Answered by Fire

Courtesy of one of the many Dili expats who have visited Australia on Air Hercules, I managed to get my hands on the recently broadcast “Answered by Fire” tele-movie.

I am certainly glad I did not see it 2 or 3 weeks ago as it might have made me feel quite nervous. But you can’t help seeing a few images of places that you recognise and comparing burnt-out dwellings because that’s what you face here right now.

When produced, no-one thought things would go the way they have in recent times. But if you think harder, you realise there are still quite a few bits of unfinished business to get worked through. And historically, there has been little record of the Timorese getting any recent practice at self-governance.

All up, I think it was well-done but surely there is another movie in recent events. We just don’t quite know the complete script yet and there are still some gaps in the storyline that have yet to come to light.

One thought on “Answered by Fire

  1. It’s good to have your views on it – I really enjoyed it as a film, but don’t really know enough about East Timor to know how closely it followed the facts.

    It was actually aired a week late here in Australia – they cancelled the original time slot because of events in East Timor.

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