First Post!
Iranian films make me cry. Japanese films scare me. Italian films make me embrace beauty. And Bollywood films make me want to jump and jive when I clearly know I can’t do either. I am a girl with many loves but one of the strongest that I have found has turned out to be world cinema. I often marvel at how anyone can limit themselves to a constant diet of cheesy romantic comedies and drama spawned by Hollywood (I know I know…but Bollywood does have spontaneous song and dance). It’s amazement similar to the kind I feel when someone expresses an immediate desire NOT to travel. I guess it’s each to his/her own but how can you live in such a diverse world and not want to devote your life to exploring it?
For me, cash flow and overprotective parents have stopped me from travelling to the places I want to travel to and although I have been overseas a couple of times, I still feed my desires with a stream of movies from around the world – the kind that make me laugh, cry and generally appreciate life. I must admit I have a particular fondness for Bollywood…and if they were more easily accessible, I feel I would become overly obsessed with the Iranian film industry. I also admit that my world cinema has been restricted to the ones that win awards at major film festivals and I find myself unable to criticise many films because I am one of those people who overlook faults and concentrate (to a heightened extent) on the positive…unless you’re a member of the Australian Liberal Party, Labor Party, Greens or basically any kind of politician (save a few, just to have an upward outlook for the sake of my country).
Overall I am killing my other blog because to be frank…it’s crap. I won’t delete it but I’m not going to post on it because it doesn’t interest me in the slightest anymore. My new blog is going to be about things I love…the world, religion, travel, people, culture….and I find world movies can basically sum this up!
So for my first post I want to draw attention to a film which is not apart of “world cinema” to me but it might as well be because it is set in a place and time in my country which many Australians have no idea of. In fact, to travel to places depicted in the film would almost be like being in a foreign wilderness to many ordinary Aussies…including yours truly.
The film is Ten Canoes.
I saw Ten Canoes while in a room full of tired and largely disinterested kids (mostly preteens checking each other out in the dark). But despite a lot of disinterest, there were many laughs because although it may not seem like your ordinary kind, Ten Canoes is billed as the first Australian Aboriginal comedy. The story was either set or filmed (maybe both, I’m not too sure) in Arafura Swamp in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. The story is told in both English and Ganalbingu language and used an all-Aboriginal cast. It is a story of adultery, lust and mistaken identity…a modern day morality story with a funny flavour to it. It is an important film because it tracks the life of Australian Aboriginal people before white settlement, an idea which is rarely used in my experience. On its release, it garnered a huge amount of media interest because of this fact, and also because of the fact it starred Jamie Gulpilil and his father David Gulpilil, who is arguably the most well known Aboriginal actor in the world. Its premise, theme and storyline is all over the internet so I’m not going to bother recounting it. So I’ll just write my opinion.
I loved it. Sure, I don’t know if it’s culturally accurate (which is really sad on my part) but I think it’s the new generation in Australian film. I’m sick of seeing white Australians infiltrating the media…I wanted to see Aboriginal culture heard and displayed by those who live it everyday. I wanted to understand an Australia which is the first Australia, not the Australia celebrated on Australia *cough* invasion *cough* day. I was satisfied. The cinematography is beautiful, the scenery makes me want to book a holiday and the story made me want to pronounce proudly the Australian Aboriginal culture to the world. It is a story which is quite light when you think about it, there is no major tragedy…it’s comedy at its best. And yet deep down it has a moral and a purpose.
It is also a powerful tool in opening up the world’s eyes to Aboriginal Australia. Another movie which was bound to draw comparisons because of the release date was Jindabyne, a film that tackled race relations in a small country NSW town. I didn’t mind it but I really felt the Aboriginal voice wasn’t heard. Leah Purcell was there, but whenever I expected her to open up and say something worthwhile, she was either too angry or stormed off. It opened up the divide between black and white, but it gave the voice to the white again.
Ten Canoes doesn’t do that. I mean it definitely has a different purpose to Jindabyne and is literally miles apart in setting and theme, but there is something about it that promotes reconciliation in a subtle, yet effective way. Those people out there who view Aboriginal people as a menace to be swept under the rug, who see Indigenous Australia as a ‘weak’ race who should basically assimilate can for the first time experience what it is like to be one of them. To understand how much damage white settlement has done to Aboriginal culture, to evaluate the current injustices and see Aboriginal people in a new light. It’s a new film for Australia and I hope it’s not the last.
As I hope this post on my brand spankin’ new blog is not my last!
For me, cash flow and overprotective parents have stopped me from travelling to the places I want to travel to and although I have been overseas a couple of times, I still feed my desires with a stream of movies from around the world – the kind that make me laugh, cry and generally appreciate life. I must admit I have a particular fondness for Bollywood…and if they were more easily accessible, I feel I would become overly obsessed with the Iranian film industry. I also admit that my world cinema has been restricted to the ones that win awards at major film festivals and I find myself unable to criticise many films because I am one of those people who overlook faults and concentrate (to a heightened extent) on the positive…unless you’re a member of the Australian Liberal Party, Labor Party, Greens or basically any kind of politician (save a few, just to have an upward outlook for the sake of my country).
Overall I am killing my other blog because to be frank…it’s crap. I won’t delete it but I’m not going to post on it because it doesn’t interest me in the slightest anymore. My new blog is going to be about things I love…the world, religion, travel, people, culture….and I find world movies can basically sum this up!
So for my first post I want to draw attention to a film which is not apart of “world cinema” to me but it might as well be because it is set in a place and time in my country which many Australians have no idea of. In fact, to travel to places depicted in the film would almost be like being in a foreign wilderness to many ordinary Aussies…including yours truly.
The film is Ten Canoes.
I saw Ten Canoes while in a room full of tired and largely disinterested kids (mostly preteens checking each other out in the dark). But despite a lot of disinterest, there were many laughs because although it may not seem like your ordinary kind, Ten Canoes is billed as the first Australian Aboriginal comedy. The story was either set or filmed (maybe both, I’m not too sure) in Arafura Swamp in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. The story is told in both English and Ganalbingu language and used an all-Aboriginal cast. It is a story of adultery, lust and mistaken identity…a modern day morality story with a funny flavour to it. It is an important film because it tracks the life of Australian Aboriginal people before white settlement, an idea which is rarely used in my experience. On its release, it garnered a huge amount of media interest because of this fact, and also because of the fact it starred Jamie Gulpilil and his father David Gulpilil, who is arguably the most well known Aboriginal actor in the world. Its premise, theme and storyline is all over the internet so I’m not going to bother recounting it. So I’ll just write my opinion.
I loved it. Sure, I don’t know if it’s culturally accurate (which is really sad on my part) but I think it’s the new generation in Australian film. I’m sick of seeing white Australians infiltrating the media…I wanted to see Aboriginal culture heard and displayed by those who live it everyday. I wanted to understand an Australia which is the first Australia, not the Australia celebrated on Australia *cough* invasion *cough* day. I was satisfied. The cinematography is beautiful, the scenery makes me want to book a holiday and the story made me want to pronounce proudly the Australian Aboriginal culture to the world. It is a story which is quite light when you think about it, there is no major tragedy…it’s comedy at its best. And yet deep down it has a moral and a purpose.
It is also a powerful tool in opening up the world’s eyes to Aboriginal Australia. Another movie which was bound to draw comparisons because of the release date was Jindabyne, a film that tackled race relations in a small country NSW town. I didn’t mind it but I really felt the Aboriginal voice wasn’t heard. Leah Purcell was there, but whenever I expected her to open up and say something worthwhile, she was either too angry or stormed off. It opened up the divide between black and white, but it gave the voice to the white again.
Ten Canoes doesn’t do that. I mean it definitely has a different purpose to Jindabyne and is literally miles apart in setting and theme, but there is something about it that promotes reconciliation in a subtle, yet effective way. Those people out there who view Aboriginal people as a menace to be swept under the rug, who see Indigenous Australia as a ‘weak’ race who should basically assimilate can for the first time experience what it is like to be one of them. To understand how much damage white settlement has done to Aboriginal culture, to evaluate the current injustices and see Aboriginal people in a new light. It’s a new film for Australia and I hope it’s not the last.
As I hope this post on my brand spankin’ new blog is not my last!
P.S. I got this wonderful layout from here When i was in primary school, me and two other girls started up a lady bird club (which lasted roughly a week). When i saw this template, a rush of memories came back and i just fell in love with it even though it probably does not go with the content of the blog!
P.P.S Tohou Lidia is the custom name i was given on Vanuatu...i decided to use it cause i got sick of my name..."Amy"....
Labels: indigenous, Politics, world cinema
posted by Lidia at
8:53 AM
4 Comments:
Ouch, I know what it's like to sit down to watch a movie that you know could work some kind of trance over you in a theater filled with children who couldn't really give a shit, at least on the surface. :-P
Have you heard of a film called "Jedda"? It was the first Australian color film and it was about an Aboriginal girl who was raised as a white woman's daughter. I only got to watch a bit of it at school but the cover of it is rather haunting, with the tribesman holding the girl, him looking insane, her looking frightened.
Yay, Touhou's third blog!
garnet? you still haven't told me how you got that name...although i'm guessing because it's coloured red?? Yay! i've met the girl from Jedda. She's amazing but an old lady now. But she's absolutely gorgeous and yet i still have to see the movie!
Luv Amy
I have only seen one aboroginal movie (on some NZ TV channel) and it reminded me of a Bollywood plot: reincarnation, revenge, tragedy, outstanding scenery, the works!
p.s. nice new start :) hope to see Oscar critiques from u soon?
"Tohou Lidia" ?? What is that? I thought you were Amy !!
-PeAcE
--WiTh
---GuNs
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