Australian Rules

I remember very clearly watching this movie as a kid in my lounge room and feeling a sadness I had never felt before. Maybe it was being in a close family then witnessing another family that is torn apart due to things I couldn't even understand yet. Racism, domestic violence, alcoholism, and simple stupidity and ignorance.

I remember feeling so bad that blacky could do little bout the events that unfold, the people and attitudes he has to deal with, and the painful sadness of being a big hearted person surrounded by people who don't understand him, and the ones who do also being victims of the lives they live.

This is a good movie, but it's not an easy watch. Tt has a truth and a straightforward nature you really only see in indies rather than the big budget movies. We also have a talent in Australia to make films that don't just have a set of convenient events that lead to a happier conclusion. It's simply life, in all its messiness and ugliness. I guess like blacky you just have to find the happiness any way you can.

I watched this movie on SBS last night, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Being from South Australia myself it touched me more than i thought it would, as i somehow lost interest in Aussie Rules Football a number of years ago. A simple yet deep movie, & powerful in a supple way. Depicts the separate lives of indigenous / white fellas living together in a rural setting. Where Even when best of mates from each culture can have dramas just being mates, due to the others color . Reminiscent to me of of Another Great South Australian movie - Fire in the stone . Harsh landscapes & arid South Australian land mixed HOT coastline add to it perfectly . Purely South Australian.

GREAT. do enjoy

Billed as a tough-as-nails take on racism in a small South Australia town, AUSTRALIAN RULES is better described as a coming of age story under the harshest of conditions as a young boy learns to stand up to his oppressive father.

Based on the book `Deadly Unna' by Phillip Gwynne, the screenplay by Gwynne and director Paul Goldman walks a fine line as it deftly exposes the hypocrisy of racism, without the unnecessary preaching that could so easily have slipped the story into melodrama. Also well balanced are two excellent subplots - the rag tag footie team attempting to win the all important Premiership, and the romantic subplot of the lead character, Blackie, pursuing a taboo love affair with an Aboriginal girl.

The cast of unknown actors is uniformly good, portraying both the hard hitting drama and lowbrow comedic moments with equal strength and aplomb.

AUSTRALIAN RULES is definitely worth a try.

I have just returned from an advanced preview screening of this powerful film and was happy to have the opportunity for a Q & A session with the three young stars of the film.

Aboriginal actress, Lisa Flanagan, was moved to tears as she spoke about the emotional turmoil that making this film caused her. Her mob is from South Australia and are closely linked to the real-life events on which this film is based.

Lisa is off to Edinburgh to promote the film in a few days.

Melbourne-born Nathan Phillips, who plays Blacky, was asked what he wanted audiences to get from the film. He pointed to Lisa and said "I want audiences to feel for even one minute the emotions you just saw from Lisa." And we do!

All three stars spoke of the film as a journey - and it is a journey well-worth experiencing.

Sydney indigenous actor Luke Phillips has plenty of TV experience but has made his first foray into feature films - and it won't be his last. A first-class performance!

International audiences have reported some problems in the early stages of the film understanding the local dialect and pronunciation but felt it was well worth the effort. I couldn't agree more. See it.

I should add that the film-makers did make attempts to discuss the film with the local indigenous communities. The cast even attempted to show them the script. For reasons of their own, maybe understandable, they didn't take that opportunity.

An amazing movie very different from the usual Australian "Feel good" movie. It is great to see a film that comments on contemporary relations between Black and White Australia - Showing faults on both sides. This film deserved a much larger audience than it got but I guess everyone was too busy watching Spiderman.