Bom Bali (ATOM Study Guide)

On 12 October 2002, 202 people died in Bali when Indonesian terrorists exploded bombs in two of the island's most popular nightspots, the Sari Club and Paddy's Bar. Several hundred others survived, many with horrific injuries. These attacks are remembered by the Balinese in one simple phrase: 'Bom Bali'. Bom Bali (Steve Westh, 2006) is a 90-minute documentary about this terrorist bombing, and its impacts since on the lives of several of those involved.

The story in Bom Bali is told by survivors, the family and friends of those who were killed, and by the bombers themselves. The details they supply of the attack and its horrific aftermath are graphic and disturbing.

Bom Bali shows how the attack changed lives forever, physically, emotionally and spiritually. And as they reach the fourth anniversary of the bombing, they, like so many of us, must come to terms with a world vastly different from the one before 'Bom Bali' – a world in which acts of indiscriminate terror have become a fact of life.

Bali was a party island, and Bom Bali captures its wildness and raucous energy in high quality dramatic reconstructions. The bombing and its aftermath are illustrated with drama scenes too – all closely based on the detailed testimony of survivors from Australia, America, Britain and Bali itself.

The latter sections of the film deal frankly with questions of grieving and forgiveness. In one memorable and moving scene a leader of the island's Muslim community comforts a young Australian woman who had come to feel anger at all Muslims for the death of her mother in the Sari Club. He speaks eloquently about his hatred for terrorism carried out in the name of God.

For the first time on western television, the bombers tell their own stories in detail, explaining how they carried out their attack, and why. One – Ali Imron – explains on camera how he came to realise his error and now asks the families of those he killed for forgiveness. The film also provides a way of exploring not just this particular incident, but all incidents of human disaster.