Charlie's Country

Albeit I am bias toward Australian tales of it's indigenous mob. This move is a very well done story of an Aboriginal mans trials and tribulations of life in a white mans world. Well worth the watch!

Dutch Australian film director Rolf de Heer take a look of the years running problems of Aboriginal Australians in his last movie Charlie's Country which is shown in many festivals around world. We see the problems caused by two sides from the eyes of an old and stubborn member of Aborigins, Charlie who feels like a outlander on his own lands.

Charlie can't accept being assimilated or living like how white Australians impose with the help of his stubborn and shrewd character. With the stunning performance of David Gulpilil Charlie represents all his nation with his riots, outcries, falls and obedience. He makes same mistakes that his nation did but also resists to forget his roots deep in the lands. He is driven away from his village to wild, from there to the big cities and it's crowd and chaos. It takes time for him to accept that this land is same land he loves with every living on it even it has changed.

Director's style resembles our Cannes awarded director Nuri Bilge Ceylan with long cuts and silent scenes. Showing same scenes in different spirits and witnessing alteration of Charlie in these scenes can be boring. And yet this style of filming helps a lot to feel the characters and their states better and deeper. Audiences feel all strugglings of all Aborigins from the eyes of Charlie.

Fortunately de Heer was in theater for answering questions of us. His care to Aborigins impressed me and hearing all questions about Aborigins proved that he did really good job in his movie with making a difference for Indigenous Australians in the eyes of everyone who watched the movie. That means shooting the target you aimed. I hope it will not take centuries to solve all issues in Australia as he said.

I saw this movie with no real idea what I will discover. It presents the struggle of the aboriginal communities and what they face every day. Turned in South Australia mainly it is supposed to represent the Northern territory at its worst in a way... Humidity, Rain, Harsh sunny day and so on. Oh well except that part the film itself is a great drama about two culture in contradiction and the struggle that goes with as a result. It has some sense of humor (some wink to crocodile Dundee too) but also some hidden message if you can analyze each scene presented to you. Charlies's country will make you laugh, cry (my girlfriend did), revolt you sometimes. It will certainly not let you out of emotions. For some it might be a bit slow to start, but hang on to your seat it is just the way it is supposed to be and if you make it to the end you will end up with lots of material to debate with. A real marvel, a true jewel of simplicity. I really enjoyed this movie and cannot recommend this one enough. If you are Australian or living in Australia go watch this movie. For the rest of the world it might be another story but as a story it still a great one.

Aboriginal Australian dancer David Gulpilil has appeared in a number of movies over the years: "Walkabout", "The Last Wave", "Crocodile Dundee" and "Rabbit-Proof Fence" are among his most famous roles. His performance as the titular character in Rolf de Heer's "Charlie's Country" might get remembered as his most important role. Gulpilil plays a Yolngu man living on a reservation with a collection of other Aborigines. Even though the army doesn't enter the area to mow people down, it's still impossible for the people on this reservation to live traditionally, as the police confiscate any possession deemed to be a weapon. So then Charlie decides to move out into the bush to live how he wants.

"Charlie's Country" will likely be the only Yolngu-language movie that you will ever see. In fact, it's the first movie that I've ever seen spoken mainly in an indigenous Australian language. The presence of words adopted from English is an ever present example of how much Australia's white population has impacted the indigenous population.

The movie should serve as a reminder of how Australia's indigenous population lives. Once the island's only inhabitants, they're now 1% of the country's population (but 40% of the prison population). Unemployment and alcoholism are rampant - Charlie even mentions how the white people introduced alcohol and ganja to the Aborigines - and it was only in the last decade that Australia's government offered an official apology for stealing Aboriginal children to get raised as servants for white people. Really good movie.

Director Rolf de Heer who also created another classic aboriginal cultural issues flick, Ten Canoes 2006 plus other classic flicks, Bad Boy Bubby 1993 and Dance Me to My Song 1998 has created another gem in Charlie's Country.

Starring David Gulpilil who has been in other classic aboriginal cultural issues flicks, Walkabout 1971, Rabbit-Proof Fence 2002 and Dead Heart 1996 and other classic flicks, Mad Dog Morgan 1976, The Right Stuff 1983, Dark Age 1987 and The Proposition 2005.

Also starring Luke Ford who has been in other classic television series, Bikie Wars: Brothers in Arms 2012 and a series of Underbelly 2008-2013.

I enjoyed the realistic portrayal of day to day life.

If you enjoyed this as much as I did then check out other classic aboriginal cultural issues flicks, Mad Bastards 2010, Mystery Road 2013, Sweet Country 2017 and Toomelah 2011.