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Beatriz’s War Movie Review

Beatriz’s War is a 2013 East Timorese drama film directed by Bety Reis. It is a very important movie for this country and a good story in its own right.

A woman’s husband mysteriously returns 16 years after he disappeared during a brutal massacre by occupying Indonesian forces. The movie is a terrific history lesson on the Indonesian occupation of East Timor and it also focuses on the creation of East Timorese national identity and the nation as a whole. Thus, it’s a very important movie thematically speaking, and also in terms of historicity as it is the first ever movie produced entirely in this small Southeast Asian country.

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The greatest thing about this movie has to be the second half as the first one is slower and less engaging, but the second one picks up the momentum significantly and this is where the storyline is at its strongest. Particularly focusing on how time changes everything and how things are never the same after occupation and war, the movie achieves this very melancholic feel throughout its third act especially.

It is a very sad story, but again more could have been done with it had the characters been better developed. Beatriz is excellent, don’t get me wrong. And the performance from the leading lady is also very strong. She carries the movie capably on her shoulders. However, Tomas felt underrealized as her love interest and husband who comes back and the aforementioned theme is explored with him later down the line. For this great theme to work more properly, he needed to have been more memorable.

Beatriz’s War doesn’t have particularly striking technical aspects, but what it does right, it excels at it. The directing from Bety Reis is very good and confident throughout while the cinematography and score are both effective at conveying the melancholy and sadness of the main storyline. The pacing is all over the place and again that first half left me in the cold, but the third act is so moving and heartbreaking and actually different in what it has to say about the post-war time that it really is worth seeing.

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Beatriz’s War doesn’t have a particularly engaging first half, but the second half picked up the momentum significantly. Taking a look at the Indonesian occupation of East Timor, the movie is sad and also very melancholic in its impressively crafted third act that has a lot to say about national identity and the passage of time. The characterization is only solid, but the cinematography and the directing are quite strong.

My Rating – 4