Opal Dream

Some movies slip through the grinding gears of the industry. If you are lucky, you will stumble across this timeless, near-perfect glimpse of childhood innocence and its power to improve the world of adults.

Against the harsh backdrop of subsistence opal mining in the arid Aussie desert, a life dominated by the dreams of greedy men and their incessant paranoias and rivalries, a little girl nurtures the friendship of two imaginary beings, Pobby and Dingan. When Pobby and Dingan go missing on Boxing Day evening, the whole community is drawn into an imaginative, lilting drama.

How this film didn't win Oscars for it's two childhood stars is a reassuring confirmation that artistic independence and merit still exist, despite the egocentric shenanigans of the star-system and high-end production companies.

Why do I love this movie so much? I don't really know...I guess from a critics perspective it's not perfect, but for me it's one of those films I fall back on when I really couldn't be bothered with anything else and I need something to cheer up my day. It also manages to capture the rural side of Australia so well. You really feel the warm summer nights in Australia whilst watching this. Young lead Christian Byers was such a likeable kid as well. Where have all these smaller Aussie gems disappeared to? It seems no ones making them here anymore.

It's a lovely film that's very well written and acted. I'd never heard of it before and randomly picked it from the list on one of my streaming services. Some of the minor characters were sketchy and unbelievable but the main characters, especially the little girl were great. It is a very Australian film in every way, which is also a good thing.

The main theme of the imaginary friends reminded me a little bit, quite randomly, of Craig Gillespie's "Lars and the Real Girl". Unlike that Ryan Gosling flick however this film is much more emotional rather than comedy/emotional. I don't normally cry at films, very, very rarely, but this one got me close.

Screened on DVD June 8, 2008

It's a warm holiday season in the South Australia mining town of Coober Pedy, and for the Williamson family, festivities are juggled around nine-year-old Kellyanne's devotion to her invisible playmates, Pobby and Dingan, and her dad, Rex's, single-minded pursuit of the perfect opal.

The hypnotic gems possess a dangerous allure, as the girl's brother, Ashmol, says in his framing narration to "Opal Dream." Everybody comes to the place to dream -- presumably about a better life somewhere -- as they dig for opals. The more you dream, the deeper you want to dig, but if you dig too deep, you might never get out -- never wake up, he says.

For the Williamsons, the town offers dreams and not much else. Rex hopes to strike it rich for his wife, Annie, and their kids. But after a year in town, they don't have much. Rex needs a bit of luck at the races to afford the kids' Christmas presents.

Moving to Coober Pedy has taken the hardest toll on Kellyanne, for whom Pobby and Dingan are two very real people, and she shares with everyone her enthusiasm for her friends' artistic, gentle, natures. "They're pacifists," she explains.

Her teacher says Kellyanne has a vivid imagination but she's a dreamer who doesn't have many friends -- "she doesn't find people very easy." When Rex complains about Pobby and Dingan, Annie points out that they're as real as opals are to him.

Rex has his share of more tangible problems. He has relocated after an apparently minor brush with the law, and he finds himself in a community of narrow-minded ruffians who don't coddle to "ratters" -- blokes that come around at night and noodle around your claim for highly prized colored opals.

Adapted from a Ben Rice novel, "Pobby and Dingan," the movie "Opal Dream" is the story of Rex's reconciliation with his new town and his growing family as two crises unfold.

It all starts off innocently. In a clumsy but well-meaning attempt to wean his daughter off Pobby and Dingan, Rex offers to take the amorphous pair along to the mines with him and Ashmol while she and Mom go to a holiday party. Kellyanne agrees, but when he comes home without her unseen sidekicks, Kellyanne talks him into going back to look for them. When he does, the bloke at a nearby mine discovers Rex on his claim and calls the cops.

Rex is soon headed to a hearing to face mining violation charges. Worse, the whole town turns on the family: Annie loses her job at a grocery store and, when Ashmol goes for a bike ride, he finds a rat swinging from the handlebars left by a gang of jeering kids. Again, Kellyanne gets the worst of it -- without Pobby and Dingan around, she falls ill and, to the bafflement of her doctors, steadily deteriorates.

The way the reconciliation is achieved carries the story satisfactorily through Act III. But the climax and resolution are squeezed together so tightly that the outcome for all the characters can only be described as ambiguous, especially for poor Kellyanne, whose actions were only the metaphor for her family's isolation.

Director Peter Cattaneo's production has an outstanding cast throughout, particularly the Williamson clan. Production values are excellent. Newcomer Sapphire Boyce is a strikingly beautiful child.

I saw this movie at the 2006 International Film Festival of Rotterdam.

Heartwarming family movie about imaginary friends.

The 9 year old daughter of a family in an opal mining town enjoys company of two imaginary friends. She becomes ill after something happens to them. The father is suspected of theft, making his household outcasts in the rough Australian mining community. The older brother has always felt embarrassed of his sister's behavior, but decides to help her anyway.

Movie manages to make the audience both laugh and care about its subject "imaginary friends". Very entertaining, Excellent performances from the child actors. Recommended.

9/10

Credits Trivia: The story is based on the book "Pobby and Dingan" (2000) by UK-based author Ben Rice. Pobby and Dingan are the names of the imaginary friends. I just happened to run into this little 100 page book a week after seeing the movie.