Deborah Mailman Movies
In this lively musical comedy drama set in the late '60s, Willie (Rocky McKenzie) is a 16-year-old living in Broome, an Aboriginal community on the western coast of Australia. Willie is an easygoing kid who doesn't ask for much from life beyond enjoying time with his friends and getting a date with Rosie (Jessica Mauboy), a pretty girl who attends the same church. But Willie's mother thinks he should be following a more responsible path, and convinces him to transfer to a Catholic boarding school for boys in Perth. It doesn't take long for Willie to run afoul of Father Benedictus (Geoffrey Rush), the school's iron-willed headmaster, and Willie runs away. Stranded in Perth, Willie is befriended by Uncle Tadpole (Ernie Dingo), a streetwise character who lived in Broome as a youngster. Uncle Tadpole offers to help Willie get back home, and they hit the highway, hitchhiking back to Broome and catching rides with a handful of colorful strangers, including Teutonic tourist Slippery (Tom Budge) and flower child Annie (Missy Higgins). But as Willie and Uncle Tadpole make their way across the continent, Father Benedictus is in hot pursuit, determined not to let a truant slip from his grasp. Bran Nue Dae was adapted from the hit stage musical by Jimmy Chi that was a major box-office success and multiple award winner in Australia during the early '90s; the film version received its word premiere at the 2009 Melbourne Film Festival, where it received the Audience Award for Best Film. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rocky McKenzie, Jessica Mauboy, (more)
- 2006
In the late 1940's, as Australian politics became increasingly polarized in the wake of the growing Cold War, a group of leftist film enthusiasts who were increasingly troubled by the hesitance of most exhibitors to screen Russian or European films with radical themes founded a film society called the Realist Film Unit. While the Realists initially showed films made by others, the group soon began producing documentaries on political and social issues they believed were being ignored by the mainstream media, including economic injustice and unfair housing practices. While members of the Realist Film Unit found themselves hounded by police and were subjected to surveillance by Australian Security and Investigation Organization, the group continued to make films and document political actions through the 1950's. Australian filmmakers John Hughes and Uri Mizrahi were given a cache of the Realist Film Unit's archival materials by the daughter of founder Bob Matthews, and the documentary The Archive Project looks back at the men and women who comprised the RFU, the issues they explored, the opposition they faced from the Australian authorities, and the historic footage they left behind. The Archive Project received its world premiere at the 2006 Sydney Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
A talented dancer who was abducted and tortured by three mysterious women struggles to come to grips with his harrowing experience in director Ana Kokkinos' adaptation of Rupert Thompson's unsettling novel. A beautiful and charismatic dancer who has immersed himself in a dream world of graceful movement, Daniel (Tom Long) maintains an amiable but somewhat detached relationship with his girlfriend, and a passionate relationship with his mentor and choreographer Isabel (Greta Scacci). When Daniel ventures out for cigarettes one day and doesn't return, the women in his life are devastated. Upon returning without explanation eleven days later, the profoundly shaken Daniel is unable to articulate his experience and loses his ability to dance. To make matters worse, Daniel is unable to engage emotionally with even the people who were closest to him before the strange incident. Now, in order to reclaim his identity by confronting his abductors, Daniel sets out to find the three women with only his memories of the ambient sounds that flowed into his window to guide him. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tom Long, Greta Scacchi, (more)
After directing a number of major motion pictures in the United States, Australian-born filmmaker Phillip Noyce returned home to make this remarkable adventure-drama, based on a true story as well as a lamentable period in his nation's history. When European settlers first arrived in Australia, there was an almost immediate conflict between the recent arrivals and the nation's indigenous people, whose rich cultural heritage which bore little resemblance to that of the Europeans. By the mid-19th century, when white settlers had gained political control of the continent, many aborigines found themselves removed from their lands and their children taken from them, under the belief that the youngsters would be better off in a more "civilized" environment. Through most of the 20th century, it was official government policy that half- or quarter-caste indigenous children were to be taken from their families and raised as "white" children in orphanages, where they would be trained to work as domestic servants or laborers. In 1931, Molly (Everlyn Sampi) and her younger sister Daisy (Tianna Sansbury) and cousin Gracie (Laura Monaghan) were three half-caste children from Western Australia who were taken from their parents under government edict and sent to an institution, where they were subject to physical and emotional abuse as they were taught to forget their families, their culture, and their lives up to that point and re-invent themselves as members of "white" Australian society. Gracie and Daisy cling to Molly for support, and Molly decides they need to return to their parents. Molly plans a daring escape, and the three girls begin an epic journey back to Western Australia, travelling 1,500 miles on foot with no food or water, and navigating by following the fence that has been build across the nation to stem an over-population of rabbits. A.O. Neville (Kenneth Branagh), the government functionary in charge of relocating Western Australia's aborigines, takes a special interest in the case of the three girls, and brings in a veteran tracker, Moodoo (David Gulpilil) to help find them, secure in the belief he's acting in their best interest. Rabbit-Proof Fence was based on the acclaimed book by Doris Pilkington Garimara, whose Aunt Daisy was one of the three children who made the extraordinary journey and helped her with the research for the book. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury, (more)
- 1999
Beautiful location filming highlights this romantic comedy/adventure from Australia. Walter (Bryan Brown) is a shy mailman who delivers a route in the small town of Talok Spring near Australia's Whitsunday Islands. Walter has long had a crush on Claudia (Aleksandra Vujcic), who works at a barmaid in Talok Spring's local tavern. Walter politely lets Claudia tag along on a routine mail flight, though postal regulations expressly forbid it, and when a storm causes the plane to crash in the bay near an island, Walter and Claudia are able to swim to shore. For Walter, this is a dream come true -- the weather is beautiful, fruit, vegetables and seafood are in abundance, and he's alone with the woman he loves. However, Claudia, who does not return Walter's affection, is less than enthusiastic, and with good reason. It seems she stole a large quantity of gold and stashed it on the plane before takeoff, and is in no small hurry to recover it before the crime is traced back to her. Dear Claudia marked the feature film debut for writer/director Chris Cudlipp. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bryan Brown, Aleksandra Vujcic, (more)
- 1998
Documentary filmmaker Rachel Perkins directed this Australian drama, scripted by Louis Nowra from his own play about three sisters who reunite at the family home during the 24 hours following their mother's funeral -- the youngest sister, man-hungry Nona (Deborah Mailman), and lonely, bitter Mae (Trisha Morton-Thomas), who resents the success of the oldest sister, Cressy (Rachael Maza). When the three learn the family home will be reclaimed by the owner and their mother's lover, they decide to torch the house. The Alistair Jones music score includes aboriginal chanting. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rachael Maza, Deborah Mailman, (more)
