Punitive Damage

Search our
catalog:

Join our
e-mail list!
Stay Informed of Special Offers, New Releases, and More!

View titles
by subject:

Punitive Damage

Directed by Annie Goldson

film still On 13 November 1991, Helen Todd received a call every parent dreads. She was told that her son, Kamal, had been injured, shot on a small island the world knew little about - East Timor. The nightmare grew over the next few days, until finally she was informed of his death, then blocked from traveling to the island by the Indonesian authorities.

When 20-year-old Kamal Bamadhaj travelled to East Timor to assist a human rights investigation, his last words to his mother were "I'll be careful, Mum". Three weeks later he was shot dead by the occupying Indonesian military. Televised images of the massacre at Santa Cruz Cemetery in Dili, East Timor, shocked the world. Kamal was among the estimated 271 unarmed East Timorese killed that day.

A student of history and Indonesian politics, Kamal first visited East Timor at 19. One of the first foreigners to visit since the Indonesian invasion of 1975, he was shaken by what he saw. His determination to help an indigenous people on the brink of extermination drew him back there in 1991 - but he could not foresee the dangers that lay ahead.

PUNITIVE DAMAGE crosses borders in New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, and Malaysia to end up in the United States courts, as Helen Todd takes on the Indonesian Government in ground breaking legal action. "At least I could speak out against the military officers and culture that murdered my son. I could bring a lawsuit." Helen says.

With eyewitness accounts from Timorese exiles, and clandestinely shot footage and photographs, the film's evidence against the Indonesian military is damning. The court case also creates an important precedent in a growing global trend to bring international human rights violators to trial.

Kamal once told his mother that "a just cause is never a lost cause". The resignation of Indonesian President Suharto in May 1998 in the wake of economic collapse and revelations of corruption and political violence, make Kamal's words seem prescient. Finally, independence for East Timor appears within reach.

"A powerful film. With eyewitness accounts from Timorese exiles and clandestinely shot footage and photographs, the film's evidence against the Indonesian military is damning.... Recommended for high school and college civics, history, religion and journalism classes."—Catholic Library World

"A strong narrative from a diverse range of spoken and visual sources... an astonishingly personal and detailed reconstruction of what happened... A compelling, intimately told story, about seemingly ordinary people doing extraordinary things."—The New Zealand Listener

"A well-crafted memorial to a life well-lived and a testament to the quiet courage of a mother and son. It deserves a wide audience."—The New Zealand Herald

"Intertwines a mother's despair at the loss of her child, with the wider sense of despair felt by the East Timorese ... A powerful film."—The Auckland Star-Times

** Audience Award, 1999 Sydney Film Festival
** Silver Prize, 1999 Munich International Film Festival
** 1999 Seattle Human Rights Film Festival

77 minutes / color / 1999
Sale/video: $440
Rental/video: $100

12 Page Study Guide Available
in Adobe PDF Format

Subject areas: Asia, East Timor, Human Rights, On 35mm

Related Links:

East Timor Action Network

Also available for rental on 35mm, please inquire.

Related Titles:

Shadow Play: With recently declassified documents and interviews with newly liberated Indonesians, offers a startling new interpretation of events that shaped modern Indonesian history and changed the destiny of Southeast Asia.

Last updated 11/02/2006