We of the Never Never

This is an excellent film based on true experience in a harsh environment. So much better than most of the films of today. We need more of this type of film. It is not a feel good film only either as it is based on facts. True aborigines are fantastic people and it is a pity more and meaningful assistance wasn't provided way back then. They were a skillful and talented race from which we could have learned much and should have been treated with much more dignity. If only they had been incorporated in the decision making of how they would liked to have been treated things for them today might be different. The acting in the film is great and the casting excellent. The beginnings of some of the earlier acting careers of later familiar faces is great to witness. The comradeship and values (apart from those towards the aborigines) of the time is something that is not always evident today.

This movie strays way too far from the book. The entire story line from the time they get to Elsey takes a turn away from the truth, as told by Mrs Aeneas Gunn. While the movie is visually beautiful, I was sad to see that all the parts of the book which were particularly special, like her relationship with the stockmen, were traded in for a conflict based on race. Even her relationship with the Maluka is cheapened. I would like to see this book remade into a movie that is truer to the original.

I had never heard of this film and spotted it on a shelf at a rental store some years ago. I started watching it (first few minutes is need to get you to the outback) and suddenly was engulfed by it's brilliance. I watched it all the way through then called three friends and threatened them if they didn't drop what they were doing and get to my house. We all watched it. They all paid the late fees so they could take turns having friends over to watch it. You think life is rough now? Wait till you see what this woman endures and conquers with her incredible husband, the ranch hands and the aborigines.

The Never Never is Australia's home-grown version of a hostile environment. Bad enough now with modern conveniences but brutal in the early 1900s. Survival depended on factors few today could fathom. This movie is an open window to that time. It's about relationships that had to be built from the sweat and dust of hard work. Hollywood doesn't have its mark on this one so see it for certain. The right drama with the right characters. Professional acting producing a beautiful memory.

A remarkable movie about a woman overcoming sexist and racial prejudice in outback Australia. McGregor is very convincing as Jeannie Gunn as she battles constantly to be seen as an equal amongst the menfolk on the station on which she lives with her husband. The fight seems a losing battle however as the views held by the men (regarding both women and indigenous people) are hard to overcome.

Anyone outside of Australia who is interested in an accurate portrayal of the early relations between Australian Aborigines and white Australian's then this movie is for you.