Charlie's Country

The last time that Rolf de Heer and David Gulpilil worked together was the 2006 film Ten Canoes. Now they've reunited to make Charlie's Country, a film that draws on Gulpilil's own experiences, with him in the titular role and de Heer directing.

Charlie's Country is set in a remote Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory, where Charlie, an Aborigine originally born in the bush, lives with his mates, very much under the influence of the 'white man' culture. He lives on the dole and resides in a small tenement with his large family.

Charlie longs for the old life, living off the land the way he grew up, and subsequently he is often having brushes with the law, who represent all that is wrong with society to him. Charlie decides to go it on his own, living in the bush by hunting and gathering and embracing the life of his ancestors and getting away from the influence of white society.

Gulpilil is outstanding in this, often bringing out this beautiful raw emotion which really shows just how personal this story is for him. Other fantastic performances come from Peter Djigirr as Black Pete and Peter Minygululu as Old Lulu. Unfortunately, most of the white cast members give rather flat performances, which is mainly due to the heartless nature of the white characters towards the Indigenous population. Of course that's not to say that their representation is unrealistic, unfortunately there are great prejudices present in our society, but this still makes the characters appear rather one-dimensional.

Ian Jones (Rabbit Proof Fence, The Piano) was the DP on this and he has shot some astoundingly beautiful footage that really brings this story together. The simple static shots of Charlie and his friends in the community contrast to the beautiful scenery in the bush that really lights up the screen. All of this combined with the long cuts, that seem to take inspiration from Steve McQueen/Sean Bobbit's work, really draws you into Charlie's surroundings.

Graham Tardif, who worked with de Heer on The Tracker, has composed a beautifully simple soundtrack that is largely just a single piano, which works perfectly for such an intimate film. The one real issue that I had with the film was that it does become a little bit anti-climactic, in a way. It's very circular which works quite well but it did tend to wane here and there.

This really is a beautiful film that is supported greatly by Gulpilil's performance. But if I did have to nitpick, I think there could have been better performances from the Caucasian cast and the plot could have done with a bit more of an edge at the end. I still highly recommend seeing it if you have a chance to.