Charlie's Country
[classification]
[country], 2013
Genre: Biography
Language: English
Director: Rolf de Heer
Starring: David Gulpilil, Peter Djigirr, Luke Ford
What's it about?
Living in a remote Aboriginal community in the northern part of Australia, Charlie (David Gulpilil) is a warrior past his prime. As the government increases its stronghold over the community’s traditional way of life, Charlie becomes lost between two cultures. His new modern life offers him a way to survive but, ultimately, it is one he has no power over. Finally fed up when his gun, his newly crafted spear and his best friend’s jeep are confiscated, Charlie heads into the wild on his own, to live the old way. However, Charlie hadn’t reckoned on where he might end up, nor on how much life has changed since the old ways...
Gurrumul
PG
Australia, 2018
Genre: Documentary, Music
Language: English
Director: Paul Damien Williams
Starring: Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, Sting, Michael Hohnen, Mark Grose
What's it about?
Blind from birth, Dr G Yunupingu found his identity through song and the haunting voice that has already become legend. His debut album introduced Australia to the Songlines and culture of his Elcho Island community, but now Dr G Yunupingu finds himself increasingly torn between city and country, present and past, self and the community to which he owes so much.
Samson and Delilah
MA15+
Australia, 2009
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Warwick Thornton
Starring: Rowan McNamara, Marissa Gibson
What's it about?
Picking up awards around the world and five out of five from both David and Margaret, Warwick Thornton's Samson and Delilah is arguably the best received Australian movie of the last twenty years. It's about two neglected kids who, with the help of each other, leave their remote community. The film was originally called Petrola - a petrol-sniffing love story, but Thornton later admitted that was a horrific title. It gets under your skin and into your heart. Plus, Thornton's son Dylan River has just released the cinematic new series Robbie Hood on SBS On Demand.
[link title="Samson And Delilah: a symbol of things to come" url="node/174"]
[link title="Samson and Delilah Review" url="node/4587"]
Yolngu Boy
M
Australia, 2001
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Stephen Johnson
Starring: Sean Mununggurr, John Sebastian Pilakui, Nathan Daniels
What's it about?
Growing up isn't easy. Especially if you're an Aboriginal boy in Arnhem Land caught between the streets of modern Australia and the demands of an ancient culture. This award winning film from Stephen Johnson who directed most of Yothu Yindi's music videos is a breathtaking story of three fifteen year old Aboriginal boys who must prove they have what it takes to be men.
[link title="Yolngu Boy review: A truly impressive film" url="node/3720"]
[link title="This & That: 'Walkabout', 'Yolngu Boy'" url="node/157311"]
Journey Among Women
MA15+
Australia, 1977
Genre: Drama, Action, Adventure
Language: English
Director: Tom Cowan
Starring: Diane Fuller, Lillian Crombie, Nell Campbell, Martin Phelan, June Pritchard
What's it about?
A controversial hit revenge thriller about twelve escaped women convicts who learn from an Aboriginal girl Kameragul (played by the legendary Lillian Crombie) how to survive in the bush. When one of them is brutally raped and murdered the women exact revenge. Much has been written about the feminist uprising during production taking over control of the film which ended up critically lauded at Cannes and sweeping the box office in Australia.
[link title="Journey Among Women Review" url="node/4904"]
Manganinnie
G
Australia, 1980
Genre: Classic, Drama
Language: English
Director: John Honey
Starring: Mawuyul Yanthalawuy, Anna Ralph
What's it about?
The first feature film made in Tasmania tells the epic survival story of Maganinnie, an Aboriginal woman living in 1830 who after losing her husband to the Black Line, rescues a young white girl who has been separated from her family and takes her on a journey to find out whether there have been any other survivors. Critically acclaimed and a timely film to watch at before The Nightingale is released.
The Fringe Dwellers
M
Australia, 1986
Genre: Drama, Race Relations
Language: English
Director: Bruce Beresford
Starring: Kristina Nehm, Justine Saunders, Kylie Belling
What's it about?
Kristina Nehm stars in Bruce Beresford's critically-acclaimed adaptation of the Nene Gare novel. An aboriginal family moves into a fashionable all-white suburb and have to put up with the snobbery and racism of their new neighbours. Worth watching for the scene stealing performances from Justine Saunders and Ernie Dingo.
[link title="The Fringe Dwellers review" url="node/64149"]
Mad Dog Morgan
MA15+
Australia, 1976
Genre: Drama, Action
Language: English
Director: Philippe Mora
Starring: Dennis Hopper, Jack Thompson, David Gulpilil
What's it about?
In this infamous bloodbath of a movie Aboriginal icon David Gulpilil plays Billy, an outcast who saves the famous bushranger Daniel 'Mad Dog' Morgan, played by a famously unhinged Dennis Hopper. They roam around the countryside killing policemen until Morgan spins out completely.
Blackfellas
MA15+
Australia, 1993
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: James Ricketson
Starring: John Moore, David Ngoombujarra, Ernie Dingo
What's it about?
Nyoongar Doug Dooligan or Dooligan the Hooligan has just been released from jail. He has to make a decision between learning his law or doubling down on his life of crime when an old mate played by David Ngoombujarra asks him to pull off a robbery.
Tudawali
M
Australia, 1988
Genre: Drama, Biopic
Language: English
Director: Steve Jodrell
Starring: Ernie Dingo, Peter Fisher
What's it about?
Ernie Dingo's best on screen performance is as Robert Tudawali, who played the iconic role of Marbuck in Jedda and went on to serve as the Vice-President of the Northern Territory Council for Aboriginal Rights.
Jedda
PG
Australia, 1955
Genre: Drama, Adventure, Action
Language: English
Director: Charles Chauvel
Starring: Rosalie Kunoth-Monks, Robert Tudawali
What's it about?
The first Australian film to star Aboriginal actors in the lead role and the first Australian film to screen at Cannes was seen as progressive for its time. A tragic story of Jedda, a young Aboriginal girl raised by a white family who is taken by an Aboriginal man back to tribal lands only to be rejected by his tribe. Jedda actress Rosalie Kunoth-Monks went on to become a prominent Aboriginal rights activist.
Dark Age
MA15+
Australia, 1987
Genre: Horror, Adventure
Language: English
Director: Arch Nicholson
Starring: David Gulpilil, Burnham Burnham, Ray Meagher
What's it about?
One of Quentin Tarantino's favourite movies Dark Age is a Jaws-but-make-it-a-crocodile movie shot in Cairns. A ranger is ordered to deal with a huge saltwater crocodile that contains the spirit of the local Aboriginal people's past. He must prove to his boss, in a scene stealing role played by Home and Away's Alf Stewart (Ray Meagher) that the violent, giant, crocodile should be moved, with the help of Oodabund (Burnham Burnham) and Adjaral (David Gulpilil) to a sanctuary.
Mad Bastards
MA15+
Australia, 2011
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Brendan Fletcher
Starring: Dean Daley-Jones, Lucas Yeeda
What's it about?
An atmospheric, indie favourite Mad Bastards tells the story of two troubled men: TJ (Dean Daley-Jones) and his son Bullett (Lucas Yeeda) who with the help of Bullet's Grandfather Texas (Greg Tait) begin to make amends.
[link title="Mad Bastards Review" url="node/5318"]
