
final conclusions exist.
-
Look at Prince Arjuna.
-
He's a hero.
-
But he can also be fickle
and selfish.
-
Krishna says to him...
-
"All is clouded
by desire, Arjuna...
-
"as a fire by smoke...
-
"as a mirror by dust.
-
"Through these,
it blinds the soul."
-
Pretty good stuff.
-
This is the Princess Srikandi.
-
Noble and proud but headstrong.
-
Arjuna will fall in love with her.
-
Who's this one?
-
He's very special.
-
The dwarf, Semar.
-
What does he do?
-
He serves the prince.
-
That's my Jilly.
-
There's someone
you should get to know.
-
- Who?
- The chap with the mustache.
-
He's British military attaché.
-
- Colonel.
- Ah, Kwan.
-
This is Guy Hamilton from A.B.S.
-
- Colonel Ralph Henderson.
- How are you?
-
Been listening to your broadcasts.
-
- More interesting than your predecessor.
- Thank you.
-
Jilly.
-
Billy, what are you doing here?
-
- You never come to the pool.
- I brought someone to meet you.
-
- Really?
- I knew I'd find you here.
-
This is my special friend,
Jilly Bryant. Guy Hamilton.
-
- Drinks all around?
- Yes, please.
-
Gin and tonics for everyone?
-
- Four.
- Yes, sir.
-
You're staying at the hotel?
You're lucky. It's delightful.
-
We're at the ambassador's residence
since the locals destroyed our embassy.
-
- I hear they tore the place apart.
- Yes, they seemed to have fun.
-
- It was all rather droll.
- It was anything but droll.
-
Didn't some clown keep playing
the bagpipes the whole time?
-
That was Ralph.
-
It helped the morale.
-
I bet you're counting
the days now, Jilly.
-
- Oh, three weeks.
- 'Til what?
-
- 'Til I go home.
- Where's that?
-
- London.
- Had enough of the tropics?
-
I've been on the move five years.
I'd like to go someplace and stay.
-
Oh, here are the drinks.
-
- What's this?
- Gin and tonic, sir.
-
- Gin, tonic and ice.
- Gin and tonic always with ice, sir.
-
Gin and tonic
does not always have ice.
-
- Americans always use ice.
- Ralph.
-
- Get me another.
- I'll take it.
-
- Who's for a swim?
- Not me.
-
I promised myself
an afternoon of laziness.
-
- How about you, Jilly?
- No. I've only just come out.
-
- Come in again.
- No.
-
Stay here. Keep Billy company.
-
- Hamilton, I'll give you a race.
- A race?
-
You Australians are supposed to be
able to swim, aren't you?
-
I hope you're fit.
When Ralph says race, he means it.
-
There's no sense being halfhearted.
-
Games are a serious business
with the English. Right, Colonel?
-
They have their place.
-
- Come on, Hamilton.
- Is he serious?
-
All right.
-
Wish me luck.
-
What do you think?
-
- About what?
- Hamilton.
-
Oh. Cheeky.
-
Come on, Colonel.
Keep pace.
-
- Paddle!
- Come on, Ralph!
-
Don't turn back now.
-
Up the A.B.S., Hamilton!
-
Go, go, go.
-
Well done, Ralph.
-
The nearest anyone's
come to beating him.
-
- He had you worried, didn't he, Colonel?
- Indeed he did.
-
Congratulations.
-
I find we have
something else in common.
-
We are divided men.
-
Your father, American;
mine, Chinese.
-
We're not really certain
we're Australian, you and I.
-
We're not quite at home
in the world.
-
Oh, thanks.
-
Tiger Lily?
-
What's the matter with him?
-
He's having troubles
with the military.
-
What sort of trouble?
-
His father has a small shop.
-
Each week the military comes
to ask for money.
-
He has no more money,
and he's afraid.
-
No, boss. I'm not
looking for handouts.
-
I get more than that each week...
-
exchanging dollars
on the black market.
-
Don't be stupid, Kumar.
Keep the dough.
-
For my father,
I'll play the beggar.
-
- American embassy.
- Who is it?
-
P.K.I.
-
- Got the Bell and Howell loaded?
- Chockablock.
-
Any hairs on the lens?
-
You worry about the words.
I'll take care of the pictures.
-
See that you do.
Hey, you, come on. You're driving.
-
Me... me driving?
-
Camera!
-
P.K.I. Demand complete break
with America.
-
They're getting pretty confident,
aren't they?
-
They have a lot of support.
-
Enough to take over?
-
Perhaps.
-
P.K.I.!
-
Camera!
-
At least they would
give us discipline.
-
Stalin had good discipline.
-
He wiped out ten million.
-
Hey, Hortono.
Take us up closer to the gates.
-
- Christ, what do we do now?
- I think we get out.
-
Better not, boss! Boss!
-
Up! Hamilton, get me up!
-
You don't take no photo!
-
- No photo!
- Foreign press!
-
- Foreign press!
- Don't take no photo!
-
Australian press!
-
Get off him!
-
Get back here!
-
- Come on!
- Let go, you bastard!
-
Oh, shit!
-
Get out!
-
Get back!
-
Bastards!
-
Shit! The bastard cut me!
-
- Are you all right?
- Yeah. Did you get the shot?
-
Yes!
-
Is that all right?
-
Yeah, fine.
-
What do you think of her?
-
Who?
-
Not my type.
-
Oh. Why's that?
-
It's her attitude. You know how
the British can be so damn superior?
-
It's like the colonel
with his gin, tonic and ice.
-
- Jill is not like that at all.
- No?
-
Who's that
in the photograph with her?
-
Philippe. He's a French journalist.
He was working here for a while.
-
- Were they, uh...
- Yeah, they were.
-
Then he got transferred. It's difficult
for a woman like Jilly here.
-
Why?
-
Every guy she meets
wants to get her into bed.
-
And it's your job
to keep 'em at bay?
-
Sorry.
-
I asked her to marry me once.
-
She turned me down.
-
What about the colonel?
-
I don't know.
She's fond of him.
-
You gotta watch that sort of thing
in the tropics.
-
I'm gonna get you
a penicillin tablet.
-
I guess I'll survive. Thanks.
-
What is all this stuff?
-
Thank you.
-
- Who you workin' for, Billy?
- For you.
-
- The Communists? The CIA?
- Stop it.
-
Why do you keep a file on me?
-
- I keep files on everybody.
- What for?
-
That's my business.
-
- Lf you're an operative...
- I'm not.
-
How am I supposed to know that?
-
You're gonna have to trust me,
aren't you?
-
We're friends, aren't we?
-
We make a good team.
We even look alike.
-
It's true.
It's been noticed.
-
We got the same color eyes.
-
Here. Take one of these
every four hours.
-
Here, on the quiet page,
I'm master...
-
just as I'm master
in the darkroom...
-
stirring my prints
in the magic developing bath.
-
I shuffle like cards
the lives I deal with.
-
Their faces stare out at me.
-
People who will become
other people.
-
People who will become old,
betray their dreams...
-
become ghosts.
-
Ibu?
-
Doctor. Ibu, doctor.
-
You understand?
-
Can't make her understand
that the canal...
-
which she and Udin bathe in
and drink from carries disease.
-
In another country,
she would be a decent woman.
-
Here she begs
and perhaps sells herself.
-
Her tragedy is repeated
a million times in this city.
-
"What then must we do?"
-
"We must give with love to whomever
God has placed in our path."
-
- What is it?
- What's the big occasion?
-
Gentlemen,
an important announcement.
-
I have secured me
a portion of Indonesia.
-
So have I. She's waiting
for me in my room.
-
A beachhead of tranquility,
a private domain, a haven.
-
I have taken me a bungalow.
-
- What?
- A bungalow?
-
- What'd you do that for?
- Nobody lives here.
-
Let's see how long you last in this...
-
Where is your drink?
Come along.
-
Up!
-
Who do I look like?
-
A Chinese-Australian
in a pitji cap.
-
That's right!
-
I'll say one thing for you.
-
Anglo-Saxons are better...
-
in the tropics!
-
Anglo-Saxons better in the tropics
-
Anglo-Saxons are better
in the tropics
-
Let's hit it, baby.
-
They were hollowed out.
-
Hello, Peter.
Are you enjoying the party?
-
- Mora... Merva...
- Moira. Moira.
-
I'd enjoy it a lot more if we
got outta here. What do you say?
-
- What?
- Hold this, will you, Pete?
-
Thanks, mate.
-
Cut a rug, Kevin.
-
Wanna dance?
Come on. Let's dance.
-
Oops! I'm sorry.
-
Anglo-Saxons
are better in the tropics
-
Anglo-Saxons...
-
You spoil me, Hadji.
-
I would never do that.
-
- Curfew time.
- Oh, no.
-
Come on. One more.
Let's put a record on.
-
- Hello.
- Hello.
-
- Enjoying yourself?
- Let's see here.
-
- Hmm. And you?
- Fine.
-
- Do you know Sri?
- Yes. How do you do?
-
Colonel Henderson,
this is Jill, uh, Bryant...
-
and Billy Kwan.
-
Heard your piece on Lombok.
-
- Interesting.
- Interesting?
-
Yes, you're still young enough
and brave enough to speculate.
-
The Lombok famine
wasn't exactly speculation.
-
I'll get my coat.
-
Let me hear it, Jill.
What did you think?
-
I found it
a bit melodramatic.
-
That's only my opinion.
My flatmate was moved to tears.
-
So there you are.
-
What does it take
to move you to tears?
-
- Curfew.
- Good night.
-
Good night.
-
Right, everyone. Curfew.
-
So it begins.
-
Jesus!
-
- Put it back.
- But, boss...
-
I like the challenge.
Put it back.
-
- Hello. Is Billy here?
- No, I'm sorry.
-
He hasn't been in all day.
-
- We were to meet here and go for lunch.
- Maybe he's on his way.
-
Unless he's later than I am.
-
You wanna stick around and wait for him?
You want a coffee?
-
No, thank you.
I've interrupted you.
-
I'm glad you did.
It's been a high-wastage day.
-
If Billy does come back...
-
tell him I've gone back
to the embassy.
-
You got a car?
-
- I'll take a taxi.
- I can give you a lift if you like.
-
That's all right.
I can get a taxi.
-
I really did wanna get hold
of Billy myself.
-
Maybe we could drive over
to his place and wait there.
-
He's bound to turn up.
-
- I'll get my jacket.
- In back of the door.
-
Boss? Have you forgotten?
The circuit to Sydney.
-
- What time?
- 2:00.
-
The Subandrio piece.
It's not important. Cancel it.
-
- What about Priok?
- Ah, Jesus.
-
- You have to be there by 3:00.
- 4:00.
-
- 3:00, boss.
- Okay, I'll make it.
-
And stop callin' me boss, will you?
-
I'm sorry if I offended you last night.
About your famine story?
-
Oh, no. A bit of constructive
criticism never goes astray.
-
What did you think
was melodramatic about it?
-
- I did offend you.
- No, you didn't.
-
- Yes, I did.
- It was a good piece.
-
I know what you were talking about.
I was there for two months in Lombok.
-
I thought there was
one reference too many to children...
-
with gaunt rib cages
and dull, listless eyes.
-
- The rest of it was fine.
- You were there.
-
Rib cages and eyes
are the real thing, eh?
-
Perhaps you only needed
to mention it once.
-
- They always do that.
- What?
-
They wanna touch
your white skin.
-
I'm curious about something.
-
What's that?
-
Why did you let Ralph
win that swimming race?
-
You're observant, aren't you?
-
- Why'd you do it?
- It seemed important to him.
-
- Are you always that generous?
- Oh, no.
-
- So why?
- I don't know.
-
I guess he reminded me of my father.
Same bald head, mustache.
-
- He was killed in the war.
- How'd you know that?
-
- Billy told me.
- Billy told you.
-
Billy? Anyone home?
-
Was Philippe a good journalist?
-
- One of the best.
- Where is he now?
-
Saigon.
-
- Did Billy tell you?
- Yeah.
-
You and he have become
quite a team.
-
He thinks the world of you.
-
God, I don't know why.
-
- You're everything he'd like to be.
- He's a strange little guy, you know?
-
How does he get me an interview
with the top Communist in Indonesia?
-
- You think he's an agent?
- Well, maybe.
-
You don't know him very well.
-
He's a cameraman.
How does he get such good contacts?
-
I don't know.
-
People trust him.
-
He breezes into every embassy reception
whether he's invited or not.
-
No one can get up the courage
to ask him to leave.
-
He's keeping a file on me. Why does he
do that if he's not an agent?
-
- He keeps files on many people.
- What kind of people?
-
People he cares about.
-
- Has he told you about lbu?
- Who's that?
-
A woman he's adopted
from the Kampong.
-
Billy's got a woman?
-
More than that.
-
- That's not his kid, is it?
- No.
-
He gives them food
and money, that's all.
-
The old boy.
-
- Would you like a cup of tea?
- Better not.
-
I got interviews to do at Priok.
-
You wanna come?
-
To Priok?
-
You can keep an eye
on the melodrama.
-
What do you do at the embassy?
-
Apart from socializing.
-
I work with Ralph.
-
You a spy?
-
You're a spook, aren't you?
-
If I were, I'd hardly
tell you, would I?
-
What agency did Philippe work for?
-
When did he go to Saigon?
-
A long time ago.
-
Arrogant lot, aren't they?
-
- Who?
- The French.
-
I find them absolutely charming.
-
- Hey!
- Don't you love the tropics?
-
Torrential. I got it.
-
- Did you order these?
- I must have.
-
Let's take 'em with us.
-
Oh, God!
-
- Cheers.
- Cheers.
-
My hat!
-
What's this?
-
It's green stuff.
-
Green stuff usually has ice,
doesn't it?
-
Get me another.
-
Don't you have an interview?
-
- Let's go to the interview.
- Looks better on you.
-
Does it?
Maybe I should buy one.
-
- You can have this one cheap.
- Oh, really?
-
- Well, look, I had a...
- When are you leaving?
-
- Two weeks.
- What about dinner tonight?
-
- No, I'm...
- Tomorrow night?
-
I'm busy all week.
-
Don't you ever eat?
-
Good-bye.
-
I just wanna
see you again, all right?
-
I'm leaving so soon. What's the point
of complicating things now?
-
What's complicated about eating?
-
Good-bye, for the second time.
-
Good-bye, beautiful.
-
Watch out for the melodrama.
-
- I'll call you.
- No, don't.
-
I will.
-
The situation, surviving on
a few handfuls of rice...
-
on this famine-stricken island
of Lombok.
-
But it's the faces
you can't forget.
-
Like images
in a recurring nightmare...
-
they just keep coming back.
-
Haunted faces...
-
staring blankly back from the windows
of tumbledown hovels...
-
the hollow, lifeless eyes,
skin stretched tight across bones...
-
hands outstretched,
dull, listless eyes imploring.
-
I move as if in a dream...
-
through the agony
that is famine.
-
This is Guy Hamilton in Lombok
for A.B.S. Magazine.
-
Hello? Hello?
-
Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Hamilton.
-
She's out this evening.
Any message?
-
I'll tell her you called.
Good night.
-
Are you sure?
-
Listen to this, Guy.
-
Guy, I'm not gonna be here
for a few days.
-
Use the bungalow.
Have some peace and quiet.
-
Sure.
-
What are you grinning at,
you fox?
-
These are good.
-
Jilly, you've only got
ten days to go.
-
Ten days.
-
Any regrets?
-
None.
-
Her Britannic Majesty's Ambassador,
Sir Andrew Watt and Lady Watt...
-
Her Britannic Majesty's Ambassador,
Sir Andrew Watt and Lady Watt...
-
request the pleasure of the company
of G.S. Hamilton, Esquire.
-
You going to this?
-
You joking?
-
You might learn something.
-
I doubt it.
The British don't let much slip.
-
Yes, they do. They're just more subtle.
You gotta listen harder.
-
Come again?
-
Jill will be there.
-
Ladies and gentlemen,
music from Henderson...
-
oysters from Qantas.
-
Ladies and gentlemen.
-
Ladies and gentlemen,
could I remind those of you...
-
driving back to Jakarta this evening,
the curfew hour approaches.
-
- Good night, sir.
- Good night.
-
Good night.
-
Excuse me, sir.
It's terribly late.
-
The ambassador's already
asked me to close up.
-
- Good night.
- Good night.
-
Good evening. Are you
enjoying yourself? I must apologize.
-
I must speak to Miss Bryant.
It's about that interview.
-
You don't answer my phone calls.
-
- Let's go.
- I can't.
-
So what?
-
I can't leave with you.
Everyone in Jakarta...
-
I'm leaving in less than a week.
-
Good-bye.
-
Start, you bastard.
-
Shit!
-
Not the Hotel Indonesia.
-
All right?
-
Jill! What the hell
are you doing?
-
The curfew!
-
Damn it! A roadblock.
-
Okay, get down.
-
Good morning.
-
- Good morning.
- Good morning, Jill.
-
Ralph, I'm so sorry...
-
So am I.
-
I hope you know
what you're doing.
-
Morning.
-
Sorry I'm late.
-
Bryant, Jillian Edith.
-
Nationality: British.
Born: 1938, under the sign of Pisces.
-
I must be mad.
-
Occupation:
Assistant to military attaché...
-
British Embassy, Jakarta.
-
Former postings:
Brussels, Singapore.
-
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 could
lapse into the promiscuity...
-
and bitterness
of the failed romantic.
-
What's funny?
-
You're looking pooped, kid.
-
Good luck to you.
They're only jealous.
-
I hear she really
turns it on, huh?
-
That what you heard?
-
You saw it.
The guy's a lunatic.
-
I think our boy's in love.
-
Okay, start her up.
-
Switch her off.
-
Yes, sir.
-
Why London?
-
- Why are you transferrin' there?
- Why do you want to go to Saigon?
-
It's the center of things.
-
I'll be able to find out what's really
going on in the world...
-
not have to read about it
in the yellow press like most people.
-
Why don't you stay?
-
Why should I?
-
Hmm, Mr. Hamilton?
-
What is it?
-
You're soaking.
-
What is it? What's wrong?
-
We got a coded message through
from Singapore this morning.
-
A ship left Shanghai a few days ago
with arms for the P.K.I.
-
Civil war.
-
Yes.
-
I'm not giving you some scoop.
I want you to save your life.
-
- I know, but you can't expect...
- lf the P.K.I. Take over...
-
they'll slaughter
every European in Jakarta.
-
I can get you out on a plane.
-
- I'll talk to Ralph.
- No, Jill, I'm staying.
-
Nothing will keep the Communists
and the Muslims apart now.
-
Not even Sukarno.
-
I wonder how they're
gonna get the stuff in.
-
Probably a port up north.
Yeah, they'll come in up north.
-
Under a false bill of lading.
Tennis rackets, toilet seats.
-
You can't use this.
-
Then you shouldn't have told me.
-
Hello, Billy.
What are you doing here?
-
Waiting for you.
-
Should be more work for you soon.
I'm trackin' something down.
-
- About an arms shipment?
- Jill told you.
-
Getting nowhere on it.
-
You shouldn't even be looking.
-
Why not?
-
She told you in confidence,
the same as she told me.
-
If you break the story,
everyone will know it came from her.
-
- I'll only run it with my own evidence.
- That should ease your conscience.
-
Everyone will still know
where it came from.
-
I can't let a story
like that just lie.
-
I'm not running any story until
I get independent confirmation.
-
That's the best I can do.
-
If the Communists have the slightest
idea what you're after, you're dead.
-
When that arms shipment comes in,
this whole country blows up.
-
I'm talking to you.
-
If I don't follow
something like this...
-
I might as well go
and grow watermelons!
-
You have changed.
-
You are capable of betrayal.
-
Is it possible
I was wrong about you?
-
You abuse your position as journalist
and grow addicted to risk.
-
You attempt to rule neat lines
around yourself...
-
making a fetish of your career...
-
and making all relationships
temporary...
-
lest they disturb that career.
-
Why can't you give yourself?
-
Why can't you learn to love?
-
A shipment that size does not come into
the country without somebody noticing.
-
Perhaps there is no such shipment.
-
No such shipment.
-
- Come back in two days.
- Keep an eye peeled.
-
Be careful who you talk to
about this matter.
-
I'm not P.K.I.,
but I might have been.
-
- No luck, boss?
- Not a bloody thing.
-
- Why are we stopped here?
- It's getting late.
-
- We'll have a rest and a swim.
- No, we got too much work to do.
-
Tomorrow.
-
What is this place?
-
An old Dutch villa. Tiger Lily
is a friend. We stay here sometimes.
-
Cheers.
-
I'll see you after siesta.
-
You are in old Java now, boss.
-
You're P.K.I., aren't you?
-
My country suffers under a great weight
of poverty and corruption.
-
Is it wrong to want to change that?
-
When the killing starts,
are you gonna be part of it?
-
- Sometimes there's no other way.
- Yeah, sure, Kumar.
-
You must not ask anymore
about the shipment.
-
- You know when it's arriving?
- Maybe it's already here.
-
- That's the confirmation I need.
- Listen to me!
-
I am unimportant in the Party.
Even Tiger Lily's more highly placed.
-
They have a death list.
-
You are on it.
-
Come on.
-
For craps sake.
-
Hello. Are you there?
-
- Hello?
- I'm sorry.
-
Miss Bryant is still unavailable.
May I take a message?
-
Shit!
-
I got something to show you!
-
Well, be-bop-a-lula
She's my baby
-
Be-bob-a-lula
I don't mean maybe
-
I got that bitch, baby.
Saigon. Huh?
-
Be-bop-a-lula
She's my baby
-
I'll be blastin' gooks
and kickin' ass.
-
Want another shot?
-
Yeah.
-
The thing is this. I don't want
any ill feelings about this.
-
I know it's hard to squash
those pangs of envy...
-
when you're sitting in the presence
of talent like mine.
-
Think of it this way.
-
If there weren't guys like me in
this business, what would you aspire to?
-
I'm glad you're going
to Saigon, shithead.
-
I know.
You told me that four times.
-
You are gonna miss out on
the biggest story of your life.
-
- Like what?
- Just wait and see.
-
You terrify me.
I mean, there I am.
-
I'm waiting to announce that
China's entering the war. Right?
-
Along comes young Hamilton.
-
Blows me out of the water
with an update on Sukarno's pile.
-
You are pretty good.
You had me runnin' there.
-
Check this out.
-
Hey, yeah.
Misters, right.
-
Hey, yeah.
Okay, you bevy of beauties.
-
Come on, baby.
-
Let me show you how it's done.
-
No dance!
-
You! Stop dance!
-
- Take it easy.
- Out!
-
We're on the way.
We're just leavin'.
-
Good night, everybody.
We had a lot of laughs.
-
Adiós.
-
- Is this reefer?
- No, it's a Mars bar.
-
Get the windows up!
Lock the door!
-
See anybody you like?
-
Let's get a little light
on the subject.
-
Do you like her?
-
She likes you!
-
This is what you call "yellow fever."
-
Me do it.
-
- Mister?
- Me cheap.
-
I think I'm in love.
-
I'm good, mister.
-
- Me cheap.
- Oh, yeah, baby!
-
Yes. Hey!
-
What are you doing?
What's the matter with you?
-
- It's a meat market.
- Come on.
-
- I'm goin'. Are you staying?
- I'm stayin'.
-
- Okay. Get out.
- Take it easy.
-
- Have a nice time.
- Yeah.
-
Girls. Huh?
-
It's your old pal, Pistol Pete.
-
Yeah, yeah, okay.
-
Sorry, Miss Bryant's
not available.
-
Thanks.
-
Billy, come over here.
Been looking everywhere for you.
-
What is all this?
-
Bulgarian Independence Day.
-
Not a crucial day in modern history,
but Sukarno's coming...
-
in a couple of hours.
-
We think he'll use
the occasion for a speech.
-
- I'm sure he will.
- Later. Right now we're celebrating.
-
- What are you celebrating?
- Curtis got Saigon.
-
Curtis got Saigon.
-
Well, we must all drink to that.
-
Don't give me this crap tonight.
-
Wherever human misery is at its worst,
the press will be there in force.
-
- To Saigon!
- Give me a break.
-
People are out there fighting
in the streets for rice.
-
I shot some footage.
Does anybody want it?
-
It's a temporary shortage.
-
Why don't you tell them
the true story, gentlemen?
-
Why don't you tell them that Sukarno
makes empty speeches...
-
and builds monuments to his vanity
while his people starve to death.
-
Tell them that he says,
"Eat rats!"
-
You were the one who told us
he was a great man.
-
He was. That's why
his betrayal is so hideous.
-
Steady on, Billy.
-
I've never agreed with you...
-
on just how much the people
mean to Sukarno.
-
The only thing he wanted to do for
his people was to go to bed with them.
-
The female ones, that is.
-
You're right. He does use his people
as objects of pleasure, but so do you.
-
Only you do it with boys!
-
What did you say?
You little bastard!
-
- They'll throw him out of the country!
- You're no better, you and your girls!
-
Put him down!
-
I'll have my bags packed tonight.
-
I want to talk to you!
-
Billy, stop!
-
- What's the matter with you?
- What do you want?
-
- You made the broadcast.
- I didn't source that back to Jill.
-
- Doesn't matter. That's not the point.
- Yes, it is the point.
-
When this thing breaks, it could change
the political shape of Southeast Asia.
-
How far are my loyalties
to Jill supposed to go?
-
I would have given up the world for her.
You won't give up one story.
-
It's not just a story.
It's the bloody story.
-
Can't you understand that?
-
Don't you understand?
You've lost Jill.
-
What have you told her?
-
I gave her to you. I'm taking
her back. Do you understand?
-
You gave her to me?
-
For Christ's sake.
-
You mad little bastard!
-
You think you can control people's lives
just 'cause you got 'em in your files?
-
I believed in you.
I thought you were a man of light.
-
That's why I gave you those stories
you think are so important.
-
I made you see things.
-
I made you feel something
about what you write.
-
I gave you my trust.
So did Jill.
-
I created you.
-
Oh, my God.
-
My God.
-
My God.
-
What then must we do?
-
What then must we do?
-
What then...
-
must we do?
-
We must...
-
Very nice.
-
719, please.
-
Room 719?
-
Excuse me.
-
- I made the broadcast.
- Yes, I know.
-
I got it confirmed
straight from the P.K.I.
-
I decided to tell you.
-
You're a journalist.
-
- Who is it?
- Mr. Davis, security check.
-
What's going on?
-
You see the notice
on the door here?
-
Hey, Guy! Come on!
-
I didn't mean to frighten you.
-
You shouldn't be here.
Security men are all over.
-
I know. I don't
want them to get his files.
-
He was murdered, wasn't he?
-
Yeah.
-
Over a banner, and Sukarno
didn't even see it.
-
- Who took this?
- He did.
-
Self-timer, outside that grotty little
restaurant he always used to drag me to.
-
"Best food in Jakarta, old man."
-
God, I loved him.
-
When you leaving?
-
Tomorrow.
-
What time?
-
2:00.
-
I never wanted to hurt you
by running that story.
-
I wanted to talk to you about it.
-
I don't want to lose you.
-
You go first. Back door.
-
- What about you?
- I'll be right behind you. Go!
-
Jill. I'll be on that plane.
-
What's going on?
I gotta get to the airport.
-
What is it?
-
What's going on?
-
Some people have
taken over government.
-
Troops have moved...
-
to the president's palace.
-
Let's go.
-
Broadcast say
we should not go out.
-
It's okay. They won't touch us.
Come on. Come on!
-
I think you better keep
the engine running, eh?
-
Press. Foreign press.
-
A.B.S. Press.
-
I don't understand you.
I want to go to the palace.
-
Take me to the airport.
-
Can't, boss. Roadblock.
-
- Take me to Billy Kwan's.
- Okay, boss.
-
The retina is detached.
You must lie very still.
-
- How long?
- A week, maybe. Ten days.
-
If you wish to save your eye,
you will lie still.
-
You have to bandage both eyes?
-
- I'll be helpless.
- I'm sorry.
-
Your eye will be better?
-
Maybe not.
-
Lucky still got one.
-
But men might come soon, I think.
-
I must go home to family.
-
I'm sorry, boss.
-
Good-bye, Hortono.
-
Good-bye, boss.
-
Krishna says to him...
-
"All is clouded by desire, Arjuna...
-
"as a fire by smoke,
as a mirror by dust.
-
"Through these,
it blinds the soul."
-
Who is that?
-
Hortono? Who's that?
-
It's me, boss.
-
Have you been sent to kill me?
-
We have failed.
-
We have been overcome
by the Muslim generals.
-
What about Sukarno?
-
He is finished. He will
become a puppet of the Right.
-
And you?
-
I'm a dead man.
-
I'm sorry about your eye.
-
There should be a packet of cigarettes
on the table. Help yourself.
-
Still the good cigarettes, boss.
-
Thank you.
-
Tell me something.
-
Sure.
-
Am I a stupid man?
-
Then why should I live
like a poor man all my life...
-
when stupid people
in your country live well?
-
Good question.
-
- Then please answer it.
- I can't.
-
Then why do you condemn
those in my country...
-
who try to do something about it?
-
Mister Billy Kwan was right.
-
Westerners do not have
answers anymore.
-
Water from the moon.
-
What does that mean?
-
It's an old Javanese saying.
-
Means something
one cannot ever have.
-
What time is it?
-
Just past 1:00.
-
- The airport closed?
- Not yet...
-
but everything will close down
when the army proclaims martial law.
-
Drive me there.
-
They have roadblocked the city.
-
Never stopped us before.
-
They will arrest me.
-
You can wait here to die,
or you can drive me to the airport...
-
and then take the car
up into the hills.
-
Why do you have to leave now?
-
You can stay and write
all the stories you want.
-
I hope to catch a plane
is worth losing your eye.
-
Go around, Kumar. Go up.
-
Easy. Don't show them
anything, Kumar.
-
You go up to the...
-
Calmly. Calm.
-
Easy.
-
- What's he want?
- Papers.
-
Corporal, here's my papers.
-
Australian Broadcasting Service.
I'm a journalist. He's my assistant.
-
We must go to the airport.
-
Thank you very much.
-
- I'm sorry...
- Don't worry.
-
We will win because
we believe in something.
-
- Good-bye.
- Think of me, Guy...
-
when you're sitting
in some nice cafe in Europe.
-
In my dreams, I'm always
sitting at the table...
-
by the footpath,
drinking coffee.
-
- Good luck.
- Now go.
-
Quickly!
-
- No!
- I got a ticket, asshole!
-
No bags. See? Okay?
-
Hey! Royal Netherlands.
You got it? Right.
-
Royal Netherlands, 2:00,
all right?
-
Thank you.
-
Hey, stop! You!
-
- What?
- You bring that here!
-
This is Guy Hamilton...
-
reporting from Jakarta,
where a coup attempt...
-
by the Communist P.K. I...