The Diplomat

For 24 years East Timor’s freedom fighter and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos Horta campaigned to secure independence for his country, a former Portuguese colony invaded by Indonesia in 1975. This documentary follows him through the final year of East Timor’s struggle, a year that saw the fall of Indonesia’s President Suharto, the referendum to determine East Timor’s future, the overwhelming vote for independence, the devastating carnage that ensued, the subsequent intervention of United Nations peacekeepers, and Ramos Horta’s final triumphant return to his homeland. He emerges as a tenacious and beguiling character whose roles as a diplomat and peacemaker was a crucial one that helped finally deliver his country its freedom.