DEAD HEART
A film review by David Sidwell
Copyright 1996 David Sidwell
Writer & Director: Nick Parsons Cast: Bryan Brown, Ernie Dingo, Angie Milliken, Aaron Pedersen Rated: MA Australia 1996
Rating: 5 out of 5
This has been an extraordinary year for Australian films. "Shine" has just scooped the pool at the Australian Film Institute awards, picking up Best Film, Best Actor, Best Director etc. To that we can add the gritty "Life" (the anguish, courage and friendship of a group of male prisoners in the HIV-positive section of a jail) and "Love and Other Catastrophes" (a low budget gem about straight and gay love on and near a university campus).
I can't recall a year in which such a rich and varied celluloid library was unleashed from Australia. "Shine" was one bookend. Stand by for the other one: "Dead Heart".
>From the opening credits the theme of division is established. The cast credits have clear and distinct lines separating their first and last names. Bryan | Brown.
In a desert settlement, hundreds of kilometres from the nearest town, there is an uneasy calm between the local Aboriginals and the handful of white settlers who live nearby. The local police officer has the task of enforcing "white man's justice" to the Aboriginals. These are people with a proud 40,000 year heritage behind them. Naturally, this includes their own system of justice; key to which is "payback". An eye for an eye. Revenge. Usually extracted by the spearing through of the recipient's thigh.
Brown, as the officer, manages quite well to keep the balance. He admits that he has to 'bend the rules' a bit, including actively encouraging at least one brutal "payback". (Be warned that this scene, near the start, is not for the squeamish).
The local priest - an Aboriginal, but in the "white fellas" church - has a foot on either side of the line. He is, figuratively and literally, in both camps. Ernie Dingo brings a great deal of understanding to this role as the man in the middle. He is part churchman and part politician.
However the tension, like the heat, flies and dust, is always there. Whilst her husband - the local teacher - is in church, white lady Kate (Milliken) and her Aborginal friend Tony, (Pedersen) have gone off into the hills. He takes her to a sacred site, even today strictly men-only. She appears to not know this. Tony tells her that this is a special place, an initiation place. He then makes love to her, surrounded by ancient rock art.
The community finds out about this sacrilegious act and it's payback time. The fuse is lit and the brittle inter-racial peace is shattered. Everyone is affected in the fall out.
To say more is to give away the details of this finely crafted film. Suffice to say it's a rewarding experience. Bryan Brown, acting and co-producing, is the pivotal character. His officer is real, human and therefore flawed. Brown comments that he expects audiences to feel warmth towards the man, then suddenly feel angry about him.
It wasn't long ago that I visited Central Australia - Ayers Rock (Uluru) and Alice Springs - for the first time. The wide-screen cinematography shows the Dead Heart of Australia in a way that captures it's vicious beauty, but never deteriorates into a moving slide show, in which the gorgeous background dominates those pesky actors in the foreground.
The cultural clash has provided the thesis for many a film; from the Western to The Birdcage. At least three excellent Australian films have covered the Aboriginal people and the line between them and we Anglo-Saxon 'invaders': "Jedda", "The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith" and "The Last Wave".
In a year when the race 'debate' has reared up in Australia, it is nourishing to see such an intelligent, non-judgemental film as "Dead Heart". The Aboriginal priest best sums this up. He is asked to say if he is a "black fella or white fella".
He says: "I'm just a fella"
David Sidwell
(Melbourne Australia) dsidwell@connexus.apana.org.au http://connexus.apana.org.au/~dsidwell
--- end of review --
David Sidwell
(Melbourne, Australia)
e-mail: dsidwell@connexus.apana.org.au
WWW: http://connexus.apana.org.au/~dsidwell
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