The Year of Living Dangerously

The Year of Living Dangerously (1982) is a political drama directed by Peter Weir — watch online on iFILM. Mel Gibson plays Guy Hamilton, an Australian correspondent who lands in Jakarta in the summer of 1965, weeks before the coup that ended Sukarno's government and set off one of the bloodiest political purges of the 20th century.

Hamilton wants the story. He falls for Jill Bryant instead — a British embassy attaché played by Sigourney Weaver, who knows the evacuation order is coming and still keeps meeting him. The city is tipping toward violence. Feeding Hamilton tips and photographs from the margins is Billy Kwan, a half-Chinese cameraman played by Linda Hunt. Billy sees Indonesia from the inside: the kampung poverty, the gap between the president's speeches and what people eat. He is the film's moral centre.

Weir built the story around a line from the Sermon on the Mount — what then must we do — turning a love story set against revolution into something closer to an ethical reckoning. Linda Hunt won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, playing a male character. Stream The Year of Living Dangerously (1982) online on iFILM.