Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows scenes of a memorial service for victims of the Bali bombings, held in October 2002 in Canberra. The then prime minister, John Howard, opposition leader Simon Crean and General Peter Cosgrove all appear. Brian Deegan, whose son Josh was killed in the bombings, argues against the Howard government’s response while a split screen juxtaposes this footage with shots of Howard at the service and after it. A narrator provides linking commentary. A performance of Mozart’s Requiem is heard throughout and sometimes shown on a split screen.

Educational value points

• This clip from a polemical documentary represents John Howard (1939–) as a cynical politician who used the Bali bombings for his own political advantage. This point is underscored by the comments of Brian Deegan, who is presented as being calmly reflective. In contrast, the clip does not air Howard’s views, and the camera’s movement and positioning create the impression that he is uneasy during the service and after it, when he quizzes one of the filmmakers.

• The filmmakers use the interrelation of sound and images to suggest that Howard was using the public’s desire to revenge the Bali bombings to gain support for an unrelated war in Iraq. Images of Howard are juxtaposed with the voice-over ‘talk of revenge’, then with the minister’s words ‘revenge is not an option’ and Deegan’s repudiation of Howard’s right to link the bombings with war on Iraq. The music underscores this suggestion with a mood of sadness.

• The fact that Deegan lost his son in the Bali bombings gives powerful weight to his view that the tragedy was being misused by politicians. The voice-over tells us of his personal loss as a photograph of Josh is shown. As a man who has most right to claim revenge, his repudiation of it encourages viewers to see politicians’ desire for revenge as merely cynical. The views of other relatives some of whom strongly supported Howard’s response are not presented in this clip.

• The music used in the clip is particularly dramatic, creating a mood of sadness but also suggesting a political commentary of its own. From the Lacrimosa section of Mozart’s Requiem, the music represents the weeping of Mary over Christ’s death. Although this performance commemorated the victims of the Bali bombings, its use here in a clip accusing John Howard of deliberately misusing that tragedy implies that his actions were a further cause for weeping.

• While memorial services such as the one shown here were attended by relatives of victims, as well as by members of the Hindu and Islamic communities representing the two main religions of Bali, the clip does not focus on them. The main focus is kept on Howard, with brief views of some other dignitaries. This was one of a number of services held in Canberra in the weeks after three terrorist bombs in Bali killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, on 12 October 2002.