Dada bedeutet Tod

This is a sensational movie/mini series. It was released on VHS although you would be very lucky to find a copy anywhere.

ALthough it is great and the acting is fantastic, there is one problem with this show. It is very bias towards Kevin Barlow and it constantly makes Geoff Chambers look like the bad guy.

I think that someone forgot to tell Barbara Barlow (his mother) that it is against the law to traffic drugs !!! I mean did she really think that because he is her son, they should change the rules for him and not everyone else ?? That is the sad part of this film, other than this it is sensational and if you are lucky enough to see it then you will enjoy it, i can assure you.

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** I don't know if anyone will ever see this telemovie again. Who knows where it has disappeared to. But just in case there are *SPOILERS* ahead.

I remember the events behind this film very well. I recall looking at my watch waiting for my bus at the exact time that the two convicted drug smugglers were due to be falling thru the gallows trap door....7am Sydney time. It is the dramatised true story of two Australian men caught, tried and convicted for heroin smuggling in Malaysia in the mid '80's. One is entitled to think that they got their just deserts, as many did.

However the film shows them to be real people and despite their crimes, it demonstrates that once you start to get to know someone's character it becomes difficult to conveniently pigeon hole them under "Criminal", "dreg of society" or whatever. Also demonstrated is how the Malaysian Government were determined to use the case as a show trial, to prove to the West that they were indeed independent and not afraid to execute westerners. All appeals for clemency fall on politically astute but humanely deaf ears.

The acting is very good, Hugo Weaving who has gone from strength to strength since this is the more urbane, professional drug smuggler Chambers inadvertently caught by police because his accomplice, Barlow, gives himself away at airport security by being nervously suspect. John Polson as Kevin Barlow makes him believable,a likable, harmless rascal. Barlow was in reality a drug addicted semi down and out.

The movie belongs to Julie Christie portraying his working class English born mother, fighting like a tigress for her son. I remember seeing the real Mrs Barlow on television and Ms Christie does her justice, which is the best accolade I can give for an extraordinary display of acting. She IS Mrs Barlow, a most memorable woman. Victor Banerjee is also good as the men's defence lawyer Karpal Singh. But I expected him to be expert having seen him directed by David Lean who knew talent when he saw it. And yes, that is Sarah Jessicah Parker playing an American romantic pen pal to Kevin Barlow.

The movie uses flashbacks and follows the meanderings of the case to it's conclusion and then contrives to leave on an upbeat note. One that does not go astray in a story that shows that some countries still use people's barbaric deaths for their own political ends rather than simple justice.

It amazes me, where after something like this happened, there are still braving Aussies, flying over with concealed heroin in what ever body cavity, item, whatever. I thought of the two fated Bali 9 men, who met their grim demise in 2015. That stay of execution before, the waiting, for that day of dread, that last flight to their deathl spot. Even though Chambers was the much more guilty one, enticing recently unemployed Barlow into his activities, the latter simply could of said "No". Dadah Is Death, proclaims no clearer warning, the harsh penalties of drug smuggling, H, the highest stature of drug. There is a zero tolerance towards drugs, in their country, and underneath, I really respect that and admire it. Our two main performers bring such truth and conviction to their characters, me really liking what Hugo brought, doing justice to the silky charms or rich boy Chambers, the real criminal, you can;t help hating, cause of his scumbag attitude. The uneasy music scores really set the grim atmosphere of scenes. A dirty grimness rings so true, in it's setting, circumstances, and fates of our two condemned. Polson is bl**dy good in this, and was so engaging as the weaker led Barlow, while Julie Christie, was an enigmatic casting choice, but she was very engaging too, in a stronghold performance, but outperformed by her husband player, who I really liked. Sarah Jessica Parker's character, á reporter who becomes devotéd and lovestruck towards Barlow, was kind of fascinating and she delivered too, as did the rest of the Barlow family, including a very young Noah Taylor as the youngest brother. Hugo also gets himself a bit of midnight Asian delight in his last months of life as Chambers..The injustice was Barlow's demise. In my opinion, he shouldn't of hung. The walk to execution, hanging scene, is the most grimmest and affecting I've seen in these black movie moments. The grinding 180 pan shot, stopping on our hooded figures, before the big drop, was haunting. What is great about, Dadah, is it's no holds barred, go for truth grimness, in it's photography and storytelling, also showing an ugly corrupt side of authority, not just in the East.

Two part Aussie TV movie I've seen three times. Strength of the film is the relationship between the two charachers, one slick the other a goof.

I take this as a fictional story rather than an accurate portrayal of the background of the two young men who , the story will have you believe , got into this mess due to traffic accidents.

Julie Christie as the mother of the goof sounds exactly like a U S welfare horror demanding " justice " for her problem child.. The strongest moment in the piece comes near the end when the experienced smuggler, now about to die , convict looks with sadness upon the picture of his beloved dog whom he will never see again in this life.

You either get into the lives of the two guys or you don't. As good a drug smuggling film as there is and I've seen all of them.