The Year of Living Dangerously
Directed by	Peter Weir
Produced by	Jim McElroy
Written by	Christopher Koch (novel), Peter Weir, David Williamson
Starring	Mel Gibson Sigourney Weaver Bill Kerr Michael Murphy Linda Hunt Noel Ferrier
Distributed by	MGM
Release date(s)	January 21, 1983
Running time	117 min
Language	English
IMDb profile

The Year of Living Dangerously is a novel by Christopher Koch, which was made into a film in 1982, directed by Peter Weir and written by Koch, Weir, and David Williamson. Image File history File links Year_of_living_dangerously. ... Peter Lindsay Weir (born August 21, 1944) is an Australian film director. ... James Charles McElroy, Jr. ... Christopher Koch, Australian novelist, was born in Hobart in 1932. ... Peter Lindsay Weir (born August 21, 1944) is an Australian film director. ... For the magician, see David Williamson (magician). ... Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American-Australian actor, Academy Award winning director and producer. ... Sigourney Weaver (born Susan Alexandra Weaver on October 8, 1949 in New York City) is an Oscar-nominated American actress. ... Bill Kerr (born 1922) is an Australian film and television actor. ... For other people of the same name, see Michael Murphy Michael Murphy (born May 5, 1938) is an American character actor. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For alternate meanings of MGM, see MGM (disambiguation). ... is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar). ... A minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour and to 60 seconds. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Christopher Koch, Australian novelist, was born in Hobart in 1932. ... This article is about motion pictures. ... Peter Lindsay Weir (born August 21, 1944) is an Australian film director. ... For the magician, see David Williamson (magician). ...

The story is a complicated psychological plot set in Indonesia during the overthrow of President Sukarno. It follows a group of expatriate journalists in Jakarta before and around a supposed coup attempt by the Communist Party of Indonesia on September 30, 1965. These events were pivotal in shaping the modern history of Indonesia. Indonesias Transition to the New Order occurred over 1965-67. ... The Communist Party of Indonesia (in Indonesian: Partai Komunis Indonesia, PKI) was a communist party in Indonesia. ... is the 273rd day of the year (274th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Indonesia is an archipelagic country of 17,508 islands (6,000 inhabited) stretching along the equator in South East Asia. ...

The film stars Mel Gibson as an Australian journalist, Sigourney Weaver as a British Embassy officer, and Linda Hunt as Gibson's (male) local contact, a photographer (for which role she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress). It was banned in Indonesia until 1999, and as such, the film was shot in both Australia and the Philippines.^[1] Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American-Australian actor, Academy Award winning director and producer. ... Sigourney Weaver (born Susan Alexandra Weaver on October 8, 1949 in New York City) is an Oscar-nominated American actress. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the awards given to actresses working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; nominations are made by Academy members who are actors and actresses. ... This article is about the year. ...

The title The Year of Living Dangerously is a quote which refers to a famous Italian phrase used by Sukarno; vivere pericoloso, which was supposed to mean "living dangerously". Sukarno borrowed the line for the title of his National Day speech of August 17, 1964. Sukarno (June 6, 1901 – June 21, 1970) was the first President of Indonesia. ... Also Nintendo emulator: 1964 (emulator). ...

Plot

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Guy Hamilton, a neophyte foreign correspondent for an Australian network, arrives in Jakarta on assignment. He meets the close-knit members of the foreign correspondent community including journalists from the UK, the US and New Zealand, diplomatic personnel, and a Chinese-Australian dwarf of high intelligence and moral seriousness, Billy Kwan. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...

Guy is initially unsuccessful because his predecessor, tired of life in Indonesia, had departed without introducing Hamilton to his contacts, and Guy receives only limited sympathy from the journalist community, which competes for scraps of information from Sukarno's government, the (Communist) PKI and the conservative Muslim military. However, Billy Kwan takes a liking to Guy and gets him interviews.

Billy introduces Guy to Jill Bryant, a beautiful young assistant at the British embassy. Billy and Jill are close friends, and Billy subtly manipulates Guy and Jill's encounters and, after initially resisting Guy because she's returning to the UK, Jill falls in love with an equally smitten Guy. This scandalous news is subsequently all over the foreigners' community.

Jill discovers that the Communist Chinese are arming the PKI and passes this information to Guy to save his life, but Guy wants to cover the Communist rebellion that will occur when the arms shipment reaches Jakarta. Billy and Jill are shocked by this and withdraw their friendship, leaving Guy with the American journalist Pete Curtis, and Guy's assistant, who is secretly PKI.

Guy is quietly shanghaied by his assistant and driver to keep him from harm and protect the information. Upon returning to Jakarta, Guy plumbs the depths with Curtis but then realizes his folly.

Billy, outraged by Sukarno's failure to meet the needs of most Indonesians including a woman he's helped who has lost her child, decides to hang an illegal sign from the Western hotel but is thrown from the window by security men, and dies in Guy's arms. His death is also witnessed by Jill.

Guy, who is still in search of "the big story" then visits the Presidential palace in search of a story after the Muslim generals, who have learned of the Communist shipment, have taken over and unleashed the bloodbath on liberals and left-wingers that actually occurred in 1965 with US and Australian complicity. Guy is viciously struck down by an Army officer, detaching his retina.

Resting alone in Billy's bungalow, Guy recalls a passage from the Bhagavad Gita ("all is clouded by desire") that Billy told him. Kumar visits him and brings him up to date on the coup attempt. Risking permanent damage to his eye, he implores Kumar to drive him to the airport, and Guy boards the last plane out of Jakarta and is reunited with Jill.

References

External links

• The Year of Living Dangerously at the Internet Movie Database
• Brief summary
• The Year of Living Dangerously at the National Film and Sound Archive

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