The Year of Living Dangerously

A turning point in Weir’s international career: this adaptation of C.J. Koch’s novel was his first film made both outside Australia and with American financing (provided by MGM/UA), though it was still shot outside the United States (in the Philippines, standing in for Indonesia).

Appearing in a Weir film for the second time, Mel Gibson plays Guy Hamilton, an Australian foreign correspondent arriving in Jakarta—still under President Sukarno—on the eve of the 1965 political upheaval (its bloody aftermath would be explored years later by Joshua Oppenheimer in The Act of Killing [2012] and The Look of Silence [2014]).

Guy’s guide through the labyrinth of Jakarta is Billy Kwan (played in this male role by Oscar-winning actress Linda Hunt), a photographer of Chinese-Australian descent who struggles to maintain his independence amid the grinding machinery of global geopolitics. It is Billy who introduces Guy to the beautiful British woman Jill (the phenomenal Sigourney Weaver), whose charisma reshapes the dynamic between the newcomer and his guide.

An extraordinary blend of political journalism drama (with echoes of classical Hollywood, from Hawks to Hitchcock’s Foreign Correspondent [1940]) and a mystical exploration of an unfamiliar culture as seen through Western eyes. The Year of Living Dangerously is at once as delicate as Javanese shadow theatre and as gripping as an adventure film that keeps the viewer riveted from beginning to end. The dance scene between Guy and Jill to Jerry Lee Lewis’s “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” anticipates the memorable lyrical dances of Weir’s later films (especially Witness and Green Card).

Michał Oleszczyk

Peter Weir (b. 1944) – director, screenwriter, and producer, and one of the central figures of the Australian New Wave. In the 1970s, he played a crucial role in establishing Australian cinema on the international stage, creating films marked by an atmosphere of mystery, spirituality, and quiet unease. He later transitioned smoothly from auteur filmmaking to Hollywood while retaining his distinctive voice, consistently exploring outsiders, individuals in conflict with systems of power, and the metaphysical dimensions of reality. A six-time Academy Award nominee, Weir has received numerous major honours, including an Honorary Oscar (2022) and the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement (2024). He is a master of intelligent yet accessible cinema – one who has reached global audiences without ever sacrificing artistic depth or sensitivity.

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