The film is based on a true story of four teenaged girls from an Australian aboriginal community who have great singing talent. They are recruited to perform for U.S. troops in Vietnam in the late 1960s.
This is an ambitious film that covers many interesting topics: the Vietnam war, the volatile times of the 1960s, and racial prejudice in Australia particularly the evil government policy (now defunct) of stealing white-appearing aboriginals (the Stolen Generation) away from their communities and forcing them to integrate into the white mainstream.
The musical numbers (and great singing voices) are grand and help create nostalgia for the cultural side of the 1960s. The film is good overall but it seems that the directing by Wayne Blair doesn't fully live up to the excitement of the story's various elements.
The side story of the Stolen Generation reminded me of another Australian film on that subject, Rabbit Proof Fence (2002), a better film where tension and suspense are concerned. But The Sapphires is still insightful and well worth seeing.
This is an ambitious film that covers many interesting topics: the Vietnam war, the volatile times of the 1960s, and racial prejudice in Australia particularly the evil government policy (now defunct) of stealing white-appearing aboriginals (the Stolen Generation) away from their communities and forcing them to integrate into the white mainstream.
The musical numbers (and great singing voices) are grand and help create nostalgia for the cultural side of the 1960s. The film is good overall but it seems that the directing by Wayne Blair doesn't fully live up to the excitement of the story's various elements.
The side story of the Stolen Generation reminded me of another Australian film on that subject, Rabbit Proof Fence (2002), a better film where tension and suspense are concerned. But The Sapphires is still insightful and well worth seeing.