Indonesia, post-WWII. The Dutch are in occupation and an assortment of indigenous freedom fighters wage war, seeking to overthrow the invading force however they can.
*****
This is the second part of a trilogy of films (“Red & White”) about Indonesia’s struggle for independence. Having seen neither the first nor the third parts, I cannot comment on the series as a whole, however as a stand-alone film this is a piece of occasionally impressive moments, if never quite coming together as a comprehensively satisfying whole.
Much is made of the presence of the crew of special effects and action-direction teams from Black Hawk Down, M:I-3, Saving Private Ryan and The Dark Knight and certainly it is in these spheres that the film’s chief strengths lie.
The cinematography is excellent, being well-shot and composed with a good sense of scenery, geography and atmosphere. The frequent action scenes are coherent and immersive, with plenty on display in terms of squibs, pyrotechnics and stunts. Similarly, the story is an interesting and compelling one, covering an aspect of Indonesian history with which I cannot pretend to have been previously familiar. Unfortunately, these assorted strengths do not paper over the cracks of the film’s various shortcomings.
Given that the film is essentially an Indonesian production, it would be unreasonable to expect it to present an entirely balanced portrayal of the conflict, however the Dutch are presented as such one-note, irredeemable villains that they never become more than cyphers – token bastards, ready to be blown up and shot by the heroic freedom fighters. No-one is trying to say that their presence at the time was welcome or that they never did anything wrong, but it doesn’t make for engaging drama for them to be presented in this manner. The script and characterisation are not strong either, failing to flesh out those on either side and moving instead to another (admittedly proficiently staged) set-piece without further ado.
The pacing doesn’t lag here and with plenty of action to pepper the narrative you can never claim to be bored, but there is a severe and debilitating lack of audience engagement with what should be a compelling human drama. A missed opportunity then, but with occasional flashes of quality. You can catch Blood of Eagles on DVD from 4th July 2011.
[Rating:2/5]
[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuyES9fPaVA’]
