THE BLACK ROAD
***1/2 out of *****
Reviewed by Juan Incognito

Screening in the 2006 New Zealand Documentary Film Festival
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This film screens with Children of the Crocodile

Genres
Documentary
Politics
War

2005
Directed by
William Nessen

War documentaries are rarely meant to be uplifting, feel good stories, not unless they are some sort of propaganda piece, and in this The Black Road is no exception, do not expect to leave this film in a happy mood, but then who actually goes to such documentaries with high hopes? In 2003 freelance reporter William Nessen decided to report on the long running rebellion in Aceh province of Indonesia, an area that was later hard hit by the 2004 Tsunami.

The title of the film, The Black Road, refers to the main road that connects the capital with the rest of the province, a road that the Indonesian Army rarely ventured off, as the rebels controlled the rural lands. Nessen’s motivation seemingly is that he was looking for a war to cover and this one was close to his base of operations and relatively under-reported. Then when he heard that a large Indonesian offensive was planned he decided to visit Aceh and cover the campaign.

Aceh is one of those areas like Chechnya, like Southern Sudan, like many places in a postcolonial world, a victim of colonial wars bought over to into the 21st century. It is a cruel irony that many oppressed peoples, like in Aceh, once victim to the 19th century European empires, faced the same and sometimes worse colonial oppression post-independence, this time from locals. It seems that colonialism is very much a natural state of humanity. But at what point is the sovereignty of a people more important than the integrity of a large state like Indonesia, like India, China, Russia or any of the big multi-cultural countries? Does the state have a duty to itself to remain one united whole?  Stripping out any Indonesian patriotism what benefit accrues by having a nation that forcibly integrates so many people? Nessen does not directly address these questions, but it clearly comes across and to be fair there is no easy answer. I guess this is one of the benefits of documentaries, they are intended to provoke thought.

Nessen made a solid attempt to understand both sides of the conflict, he befriended the Indonesian Army in Aceh (TNI), or least he became close to the commanding General. This gave him good access to see how the TNI operated, to get them to explain why they did what they did, and seeing Nessen confront the General and ask him about torture cases was quite powerful.  This connection to the TNI led to a friendship with a translator attached to the General's staff, she was a covert rebel (GAM) operative and gave him access to GAM, which led to Nessen spending 3 months in the hills with a GAM guerrilla force. Again he met the people, who told him about their lives, their support of GAM, even though in many cases they were unable to talk freely due to GAM soldiers being on the scene, which Nessen acknowledged. Nessen seemed not to be naive about intimidation happening on both sides.

His friendship with the translator led to marriage, and by association a close integration with GAM and their sympathisers. The urban repression by TNI became personal to him as he lost friends to the violence and oppression of TNI. The scene in the morgue when the body of his Acehenese best man is identified was a deeply disturbing scene. These relationships gradually destroyed his abilities to stay in Aceh, as his friends in TNI eventually found him out, and he served time in prison before being deported.

Then the Tsunami occurs, and in the confusion he is able to return to Aceh. But the Aceh he knew is wiped out, his friends lost to torture or the Tsunami. Aceh is still occupied by TNI and is still part of Indonesia, despite some attempts to make peace on both sides. But there is still no long-term solution, Aceh is still unsettled, Indonesia is still occupying and who knows what will happen? There will be no East Timor solution for Aceh.

The documentary is watchable, well edited, and graphic; it pulls no punches. When a body is found it is shown on screen, with all the disfigurement that occurred to cause death, be it torture, bullets or Tsunami. People, whether soldiers, guerrillas, peasants or whomever are given time to talk, and their identity comes across well. The scene with Nessen, the TNI commanding General, and the official doctor discussing torture in a pleasant living room was surreal, all talking reasonably, showing empathy and regret.

Like many modern documentaries the personality of the maker comes across strongly, while this is about Aceh it is also increasingly the story of how he came to become part of Aceh and its struggles. When violence, or its aftermath is shown it is made more real because of the close association the victims have with Nessen. It is riveting.

Screening in Wellington on Monday October 2 at 4:00pm at the Paramount Theatre.
Screening in Christchurch on Thursday October 12 at 3:10pm at the Rialto.
Screening in Dunedin on Thursday October 26 at 12:45pm and Sunday October 29 at 4:40pm at the Rialto.
Refer to the Documentary Film Fest homepage for more information.

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