Something Cult, Foreign-Language or Indie #143: Beatriz's War (2013).

In this loose adaptation of the story of 16th-century Frenchman Martin Guerre, Beatriz (played as an adult by screenwriter Irim Tolentino) is a young girl living in East Timor just after the Indonesian invasion in 1975. She lives a life of absolute squalor until she meets Tomas (played as an adult by Jose da Costa), who will soon become her beloved husband. Soon after they marry, however, the occupying Indonesian forces subject Tomas to a forced disappearance, something which sadly proved very common in military dictatorships of the era, and Beatriz is left to her own devices to endure poverty and the occupation. But she refuses to believe Tomas is dead, a faith which is rewarded sixteen years later when he returns to their village. This soon mystifies Beatriz, however, when she notices how greatly Tomas has changed: has he seen things that damaged or corrupted him, or is he an impostor? Now Beatriz has answer these questions, while avoiding becoming a casualty of the civil war being fought around them, in order to save both their lives.

Beatriz's War is the first feature-length film ever made in East Timor, and it's a great start. The production values and acting, as you may expect, are quite low, but that's perhaps unintentionally helpful because it reinforces just how tiny their film industry and economy are, and the content might've had less impact with flashier visuals anyway. This is a brave and mostly successful attempt to remind the world and particularly East Timor about their own complicated and violent recent history, through a quite unusual romance narrative. It also, however, offers a hopeful and vivid snapshot of Timorese culture: proud, resilient, maternal (the women are depicted as generally being in control in each tribe) and resourceful.

Directors Luigo Acquisto (an Italian-born Aussie) and Bety Reis (who's Timorese), working with just $200 000, blend their visions very cohesively together and pull no punches with this very daring and forceful yet intimate material. The result is an historical story told in such a way that it really feels current and local, for better or worse, and Tolentino's screenplay and lead performance both provide sturdy anchors through it. Thanks to cinematographer Valeriu Campman, Acquisto and Reis also offer a strikingly lush evocation of East Timor's largely untouched forest/beach landscape. Beatriz's War is one you will want to fight with Beatriz herself.