Jedda

The Plot Jedda is an Aboriginal girl born on a cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia.

After her mother dies giving birth to her, the child is brought to Sarah McMann, the wife of the station boss.

Sarah has recently lost her own newborn to illness.

She at first intends to give the baby to one of the Aboriginal women who work on the station, but then raises Jedda as her own, teaching her European ways and separating her from other Aborigines.

Jedda wants to learn about her own culture, but is forbidden by Sarah. When Jedda grows into a young woman, she becomes curious about an Aboriginal man from the bush named Marbuck. And it goes on from there.

It's a dated movie and maybe if you are Australian you'd love it. For the rest of us it's a bit of a bore. But the color sure is sweet.

Another reviewer said the negative made it to England but most of the film was destroyed in developing in England. This is untrue.

The last roll of negative was destroyed in a plane crash on its way for developing in England. Chauvel re-shot these lost scenes at Kanangra Walls in the Blue Mountains and Jenolan Caves west of Sydney Cave Scenes were Filmed in the River Cave, Diamond Cave, Imperial Cave, and Mud Tunnels at Jenolan. Editing and sound recorded were completed in London.

Found this cinematic delight hard to watch for long because i felt the couples relationships too much of an artificial construct; lacking the sort of hard one unity that would make them adopt the child and the compromised lifestyle their child would inevitably face. The stiff painted portrait and dialogue is one of inevitable failure instead of the inevitable challenge all aboriginals and remote desert cattle growers and their families face. Dad being anything but helpful and far too theoretical and impractical to be credible as a partner friend and confidant . Instead of an ongoing tension that would characterize her growing up there is the overwhelming sense from the start that this fictional and overly unwise woman will lose the child .Doomed by a decision to cast the white woman carer as stupid- i don't find it a convincing story even though the intercultural tensions are and always would be tough .An opportunity lost?

There are things in this old movie to give one pause, especially Aussies.

On one hand we have a historically significant film that despite flaws is compelling enough in its own way, while on the other the situation that has bedevilled relations between indigenous and white Australians for the last 230 years is displayed without a hint of embarrassment.

Filmmakers Charles and Elsa Chauvel put forward two opposing points of view in "Jedda": one suggesting that indigenous Australians should be assimilated into the wider white society and the other claiming instincts instilled in a people during 50,000 years of isolation could not be suppressed in a few generations. However what really hits you in "Jedda" is the patronising and condescending way the whites treat the blacks - forget about equal pay and land rights.

When an Aboriginal mother dies, her baby is taken in by Sarah McCann, the white wife of a cattle station owner. She had just lost her own baby, and although it's not a classic example of 'The Stolen Generation', it's not far off. She calls the little girl "Jedda" and raises her as her own.

But as "Jedda" grows she is drawn spiritually to her own people despite a relationship with Joe, a half Aboriginal, half Afghan stockman. Casting Joe as a white man or half white may not have travelled well back in '55; apartheid didn't officially exist in Australia, but boundaries were easy to find. Paul Reynall, a white actor in blackface, played Joe.

A renegade Aboriginal, Marbuck (Robert Tudawali), enters the scene and sensing Jedda's conflict, takes her forcibly on a journey through dangerous country. He is pursued by Joe, but when he is rejected by his own tribe, tragedy ensues.

The film seems rough around the edges compared with films from Hollywood and Britain at the time. The most fascinating aspect is the two unknown Aboriginal actors from remote areas who were virtually thrust in front of the camera - Rosalie Kunoth Monks as Jedda and Robert Tudawali as Marbuck. Rosalie Kunoth Monks who was aged about 15 didn't really know what was happening. Although the Chauvels were decent people who treated her well, years later when asked if she was tempted to go on with an acting career, she replied, "No siree!" She became a nun and then a high-profile spokesperson for her people.

Tudawali on the other hand caught the acting bug, but his life ran off the rails. In 1988, his story was depicted in an uncompromising film, "Tudawali" starring Ernie Dingo. It highlighted problems the Chauvels didn't.

Black and white relations in Oz have had a considerable airing in films since "Jedda", including films made by indigenous Australians, but the whole thing is definitely still a work in progress.

To quote from Wikipedia: Originally the movie was filmed on location in the Northern Territory in Australia. The production process itself was a laborious process as the colour technique used, Gevacolor, could only be processed overseas in England. The film produced was fragile and heat-sensitive, which was a problem as the Northern Territory has a typically hot climate; film was stored in cool caves to protect it from deteriorating. The last roll of negative was destroyed in a plane crash on its way for developing in England and the scenes were re-shot at Kanangra Walls in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney.

The reviewer that said the film wasn't filmed on location is clearly wrong. It was only the last reel that was lost.

After reading a previous comment on the film while researching information for an essay, I was edging to make a correction. Here it is:

Because Jedda was the first colour film to be produced in Australia, the printing technology had not actually yet reached our shores, so all the colour film reels had to be sent to England to be developed. While to reels reached England quite safely they were unfortunately damaged on their return and almost all the footage was lost. Charles Chauvel lacked the extra budget to go back out onto location, and found it much cheaper to bring all the cast to him. Thus most of the film had to be reshot in the Blue Mountains, between Sydney and Canbera, instead of on the original location.