The first film to deal with Aborigines as other than an ‘issue’ is stunning.
Ten Canoes
Genre
Drama
Run Time
92 minutes
Rated
M
Country
Australia
Director
Rolf de Heer
Actors
Jamie Gulpilil, Richard Birrinbirrin, Peter Minygululu, Philip Gudthaykudthay.
Rating
stars-4
Ten Canoes, based on an ancient story from the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land, is just plain staggering. From first frame to last, it has a shimmering beauty, shifting easily between rich colour and luminous black and white, in a landscape that makes you feel humble, but its power goes deeper than that.
Part of the reason that black culture remains so mysterious to white Australia is that we have no place within it, no vantage point. We’re shut out, often with that sullen stubbornness that Aboriginal Australia has used for more than 200 years as the final – sometimes the only – form of resistance.
Many white filmmakers have tried to penetrate it, with limited success, but it’s rarely seemed totally convincing. Black filmmakers aren’t necessarily able to get further inside, especially when the story concerns traditional culture.
The result is that most Australian films about Aboriginal life have a distinctly furrowed brow, whether made by black or white directors. They’re always about the « problem » of black Australia, rather than the more basic questions of who people are. Aborigines can never really just « be » in our (white) films; they’re always a threat, an accusation, a regret or an ideal. There’s not much chance for a real engagement when white guilt runs smack into black reluctance to reveal the private self.
Ten Canoes leaps over all that in a single bound, with unlimited optimism. Rolf de Heer, probably our most adventurous filmmaker, has been through the guilt and accusation with The Tracker, a brooding and violent film in which he established a strong relationship with actor David Gulpilil. Ten Canoes is de Heer’s attempt to get closer to traditional culture, and make a film that’s a real collaboration, based on respect. I don’t know what it took to achieve, but there’s never been an Australian film quite like it. It’s as if the people of Ramingining decided to give us all a gift, by letting us inside. We get a vantage point and the impact is extraordinary.
The idea came from Gulpilil. De Heer has said that they had not yet decided what story to tell when Gulpilil told him: « We need 10 canoes. » He then showed de Heer a photograph from legendary anthropologist Donald Thomson’s 1936-37 expedition to eastern Arnhem Land, depicting a group of 10 men in canoes hunting for goose eggs in a swamp. De Heer says he took one look at the photo and agreed – they would need 10 canoes.
, le il y a 17 années et 8 mois.
