© ATOM 2014 A STUDY GUIDE BY MARGUERITE O’HARA
http://www.metromagazine.com.au
ISBN: 978-1-74295-476-9 http://www.theeducationshop.com.au The film runs for 108 minutes.
Overview One of two Australian films selected for screening at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, Charlie’s Country (2013) is the third collaboration between writer/ director Rolf de Heer and actor David Gulpilil. The earlier films were The Tracker (2002) and Ten Canoes (2006). At the 2014 Cannes Film Festival David Gulpilil was awarded Best Actor in the Un Certain Regard category for his role in Charlie’s Country. The film follows Charlie (David Gulpilil), an Indigenous man, as he struggles to live on and in his country. Director Rolf de Heer describes the film as: Watch a preview at
The film explores whether it is possible for Indigenous Australians SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014 like Charlie to maintain their traditional way of life within their country today, to live well on their terms. Through one man’s story, it illustrates the difficulties faced by people whose traditional way of living is in many ways at odds with that of the dominant white society.
2 Curriculum STRUCTURE OF THIS GUIDE white laws often make little sense to Indigenous Australians. A lack of Guidelines 1. Part 1 includes background purpose and meaning in life (what do information about the film, I do now?) has left many Aboriginal the cast and crew, and places Charlie’s Country is a film that all and Torres Strait Islander Australians where the film was shot. Australians should see. For school unable to find peace and a sense of students it would be best suited to 2. Part 2 provides a listing of the control over their lives. senior students (Years 10–12) of: scenes with accompanying quotes from the film and Successive government initiatives • English suggested areas for discussion. to ‘close the gap’ in health, educa- • Australian History tion, employment and housing have 3. Part 3 offers information about • Humanities The Federal Government made little impact in many of these • Civics and Citizenship Intervention into Northern areas. Indigenous Australians have • Indigenous Studies Territory Indigenous lower life-expectancy, are more often • Film and Media Studies communities. imprisoned and have fewer opportuni- • Geography ties to access education, training and • The guide can also be used across employment programs. other subject areas in the National and society. Many aspects of how Curriculum as an excellent way of the original inhabitants lived on and -- Why is this so? incorporating Indigenous perspec- managed the land have a great deal -- Why are things generally not im- tives and understandings. to teach the rest of the world about proving for the first nation people sustainability and living in harmony of Australia? This guide is designed to help stu- with the land. Colonisation also -- To what extent should govern- dents understand some of the dimen- brought diseases, fatty foods, alcohol ments intervene in Indigenous sions of Charlie’s life through close and tobacco. While misuse of drugs affairs? viewing and discussion of how his and alcohol in particular are damaging -- Should laws and restrictions spe- life and dilemmas are presented. For to people of whatever ethnic origin, cifically target particular races and students of film studies, this is a finely their effect on native peoples all over communities? acted and constructed story of one the world has been disastrous for their man’s experiences that also speaks health and well-being, particularly for While this film is the story of Charlie’s of the lives of many Indigenous those living in remote settlements. struggles to live well, it is also the Australians today. story of many Indigenous Australians, Rolf de Heer’s films The Tracker, Ten particularly those living in more remote Later in the guide there is a sec- Canoes and Charlie’s Country ex- areas who suffer similar indignities tion about the Northern Territory plore and present different aspects and difficulties to Charlie. It makes the Intervention. Students may be encour- of how Indigenous Australians have politics and the statistics personal, aged after watching this film to further lived in this country and interacted encouraging us to empathise with the research and explore some of the with white people. The third of these difficulties faced by many Indigenous issues surrounding the Intervention. films – Charlie’s Country – is set in the Australians today. It also offers a present. In telling the story of Charlie, picture of the beauty, possibilities and One of the cross-curriculum priorities of it illustrates how the introduction of personal challenges in many remote the National Curriculum is to incor- alcohol, tobacco, other drugs and junk communities. Gulpilil’s performance porate Aboriginal perspectives and food has created massive health is- is both moving and at times joyously understandings across all study areas. sues for many Indigenous Australians. comic. This should not mean simply looking At the same time we see how many at Indigenous history and culture as something from the past as part of the History curriculum, but rather as a living culture that has a long and rich history.
Most Australians acknowledge that many aspects of Indigenous culture have been disrupted and in some SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014 cases destroyed since white settlers colonised Indigenous peoples’ tradi- tional lands and effectively destroyed many aspects of their traditional way of life. However, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people survived and continue to enrich Australian culture 3 PART 1
Background Information
»» ROLF DE HEER group of ten men in their bark canoes »» DAVID GULPILIL, on the Arafura swamp. The photo was OAM, AS CHARLIE Charlie’s Country is the third film taken by anthropologist Dr Donald Australian director Rolf de Heer Thomson who worked in central and has made about the lives and sto- north-east Arnhem Land seventy years When, as a seventeen-year-old, David ries of Indigenous Australians, both earlier during the mid-1930s. Gulpilil lit up the cinema screen in prior to and since white settlement Nicholas Roeg’s 1971 film Walkabout, in Australia. The first of these films, De Heer has made a number of other he did more than play a role. The per- The Tracker (2002), also starred David films and documentaries, including formance was so strong, so imbued Gulpilil in the title role. It is set in 1922. 12 Canoes (2009) – a background with a new type of graceful natural- on the history, culture, environment ism, that it redefined perceptions of De Heer made Ten Canoes in 2005 and social structure of the people Aboriginality, especially in the field of with co-director Peter Djigirr; it is of Ramingining – and The Balanda screen acting. a love story set in the time of the and the Bark Canoes (2006), a film ancestors about forbidden love. The about the making of Ten Canoes, Over the next decade, David be- story was filmed in the country around also made with the Yolngu people of came the iconic Aboriginal actor of Ramingining in Arnhem Land and is Ramingining. Visit the Vertigo website his generation, paving the way in narrated by David Gulpilil. It is the first to see other films made by de Heer: the resurgence of the Australian film feature film shot in an Aboriginal lan-
and, as with any ‘foreign lan- Boy (Henri Safran, 1976), The Last SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014 guage film’, there are subtitles Wave (Peter Weir, 1977) and Crocodile where necessary. Dundee (Peter Faiman, 1986) helped bring Aboriginality into the mainstream The title Ten Canoes was in- of the screen arts. spired by a photograph shown to director Rolf de Heer by David In his later work, including Rabbit- Gulpilil. The picture was of a Proof Fence (Phillip Noyce, 2002), 4 The Tracker, Australia (Baz Luhrmann, 2008) and Satellite Boy (Catriona McKenzie, 2012), David has brought tremendous dignity to the depiction of what it is to be Aboriginal. Through his performances he has brought an incalculable amount of self-esteem to his community.
David is not just a screen actor, www.vertigoproductions.com.au>; fol- however. He was a peerless dancer, low the links to Charlie’s Country and for a time perhaps the most renowned click on ‘Press Kit’). traditional dancer in Australia. He has written the text for two volumes of children’s stories based on his peo- »» THE STORY OF ple’s beliefs. He has performed a one- MAKING CHARLIE’S man autobiographical show to great COUNTRY BY ROLF acclaim on the stages of the Adelaide mixing it with the best of them, so Festival of Arts and Sydney’s Belvoir DE HEER much so that David and hell-raising, Street Theatre. And he paints, in his substance-abusing American actor own distinct but traditionally evolved My friend David Gulpilil is a troubled Dennis Hopper, of Easy Rider fame, style, paintings that convey his rever- soul. I sometimes liken his plight to were together locked up in jail whilst ence for the landscape, people and that of the great Australian painter making Mad Dog Morgan. Is any of it traditional culture of his homeland. Albert Namatjira, who was likewise any wonder? unable to reconcile the two cultures he had to live in – his own and ours. For much of his adult life, David had Background lived in his remote community of David can’t handle alcohol. He can’t Ramingining, in northeast Arnhem to making handle cigarettes, or sugary drinks, or Land in the Northern Territory of most anything addictive. All of these Australia. For as long as I’ve known this film substances, foreign to his culture, it, Ramingining has been a self- both soothe him and enrage him … determined ‘dry’ community … The process involved in making any the question is knowing which of these alcohol is banned. It was because of film is always complex. In the case of two it is going to be at any one time. this that David could, on the whole, this film, because it is a collaborative And all of these substances can cast a control the worst of what trou- work between Rolf de Heer and David powerful spell over David. bled him … the sugar and tobacco Gulpillil, the story of how the film came to be made is important and fascinat- His role models hadn’t helped much. ing. Director de Heer and actor Gulpilil He’d been brought up mainly in the worked with what de Heer describes bush, with limited schooling in a SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014 as ‘a scriptment’, (neither treatment language he didn’t understand. As a nor script, but elements of both). Read naive sixteen-year-old on his first film, through the following excerpt from de Walkabout, David had been taught Heer’s account of the process involved by senior actor John Meillon first how in making the film (a complete version to get drunk, then how to act sober of this story can be accessed on the whilst in a state of drunkenness. By Vertigo Productions website at David had left his community of Ramingining in 2004, because of a tribal dispute I was never quite allowed to know the details of. From that time on, David lived largely in the long grass in Darwin. ‘Long grassers’ are an alter- native culture of Aboriginal people who choose to live homeless in the city and surrounds, in a perceived parallel style to how they used to live before white autobiographical; it is Charlie’s story. people came. David was supposed De Heer said recently: to come back to Ramingining and co-direct with me, and star in, the film Introducing For me, the film is certainly about Ten Canoes, but his fear of returning David, but not at all in the sense that prevented him. the film it depicts his life. It doesn’t. David never lived in Ramingining during the In Darwin there were no controls to Charlie’s Country is a feature film Australian Government’s ‘Intervention’, hold David back from the demon with actors playing the central he’s never gone bush to live the old drink. Over the next few years I saw roles, not a documentary. However, way, he’s never been in hospital in less and less of him. I heard this and the story it tells is set in a place Darwin or attacked a police car or I heard that. None of it sounded very and time that reflects the lives of gone back home and taught the young good. From all accounts, tragedy was many Indigenous Australians today. kids to dance. Although he may do any looming. The remote community where the of those things in the future, for now, Gulpilil character Charlie lives is in those things are all Charlie. Towards the end of 2011 I learnt that Arnhem Land. As in many Aboriginal David was in jail. My first thought was, communities, there are restrictions But the film is about David SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014 tragedy averted. Whatever the rights or on how people can live, some nevertheless. It is about his journey, his wrongs of his imprisonment, whatever imposed by alcohol bans and others journey towards redeeming himself. the reason, I was grateful for it be- by whitefella laws about carrying ‘It’s my movie! It’s about me!’ David cause it probably saved David’s life. weapons. Other difficulties arise has said. because of the remoteness of these My second thought was, yes, tragedy communities. De Heer is concerned David Gulpilil has spent time in jail and averted, but for how long? to point out that the film is in no way lived as a ‘long grasser’ on the outskirts 6 Map of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory 7 Additional cast that I wonder, knowing her now, where CREW »» PETER DJIGIRR it comes from. She seems to just know AS BLACK PETE Writers: Rolf de Heer and David Gulpilil precisely what to do next, and how to do it’. Peter Djigirr is a man of many talents. Producers: Nils Erik Nielsen and Peter He’s a Gurruwiling Ranger for the Djigirr along with writer/director Rolf Jennifer is also a mother, a grand- South-East Arafura Catchment, close de Heer and line producer Julie Byrne mother, and a fluent artist in the style of to his traditional tribal lands. He’s also Johnny Daingangan, her father. Director of Photography: Ian Jones. the primary crocodile egg collector This is the seventh time Ian and Rolf de for Ramingining, earning his people sig- Heer have worked together nificant royalties. He’s a hunter, a guide »» PETER and a fisherman. Production Designer: Beverley MINYGULULU Freeman. Freeman has worked with de Heer on ten films AS OLD LULU In 2003 he became involved in Ten Canoes, initially as an actor in a minor Editor: Tania Nehme. Another long-time Minygululu is an intensely traditional part. He showed such aptitude for collaborator with de Heer Yolngu man, born and brought up in filmmaking that he was soon appointed the bush. He speaks almost no English co-director. Djigirr’s role as one of the Music: Graham Tardif. Tardif has also (although he speaks numbers of tribal ten canoeists in that film was small, worked with de Heer on most of his languages) and, for him, a spear is still but with his gift for improvisation and films the best weapon. He cares enormously a rapid understanding of the needs of about the culture of his birth, and sees Sound: James Currie and Tom cinema, he was an influential performer, Heuzenroeder. As with many of the himself as one of the guardians of it, often being the one with the drive to cast and crew, the sound recorders which is how he came to be involved in make a scene work. have also collaborated with de Heer on Ten Canoes. He was a swamp canoe many other films expert, possibly the only one left at the Charlie’s Country provided the oppor- time, and it was a combination of his tunity to write a much more substantial knowledge and anthropologist Donald role for Djigirr. the part of the community policeman Thomson’s photographs that enabled specifically for Luke. ten swamp canoes to be correctly Playing the character of Black Pete made. required a much more formal approach The process was good the second time to acting, and Djigirr’s intelligence as an as well, but on this occasion it was This talent led into a significant acting actor is shown to full effect. more the David and Luke show. David job on that film. When original choice Gulpilil and Luke took to each other like David Gulpilil was no longer avail- Djigirr was also co-producer of the film. magnets and drove each other’s perfor- able to play the dual lead characters, mances to greater and greater levels. On Minygululu proudly stepped into his set, the fight between Policeman Luke place … and promptly regretted it. »» LUKE FORD and Charlie was something to behold. Though performing creditably, it was all AS POLICEMAN LUKE ‘too much humbug!’ for him and part- way through filming, he disappeared Luke Ford throws himself into varied »» JENNIFER into the bush for three days. roles with an enthusiasm and intensity BUDUKPUDUK that bring just reward. Some such roles GAYKAMANGU When he emerged, director Rolf de have been the autistic Charlie Mollison Heer managed to convince him to AS FAITH in The Black Balloon (Elissa Down, complete work on one of the roles, 2008), which won him an AFI Award for The role of long-grasser Faith in Charlie’s and he was replaced, to his delight, on Best Supporting Actor, and the gang- Country is Jennifer Budukpuduk’s first the other of the two characters he was ster Darren Cody in the much lauded performance as an actor. She was cast meant to be playing. Animal Kingdom (David Michôd, 2010). on instinct by director/co-writer Rolf de Heer and co-writer/lead actor David It was, therefore, to everyone’s surprise Director Rolf de Heer first worked with Gulpilil, and it can surely be said that that Minygululu volunteered to be avail- Luke in 2011, when Luke played the their instinct didn’t fail them. able for Charlie’s Country. A part was SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014 part of Shrek, the neighbour-from-hell’s promptly written to suit his not inconsid- bad friend in The King Is Dead! (2012). Jennifer had been, at one stage of erable talent. He played that part with Rolf enjoyed the process so much, her life, a ‘long grasser’ such as she great sensitivity, notwithstanding his from working on set with Luke to edit- depicts in the film, but what helped her denial that any of it was any good. ing Luke’s footage, that when Charlie’s most was her innate ability as an actor. Country began to form he saw the According to director de Heer, ‘Jennifer Minygululu was also chief cultural advi- opportunity to do it again, and wrote inhabits her character with such grace sor on the film. 8 PART 2 Short synopsis of Charlie’s Country > Blackfella Charlie is getting older, and he’s out of sorts. The Intervention is making life more difficult on his remote community, what with the proper local authorities. In the film, Charlie policing of whitefella laws that don’t generally make much sense, speaks both in his own language and in English depending on who he is and Charlie’s kin and ken seeming more interested in going talking to. Sometimes he interprets along with things than doing anything about it. So Charlie takes from one language to the other. off to live the old way, but in so doing sets off a chain of events in his life that has him return to his community chastened and Following what happens to Charlie – somewhat the wiser. both what he initiates and what others initiate – throughout the course of the film dramatises several of the recurrent relevant are some of the laws to difficulties faced by Indigenous people Watching the people living in these small in Australia today, particularly those | communities? who live in remote communities. Charlie s • Why is use of a car or some kind of vehicle important? The story falls quite naturally into three Country • How do members of the local parts: community spend their time? • Where do local people gather to • The first third of the film shows »» QUESTIONS TO drink alcohol? Charlie living in a remote commu- THINK ABOUT AS • What effects does the restriction nity in Arnhem Land (this section YOU WATCH THIS on alcohol purchase and con- runs for about 42 minutes) sumption seem to have on peo- • In the second section of the film, FILM ple’s behaviour? What evidence is Charlie has gone bush and is there in the film? trying to live in the old traditional • What opportunities are there for way (this section runs for about 22 meaningful employment within minutes) SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014 and surrounding many remote »» CONSTRUCTION • In the third part of the film, Charlie communities? OF THE NARRATIVE finds himself in Darwin – at the • What kinds of housing are shown hospital, living with a group of in the film? Who lives in these Charlie’s story is told through a people called ‘the long grass- houses? number of scenes as he finds himself ers’, in prison and finally back • Who makes the laws and who is increasingly frustrated and angered in his community, not drinking charged with enforcing them? How by the restrictions placed on him by and attempting to reclaim some 9 – looking at a newspaper cutting/ photo. Walking past the local police sta- tion – greeting Policeman Luke. Collecting welfare payment and distributing money to others who might need it. Collecting firewood and feeding unsmoked cigarettes into the fire. 3. Walking past a house and saying ‘this is the sort of house I want … if it’s like this I’ll be OK’. Asking for a house from a local housing officer. Suggests the of- ficial has both a job and a house and that he (Charlie) has neither. independence and control over his What does it mean to At the local store queuing for life by teaching the young boys ‘watch’? takeaway food and bottled soft some of the traditional dances he drinks. has performed (this section runs We (the audience) watch Charlie as 4. Black Pete comes by to ask for the final 44 minutes of the film). he watches what is going on in the Charlie to go hunting with him as different worlds and situations he his garbage truck is broken down There are a number of scenes in each finds himself in. The camera watches and parts have to come from section of the film. Cumulatively they Charlie, who is in almost every scene Darwin present and establish the interactions, of the film. Observe how he moves They shoot a water buffalo and tie the silences and the events that are all and presents himself in different it on to the front of the truck part of Charlie’s life. scenes during the film. Describe how Police stop them on the road and the many close-ups of Charlie work in ask for weapons’ licences • The scenes in the first part of the this film. 5. Car, buffalo and guns impounded film are listed below in a much at police compound abbreviated summary. Highlight 6. Drinkers in the evening by the any that you think are particularly Section ① sign banning liquor in the local important for what they show us community (the audience) about the day-to- You come from far away and bring us Gaz, a whitefella needing a place day realities of Charlie’s life in the alcohol, ganja, tobacco … all bad. to camp out of town, asks Charlie community. – Charlie to Policeman Luke for help. After pointing out where a • Continue to refer back to the campsite is, Charlie walks back to SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014 questions posed at the start of this 1. Opening scene of red dirt road town section of the guide as you watch through the bush with sign outlin- 7. Old Lulu comes by. Charlie is hun- each part of the film. ing the Liquor Act and its restric- gry and broke. Lulu tells Charlie • Use the quotes adjacent to tions and penalties for consuming the bush is like a supermarket and the scene outlines to generate liquor in a prohibited area then answers a mobile phone ring- discussion. 2. Credits over. Charlie in his place – ing in his pocket. Lulu suggests shelter/humpy/gunyah/house/hut? Charlie teach the kids how to do 10 traditional dance, but Charlie Gonna live in the bush, live the old way says, ‘those kids don’t care … going to where we used to sleep as kids anymore’. – Charlie to Black Pete 8. Policeman Luke comes by and asks Charlie to help them 14. Charlie ‘borrows’ a police car to go track down the men from out bush. of town. Charlie leads them He and Black Pete set off with car to the turnoff to the campsite he … it’s been confiscated. loaded up. showed Gaz and his mates. Back Charlie: You’re stealing it. They run out of petrol. Pete goes at his fire, Charlie and Black Pete Luke: No purchase note, illegally back home, Charlie walks alone laugh about the fooling of these modified weapon. into the bush. ‘visitors’. Back at his hut looking at the Charlie: It’s all that whitefella junk food photo of himself from 1973 when »» STUDENT ACTIVITY we eat. he danced for the Queen at the Old Man: They’ll take me to Darwin opening of the Sydney Opera Use the following chart to make notes Charlie: Then you’ll die in the wrong House. on what happens to Charlie over the place … a long way from your country. 11. Charlie at the clinic having a check course of this first part of the film as There’ll be no one with you, no one to up. Told by doctor his lungs are the way he chooses to live on his land look after you. packing it in. Says his teeth are comes up against the restrictions being ruined by junk food from the imposed by white regulations, many of 9. A carer leaves a sick man in a local store. which are quite restrictive. See table on wheelchair for Charlie to watch 12. Charlie making a spear by his fire. following page. over. Old man says, ‘you know I’m Watching kids ask why he doesn’t sick don’t you? My kidneys are no just use a gun for hunting. Despite the often grim and difficult good … soon they’ll stop working’. Watches old man loaded on to situations Charlie finds himself in during 10. Charlie at police station with plane for Darwin Hospital. the first section of this story, he is able Policeman Luke. Told he’s being Walks down road with spear. to laugh in a self-deprecating way at SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014 called ‘a recreational shooter’ on Confiscated by police as ‘a dan- his predicaments and to take control of the form but his gun being confis- gerous weapon’. some situations where he knows he’s cated as he had no licence for it. Charlie back by his fire cursing the being patronised and even used, where police as ‘thieving white bastards’. his concerns are not taken seriously. Charlie: Hunting is not recreational … 13. Charlie takes out his cash from it’s for food. bank and does a big shop at the In Section 2 of the film, things become Luke: You’re not getting your gun back local supermarket bleaker and brighter, simpler and more 11 POTENTIAL AND REAL CONFLICTS BETWEEN CHARLIE AND WHITE REGULATIONS AND LAWS CHARLIE LAWS AND THE AUTHORITIES SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014 12 difficult. Charlie is more isolated and subject to difficult physical conditions. Section ② 15. Charlie leaves car and goes into the country, leaving some of the stuff behind 16. Walking through the bush Section ③ I have my own supermarket … I can dance. – Charlie In this third section of the film, Charlie is in Darwin, in a number of different 17. Charlie goes hunting in the bush, places and situations. Is this more like digging for roots, spears a fish and a place where he can live well and As they approach the encampment cooks it on fire, dances after eat- have company, or will things fall apart? in a bushy part of the city, they see ing fish he has caught and cooked the cops breaking up the makeshift 18. Charlie painting on a piece of bark 22. Charlie walks around the hospital camp. using ochre corridors and sees the old man Gradually the camp’s inhabitants 19. The rains come and the fire goes who was flown to Darwin some appear from where they have been out. Looks for shelter. Discovers time back with kidney disease. He hiding and they all drink as night traditional artwork in a rocky out- is hooked up to a dialysis machine. falls. crop where he is seeking shelter Charlie weeps as he silently watch- from the weather. He is ill and es the man. My home … what a mess. They should coughing He returns to his hospital room, just shoot us like in the old days – Faith 20. Returns to his first campsite and rips out his drip, dresses and looks at photo of himself dancing leaves the hospital. 24. Charlie and Faith go back to the at the Opera House. He is very 23. He heads off into the city across ATM. They buy more grog and re- unwell and seems delirious. Black busy roads. Finds an ATM and turn to the camp where they drink Pete finds him is surprised to find has balance and smoke ganja. There is a lot of 21. At the clinic, being examined. has grown to more than $3000.00 shouting and people are drunk and Doctor decides to Medivac Charlie while he has been away from his stoned. SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014 to Darwin for treatment. The doc- community. 25. Return to shop for more grog. tor there asks Charlie about where A woman approaches him and Back at the camp, Lulu and Black he was found. Charlie responds in asks if he is going to buy some Pete confront Charlie. They tell his language, that he was ‘born in grog. She asks, ‘Are you banned?’ him he is bringing shame to them the bush’. In bottle shop Charlie has his li- as Faith is the wrong skin for him. cence ID scanned and the transac- They tell him the grog is rotting his tion goes through. brain. 13 Charlie: I’ve given up drinking anyway … but everybody in this country is a known drinker. then the police came to throw me Parole officer:Known drinker means out. Nothing more to say.’ Charlie anyone known to the police. is taken off to jail to serve his Charlie: Police are known drinkers … 26. Back at the ATM there is no money sentence. tell them not to associate with me. left in Charlie’s account, but Faith 28. Charlie’s hair and beard are Parole officer:I’m going to arrange for has some. The cashier at the bottle shaved off by a figure whose face you to stay at a dry house for the first shop is suspicious that Charlie we cannot see. Prison routines month. isn’t drinking all this grog alone. are marked by metallic sounds of Tells him the cops can impose an the laundry trolleys being pushed 31. Charlie looking through bars of eighteen-month ban for supplying around, of food being slopped on cell at the razor wire. Says, ‘I grog to a banned person. They to metal plates, of doors clang- want to go home now, back to my leave with more grog. Another ing shut, of lights out and echoing own country where my place is’. police raid and the drinkers scatter, inhuman sounds. The routines are Images of country, insects and but Charlie smashes the wind- dehumanising. bush life. screen of the police car with a 29. Black Pete visits Charlie in prison. 32. Charlie sitting outside his humpy/ shovel. Luke is the police officer, He tells him he is doing a course shelter by his fire. Charlie removes now posted to Darwin, and loses in Darwin before returning to his smokes from behind his ears and it when he recognises Charlie as own country to work. More images chucks them into the fire as he did the man with the shovel. The ‘long of the mind-blowing awfulness of earlier in the film. At the local food grassers’ are put into the back of prison routines store he notes that the food is the a police wagon, as is Charlie. Luke ‘same old junk, same old prices’. is remorseful about hitting Charlie Hard to talk to you when you don’t look ‘Where’s the decent food?’, he and losing it with him. like you – Black Pete to Charlie asks. 27 Charlie in court before the magis- 33. Charlie by fire with Black Pete SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014 trate, who asks, ‘does the defend- 30. Charlie at a parole review. He is and Old Lulu. These two light up ant have anything to say before bitter and angry about being locked smokes. Lulu asks again if Charlie sentencing?’ Charlie speaks in up ‘for being Aboriginal’. The parole will teach the kids to dance. They his language and then translates officer outlines his responsibilities tell him Bobby can’t because he’s into English. He says, ‘my coun- while on parole, including ‘being in Darwin with ‘bad lungs’. Charlie try is my home. I was living in my banned from buying alcohol and says he’ll do it. home nice and peacefully, and associating with known drinkers’. 14 34. Charlie with kids. Tells them about dancing before the Queen at the Opera House and shows them some of his moves. He is proud to talk of his achievements. 35. Final scene of Charlie looking out as the credits roll. works with the locality sounds to cre- »» STUDENT ACTIVITY ate mood. • What do Charlie’s experiences in • In an early scene of the film, Darwin suggest about the difficul- »» SOUNDTRACK Charlie is admiring a house. ties many Indigenous Australians What sounds do we hear on the face? Consider imprisonment, Rolf de Heer believes that sound soundtrack and how does the mu- drink and drugs, homelessness carries 60 per cent of the emotional sic (also a part of the soundtrack in and unemployment. content of any film and should never this scene) reflect Charlie’s mood? • How would you describe the end- be underestimated. • Sounds and music are particularly ing of this film? Does it suggest effective on a soundtrack when hope for the future for Charlie and The soundtrack of this film is quite they are counterpointed with his friends? Think about what kind complex. Depending on where Charlie silence. Describe any scenes in of work Indigenous Australians is and what he is doing, the sounds the film where silence and stillness might do in some of these remote heard by both Charlie and the audi- are punctuated by the repetition communities, e.g. mining, tourism, ence are important in establishing of a particular sound. How do the medicine, teaching … place, mood, and tone – and, of visuals and the sounds create an SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014 • What apart from programs and course, emotions. For instance, con- emotional response? dollars is most likely to give sider the sounds of the bush and the • How does Graham Tardif’s often Indigenous Australians some au- rain compared to the metallic sounds plaintive musical score emphasise tonomy and hope for the future? of the prison scenes, which accom- the essential dignity and suffering pany Charlie as he makes his laundry of Charlie’s life and longing for a rounds. There is a musical soundtrack better life? used in some parts of the film that 15 PART 3 The Intervention The Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) – sometimes re- prosecutions for child abuse come ferred to as ‘The Intervention’ – was from the exercise. introduced by a former Australian government and affects most The package was the Federal gov- Aboriginal townships and town camps ernment’s response to the Northern • Deployment of additional police to in the Northern Territory. The Northern Territory Government’s publication of affected communities; Territory Emergency Response was the Little Children are Sacred report, • New restrictions on alcohol and announced in 2007 in response to but implemented only two out of kava; evidence of abuse and potential ninety-seven of the report’s recom- • Pornography filters on publicly neglect of children, principally detailed mendations. The response has been funded computers; in the ‘Little Children Are Sacred’ widely criticised but also received • Compulsory acquisition of town- report commissioned by the Northern bipartisan parliamentary support. ships currently held under the title Territory Government. Successive governments of Labor provisions of the Native Title Act Prime Minister Julia Gillard and 1993 through five-year leases with The NTER was a package of changes Coalition Prime Minister Tony Abbott compensation on a basis other to welfare provision, law enforce- have continued to support the re- than just terms (the number of set- ment, land tenure and other measures, sponse, though Gillard’s predecessor tlements involved remains unclear); introduced by the Australian federal (and successor) Kevin Rudd did make • Commonwealth funding for provi- government under John Howard in some adjustments to its implementa- sion of community services; 2007 to address allegations of child tion. The Emergency Response has • Removal of customary law and sexual abuse and neglect in Northern since been replaced by the similar cultural practice considerations Territory Aboriginal communities. Stronger Futures Policy. from bail applications and sentenc- Operation Outreach, the intervention’s ing within criminal proceedings; SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014 main logistical operation conducted The original NTER $587 million pack- • Suspension of the permit system by a force of 600 soldiers and de- age came into effect with the passage controlling access to Aboriginal tachments from the ADF (includ- of the Northern Territory National communities; ing NORFORCE), concluded on Emergency Response Act 2007 by the • Quarantining of a proportion of 21 October 2008. In the five years Australian Parliament in August 2007. welfare benefits to all recipients in since the initiation of the Emergency The nine measures it contained were the designated communities and Response there have not been any as follows: of all benefits of those who are 16 Closing judged to have neglected the Gap their children; • The abolition of the ‘Closing the Gap’ is a strategy that Community Development aims to reduce Indigenous disad- Employment Projects (CDEP). vantage with respect to life-expec- tancy, child mortality, access to early Many of these measures apply childhood education, educational over wide areas, entitled ‘prescribed There are restrictions on what you achievement and employment out- areas’. Prescribed areas are defined can and cannot do and possess in comes. Endorsed by the Australian in the Northern Territory National prescribed areas. For example, there Government in March 2008, ‘Closing Emergency Response Act 2007 and are restrictions on the possession and the Gap’ is a formal commitment de- include: transportation of alcohol in prescribed veloped in response to the call of the areas. Breaching such restrictions Social Justice Report 2005 to achieve • Aboriginal land defined under the without the appropriate permit or Indigenous health equality within Aboriginal Lands Rights (Northern licence can be an offence under the twenty-five years. Territory) Act 1976; law. More detailed information about • Roads, rivers, streams, estuaries the Intervention is available at the To monitor change, the Council of or other areas on Aboriginal land; Human Rights website at: Minister to be a prescribed area. people. However, other groups and The achievement of substantial im- SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2014 individuals throughout Australia see provements in the health and wellbe- The Minister has the power to make the ‘Intervention’ as being essential to ing of Indigenous people will depend a legislative instrument to include or curb drunkenness and violence, and largely on the effective implementation exclude areas as prescribed areas. to ensure that children have opportu- of these targets as they reflect some nities to develop and get an education. of the substantial disadvantages expe- rienced by Indigenous people. 17 The timeframes for the ‘Closing the In June 2014, the Queensland Gap’ targets recognise the enormity of Government lifted their ten-year the challenge facing governments and restrictions on alcohol consumption In 2009, Australia signed the United the nation, as effective, integrated, in nineteen Indigenous communities. Nations Declaration on the Rights of comprehensive strategies and policies More than eighteen months after the Indigenous Peoples. The Declaration is will need to be sustained for a long Newman government launched a a set of principles that promote equal- time. Improvements to the extent set review of alcohol management plans, ity, non-discrimination, partnership, in the various targets will not occur in a majority of Queensland’s nineteen consultation and cooperation between the short-term1. Indigenous communities are prepar- Indigenous peoples and governments. ing cabinet submissions to lift the It is a comprehensive standard on hu- See Prime Minister Abbott’s 2014 bans. This long-standing measure was man rights for Indigenous Peoples, with report on the successes and failures of not imposed as part of the Northern a strong focus on their rights to their the Closing the Gap programs initiated Territory Intervention. Lifting the bans traditional lands, cultures, languages in 2008 at 19 This study guide was produced by ATOM. (© ATOM 2014) ISBN: 978-1-74295-476-9 [email protected] For information on SCREEN EDUCATION magazine, or to download other study guides for assessment, visit 20