During Timor's brutal occupation by Indonesia thousands of children were stolen, as were many of the country's resources. This is 'Jose' Abdul Rahman's story. In 1978 Jose, eight at the time, was hiding on Mount Matebian when a plane dropped a bomb, killing 22 of his family. He survived, fled the mountain and started following an Indonesian Battalion. The soldiers forced Jose, and many other boys, to work as porters. In 1979 the soldiers took the children by ship to Indonesia.
During Timor's brutal occupation by Indonesia thousands of children were stolen, as were many of the country's resources.
This is 'Jose' Abdul Rahman's story. In 1978 Jose, eight at the time, was hiding on Mount Matebian when a plane dropped a bomb, killing 22 of his family. He survived, fled the mountain and started following an Indonesian Battalion. The soldiers forced Jose, and many other boys, to work as porters. In 1979 the soldiers took the children by ship to Indonesia.
The film starts 35 years later with Jose and his family preparing to travel to Timor. In 2015 an NGO found his family in Timor Leste. In Kalimantan Jose and his wife, Sri, are outsiders. Jose is Timorese and Sri is from Java. They have no family. They hope to discover a welcoming extended family in Timor, and possibly a better future.
The film tracks the relationship between Jose and his Timorese family. Will the tensions of the war with Indonesia affect their relationship? Can Muslim's and Catholics accept each other? This reunion will be a true test of whether the two nations can reconcile and forgive.
Jose's Timorese family believed that the he had died and held an animist ceremony that released his spirit. He is seen as a ghost who cannot take part in the human world. Jose is returning to Timor to go through another ceremony to make him whole again, alive again. But will he be the same man who left Kalimantan? Will he be able to settle in his old home? Or will Jose and his family be forced to decide between a life in Indonesia and Timor Leste?
