The Black Road (2005) User Reviews

An interesting expose on Aceh

[tim-yen · 9/10 · 22 August 2006]

William Neeson gives a really interesting and confronting expose on the conflict in Aceh between GAM (Free Aceh Movement) and the Indonesian military. He presents an honest portrayal of what he saw of the events in Aceh from 2001 - 2005. A place he has emotional attachments to.

There are numerous bodies in the documentary, so it is quite graphic. Mostly of people (soldiers/civilians) killed by the Indonesian military but some from the tsunami that hit the area and devastated Banda Aceh and other areas around the world.

It is an important film/documentary as there has been very little coming out of Aceh after the Indonesian military began its crack down on GAM. Definitely worth a look if you want to keep up to date with politics in the region.

An in-depth, up-close and personal look at one of Australia's closest neighbours

[atmicbody · 9/10 · 22 August 2006]

This excellent documentary on a land thrown into the media spotlight after the tsunami, provides an in-depth look at a people's struggle for independence right next door to Australia and East Timor. It covers the history from the nineteenth century right up to and past the tsunami. It was most enlightening and the filmmaker risks life and limb to bring front-line footage of the action, the emotion and the consequences of a daily fight for independence in the face of an overwhelming foe. The documentary could have been presented in no more substantial way as the struggle is grassroots and heartfelt, producing as much blood and sweat off the backs of the film crew as the resistance fighters (it is almost as if they go out to war like we might go on a fishing trip, with mothers and wives bringing food to the guerrillas - a strange, surrealistic impression). A warning for weak stomachs - it contains some gruesome and shocking footage (like a mother burying her son, freshly killed corpses).