The Year of Living Dangerously Page #2

- The worrying thing is...

it's well-written bullshit,

and it's right here in my paper.

My paper wants me to match it.

Here they are now.

Sir Guy and the Black Dwarf.

Congratulations, Hamilton.

You've squeezed the test match

into two columns.

Sorry about that.

- Want a beer?

- Great.

Ali!

You really think Sukarno's gonna let

the Commies have their own army?

- That's what Aidit said.

- Aidit's lying.

- Maybe.

- Why report it?

- Maybe he isn't.

- You know why he let you interview him?

No. Tell us, Pete.

Because he knew a more experienced

journalist wouldn't have even filed it.

Really, Pete?

If Aidit told you he had a toothache,

you'd file it.

You've been after him for months

trying to get him to tell you something.

The story stinks, and you know it.

Sukarno's not stupid.

He lets the Communists have arms, and

we'll have a civil war here tomorrow.

- Yeah, that's right.

- There better not be.

- I'm gettin' married in December.

- Don't lose any sleep over it.

This story's bullshit,

and when I file...

I'm gonna piss on it

from a great height, mate.

You do that, buddy.

It's about the only...

- Guy! No!

- Simmer down! Stop it!

- Did you see that?

- Forget it.

Next time, pal.

Jesus!

I must confess, Hamilton...

that I probably would have infused it

with a little more skepticism...

but bitter resentment won't prevent me

from admitting it was a good piece.

Well done.

Now smile and shake hands.

Beauty among the squalor.

I took that with a 200 millimeter.

Got a natural elegance, haven't they?

All I ever see you shoot are tits.

Quit trying to sell us

the pursuit of abstract beauty...

and admit you're a pervert.

Billy, you're a professional.

Is that pornography or art?

If it's in focus, it's pornography.

If it's out of focus, it's art.

Definitely art. Mmm.

They really are

exquisite creatures, aren't they?

Let me ask you something. I've

worried about this since you got here.

- What do you do for sex?

- You're worried about that?

Whenever I hit the front page,

I get a hard-on.

- So what do you do?

- I go up to the cemetery.

Are you a necrophiliac?

It's where the prostitutes hang out.

Fantastic girls, Hamilton.

Best value-for-your-money ass

in Asia.

I'll take you up there

right now, huh?

- Some other time.

- Wise man.

- They're riddled with VD.

- You never heard of penicillin?

You will love this action.

You want to spend the night?

Costs you one dollar.

Starvation's a great aphrodisiac.

Keep it up, Billy. We'll just

nail you to the old cross, huh?

He can afford to be virtuous.

He's holding hands

with the best-lookin' chick in town.

She's a friend.

Sure she is, Billy.

You'd find that kind of relationship

hard to understand.

Get me the nails.

I'm gonna hang the little bastard up

right now.

You've been holdin' out on me.

Here we are. Come on.

Not too much, Hamilton.

Take it easy.

All right. That's enough.

Hey, Billy, grab one of these.

Go on! Go on.

Come on. Out of the way.

We're trying to eat here.

You ever have these?

This stuff is terrific.

I want you to meet your new best friend.

I bought him for you.

Dance for my pal.

- Do a dance for my pal.

- Okay.

- Get him outta here.

- I bought him for you, pal.

He's yours.

He goes wherever you go.

Oh, God.

- It was just a joke.

- Just a joke.

- Hey, Wally...

- Forget it.

- Sorry.

- Billy, it was a joke.

Forget it.

Billy, what's that weird noise?

It's the bamboo,

but there is a spirit here.

I hear him outside at night.

He came inside one night and spilled

some bottles of developer.

- Do you really believe that stuff?

- Absolutely, old man.

The unseen is all around us...

particularly here in Java.

G'day, sport.

G'day.

One of us.

Air-conditioning, huh? I thought you

were living like the people.

I keep a lot of film stock here.

It's kinder to it.

Kinder to you too, eh?

Okay, okay. But everything else here

is your basic Indonesia.

A normal man

of normal intelligence...

capable of having

normal children...

but whose body is a joke.

But the one great advantage

of being a dwarf...

is that you can be wiser than

other people and no one envies you.

You're not a dwarf.

That's what I like

about you, Guy.

You don't care, do you?

Or maybe you just don't see.

- Want some tea?

- Love some.

This picture of Sukarno...

- It's me.

- It's you. Yeah.

I dressed for the part.

He's quite a hero of mine.

I think he's a genius.

He's really trying to do

something for his people.

To them, he's a god.

That's the real Jakarta.

Scrounging for handfuls of rice

to keep alive another day.

That's a story you journos

don't tell in your reports.

- Nobody wants to hear it.

- Tell them anyway.

Why don't you exhibit these?

I don't care about the photographs.

I care about the content.

I'm not very aesthetically minded.

That explains all those

terrible shirts you get around in.

You like my puppets?

If you want to understand Java...

you have to understand

the wajang...

the sacred shadow play.

The puppet master was a priest.

That's why they call Sukarno

the great puppet master...

balancing the left

with the right.

Their shadows are souls,

and the screen is heaven.

You must watch their shadows...

not the puppets.

The right in constant struggle

with the left.

The forces of light and darkness

in endless balance.

In the West, we want answers

for everything.

Everything is right or wrong

or good or bad.

But in the wajang, no such

final conclusions exist.

Look at Prince Arjuna.

He's a hero.

But he can also be fickle

and selfish.

Krishna says to him...

"All is clouded

by desire, Arjuna...

"as a fire by smoke...

"as a mirror by dust.

"Through these,

it blinds the soul."

Pretty good stuff.

This is the Princess Srikandi.

Noble and proud but headstrong.

Arjuna will fall in love with her.

Who's this one?

He's very special.

The dwarf, Semar.

What does he do?

He serves the prince.

That's my Jilly.

There's someone

you should get to know.

- Who?

- The chap with the mustache.

He's British military attach.

- Colonel.

- Ah, Kwan.

This is Guy Hamilton from A.B.S.

- Colonel Ralph Henderson.

- How are you?

Been listening to your broadcasts.

- More interesting than your predecessor.

- Thank you.

Jilly.

Billy, what are you doing here?

- You never come to the pool.

- I brought someone to meet you.

- Really?

- I knew I'd find you here.

This is my special friend,

Jilly Bryant. Guy Hamilton.

- Drinks all around?

- Yes, please.

Gin and tonics for everyone?

- Four.

- Yes, sir.

You're staying at the hotel?

You're lucky. It's delightful.

We're at the ambassador's residence

since the locals destroyed our embassy.

- I hear they tore the place apart.

- Yes, they seemed to have fun.

- It was all rather droll.

- It was anything but droll.

Didn't some clown keep playing

the bagpipes the whole time?

That was Ralph.

It helped the morale.

I bet you're counting

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