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Cinéma [8] A2-B1 Cultures, Intervention, frustration DE L’AUTRE COTE DE LA TERRE. Charlie’s Country nous plonge dans le quotidien d’une communauté aborigène du nord de l’Australie. Dans ce film inspiré d’une histoire vraie, David Gulpilil incarne à merveille un personnage principal déboussolé. Sa performance lui a d’ailleurs valu le Prix du meilleur acteur dans la catégorie Un Certain Regard à Cannes en juin der- nier. Nous avons joint par téléphone le réalisateur . Vous pourrez également entendre cet entretien sur notre CD de conversation (sur abonnement).

VOCABLE BY RONAN LANCELOT

VOCABLE: You grew up in Australia. How did you of it should be came into my head, and that learn about the Aboriginal culture? ROLF: At was The Tracker. the time I learnt it at school, but it was a completely stupid picture of it and I had no 2. VOCABLE: Is that how you met David Gulpilil? particular interest in it. We had one boy at ROLF: Yes. I cast David in The Tracker, because our school who was Aboriginal, but I never he is the pre-eminent indigenous actor and really knew him. By luck, or whatever it I’d seen him in enough films to know he was, I was commissioned way back in 1992 would be fantastic. Then I got to go to David’s RENCONTRE AVEC ROLF DE HEER réalisateur

(REUTERS/BENOIT TESSIER) to write a screenplay for a producer that community, and I ended up was a story of a spending a lot of time with cabin boy being them... was a long Cultures, Intervention, frustration washed overboard process of learning and earning Cultures, Intervention et and ending up liv- trust. It was financed to be shot frustration ing with an Aborig- in September 2003 but we did- inal tribe. In the n’t end up shooting until May course of writing it, 2005. It took that long to get (Intervention = National Emer- I went to an Aborig- everything together, to get it gency Response (2007) action menée par le gou- inal community into a state where we could vernement fédéral dans les communautés aborigènes au nom de la protection des enfants where this was shoot a film like that, and so contre les abus sexuels, et vécue comme une grave meant to be going to that meant spending a lot of atteinte à leurs droits démocratiques et à leurs condi- tions de vie be shot in North time up there, and thinking Queensland on the about the Aboriginal issues, director réalisateur / luck chance, hasard / to com- coast and stayed there and being exposed to differ- mission commander, charger / way back de retour / screenplay scénario / cabin boy mousse, ici garçon for a few weeks, and I ent issues; being there before de cabine / to wash overboard passer par dessus- did a lot of research in the “Intervention,” being bord, tomber à la mer / to shoot, shot, shot filmer, tourner / to be unaware of ignorer / comic book books. I found material there after the “Interven- magazine de bandes dessinées. and stuff that I was tion,” and so on. completely unaware of: 2. to cast, cast, cast choisir (pour un rôle) / indige- nous autochtone / Ten Canoes 10 canoës, 150 lances a deeper and much darker history between 3. VOCABLE: From abroad, the situation of the et 3 épouses (2006) / trust confiance / to get, got, black and white Australia than had been Aboriginal people is really confusing… ROLF: I got together monter, mettre sur pied / issue pro- blème, question. taught to me at school. At school, it was think you have a very accurate picture of it, comic book version. At that time, it made because it is very complicated and most Aus- 3. from abroad de l’étranger / accurate exact, juste / what to make of it que penser de cela / me very angry and one afternoon an idea tralians don’t know what to make of it either for how to make a film and what the story because there is no such thing as an Aborig-

22 • VOCABLE Du 11 au 23 décembre 2014 22-23-699-Isa:CULTURE 1/12/14 16:03 Page 23 ENJEUX SOCIÉTÉ CULTURE DÉCOUVERTES

inal nation. There are many tribal groups and n’t all bleak, of course... or culture, I suppose. there are urban Aboriginals who are living This movie is about an Aboriginal man trying lawyer avocat / broad large, vaste / spectrum semi-traditionally in an urban environment, to work out how can he live his life satisfac- spectre, éventail / neighbouring voisin, proche / to but there also are Aboriginal lawyers and doc- torily in a culture that is declining and an- sort out démêler, régler, clarifier. tors, and filmmakers and all sorts of things. other culture that he doesn’t understand. It’s a very broad spectrum that has little co- That’s not said overtly in the film at all, but 4. bleak pessimiste, sombre / to work out trouver / herence. If there are problems, the problems the thing that got me really to understand all overtly ouvertement, de manière flagrante, expli- citement / consistently constamment, toujours / of that exist in one community may seem on this was, consistently, there would be Abo- substance authentique, sincère et aussi influent / the surface to be the same as the problems riginal people of substance, wise people, who wise sage, avisé / fella = fellow type, mec. that exist in the neighbouring community, would say to me about the law: “We have a but usually they are different or at least re- law; we have had this law for more than ten quire different solutions to sort out. thousand years, and it has worked for us, and it has always been this law, and you white fel- 4. VOCABLE: If you had to choose three words to las, you change your law every week. How can describe your movie, which ones would they be? that be law? How can we respect that? That ROLF: I don’t think about my films that way... is not law, because every time something is wow... intervention...frustration...and I would different, you’re allowed to do this and now Découvrez le reportage vidéo say joie de vivre, but that’s a French word we you’re not allowed to do that.” That’s a key to sur le site www.vocable.fr et use in English, because Charlie’s Country is- understanding Charlie’s Country. ● testez votre compréhension

i Charlie (David Gulpilil) considers the ancestors (DR)

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