Review of The Year of Living Dangerously (1982) by Michael A — 10 Jun 2008

The Year Living Dangerously is a story set in Indonesia amidst intense political conflict. The character Guy, played by Mel Gibson, arrives in Indonesia as a relatively inexperienced journalist but with the warped friendship and guidance of Billy Kwan, played by Linda Hunt, Gibson becomes a journalistic superstar gaining access to hard to reach people through Hunt. Hunt plays a very pivotal role in this movie and some may say is the driving force behind the action as she orchestrates many events including the initial meeting and subsequent sexual encounter between Gibson and the character played by Sigourney Weaver. However as the President, Sukarno, stirs things up not only in his country but abroad, Gibson is faced with serious dilemmas as to what he will do and his role to play being a reporter. Specifically when Weaver gives him confidential information about the rebels in Indonesia he is conflicted as to where his loyalties actually lie. When he decides to pursue the lead given to him by Weaver his relationship with Hunt is strained to the breaking point, reflecting the political situation in the country. Hunt becomes disillusioned with the leader he loved and brashly sacrifices his life trying to bring about change in the country. Gibson escapes injured but alive and joins Weaver on a plane out in a very Hollywood ending.

Guy while technically the lead character in this film is no match for Billy as he controls and plays an enormous role in the plot of the movie. As he states in the beginning of the film â??the unseen is all around usâ?? and he goes on to be a puppeteer behind the scenes orchestrating interviews and the like. However, the nature of his character is hotly debated as to whether he is a savior or shifty. While she is definitely a savior-like figure in this film her creepiness far outweighs this. One of his main pursuits in this movie is to live vicariously through Guy and his subsequent manipulation of him leads Billy to trouble. This quest to make Guyâ??s life his own stems from Billyâ??s need and want to be a great reporter and the lover of Weaver because of this Billy arranges for these things to happen to Guy however Billy thinks he is in control when in fact he is not. Billyâ??s mindset is such that he believes he has â??madeâ?? Guy and takes all of the credit for his success, but this is not the case because while Billy may have helped Guy gain access to top officials, and organized his meeting with Weaver if Guy did not pursue Weaver and turn the interviews into newscasts then there would be nothing. Billy supplied Guy with the raw materials but without an effective assembly plant they are just that, raw materials. Billy is also fairly arrogant during this process as well, patting himself on the back for manipulating people to his will, but this comes crashing down around him as he tries to tell guy what to do with his confidential information about the rebels and Guy disobeys. It all comes crashing down around Billy when Billy says that he created Guy and Guy retorts saying that Billy cannot just play with peopleâ??s lives like this. Billy also snaps towards the end when a child he was trying to save dies. His stunt with the banner in the hotel stems from this and proves that Billy is losing it because he knows that his banner will make very little difference based on his comments earlier regarding the choices of Leo Tolstoy. It is also very interesting to see how the director contrasted the Western journalists and their carefree extravagant lifestyle amongst poverty. This is much like the movie The Way Home as this movie constantly uses food as a medium to illustrate this point. Whenever the Western characters are eating in this film they are always surrounded by hungry Indonesians, and the memorable scene where the young girl is eating uncooked rice off the ground. This film is Billy Kwanâ??s and his complex character is a very interesting part of this movie.

Why is Billy Kwan a dwarf? After seeing this movie I was very curious to know why the director chose to use a dwarf for the role of Billy. Was it to show the viewer that Billy was on a different level both literally and figuratively than the other characters or is there more to this choice? It seems that the movie would still have functioned if Billy had been of normal stature, but how important is this to the purpose of the film. How then would the movie have been different if Billy was regular height?