Charlie's Country (2013)

Displeased with the intervention of whitefella laws, Charlie takes off to live the old way and sets off a chain reaction of enlightening difficulties.

Director:

Rolf de Heer

Writers:

David Gulpilil, Rolf de Heer

Stars:

David Gulpilil, Peter Djigirr, Luke Ford

12 wins & 16 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
David Gulpilil	...	Charlie
Peter Djigirr	...	Black Pete
Luke Ford	...	Policeman Luke
Lizzie Durrurrnga	...	Bank Teller
Bobby Bunungurr	...	Bobby (as Bobby Bununggurr)
Frances Djulibing	...	Supermarket Woman
Michael Dawa	...	Micky (as Michael Dawu)
Paul Blackwell	...	Errol
Peter Minygululu	...	Old Lulu
John Brumpton	...	Policeman Brum
Jamie Gulpilil	...	Trainee PC
Gary Waddell	...	Gaz
J.B. Williams	...	Gaz's Sidekick (as Josh Williams)
Johnny Buniyira	...	Cool Dude
Fiona Lanyon	...	PC Monica

Storyline

Blackfella Charlie is out of sorts. The intervention is making life more difficult on his remote community, what with the proper policing of whitefella laws now. So Charlie takes 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 somewhat the wiser.

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Plot Keywords:

australian aborigine | semi autobiographical | australia | community | aboriginal | 

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Taglines:

Another invasion... and Charlie doesn't like it.

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund [Australia] Press Kit [Australia]

Country:

Australia

Language:

Aboriginal English

Release Date:

17 July 2014 (Australia)

Also Known As:

Az őslakos

Filming Locations:

Ramingining, Northern Territory, Australia

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,340, 7 June 2015

Gross USA:

$42,937

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$202,966

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bula'bula Arts Aboriginal, Vertigo Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39:1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was the official submission of Australia for the Best Foreign Language film category of the 87th Academy Awards 2015 but in the end was not nominated. Australia's first ever film to be nominated in this category would be about a couple of years later with 'Tanna' (2015).

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Connections

Referenced in Still Our Country (2014)

User Reviews

Challenges of Aborigins in one person's life

Dutch Australian film director Rolf de Heer take a look of the years running problems of Aboriginal Australians in his last movie Charlie's Country which is shown in many festivals around world. We see the problems caused by two sides from the eyes of an old and stubborn member of Aborigins, Charlie who feels like a outlander on his own lands.

Charlie can't accept being assimilated or living like how white Australians impose with the help of his stubborn and shrewd character. With the stunning performance of David Gulpilil Charlie represents all his nation with his riots, outcries, falls and obedience. He makes same mistakes that his nation did but also resists to forget his roots deep in the lands. He is driven away from his village to wild, from there to the big cities and it's crowd and chaos. It takes time for him to accept that this land is same land he loves with every living on it even it has changed.

Director's style resembles our Cannes awarded director Nuri Bilge Ceylan with long cuts and silent scenes. Showing same scenes in different spirits and witnessing alteration of Charlie in these scenes can be boring. And yet this style of filming helps a lot to feel the characters and their states better and deeper. Audiences feel all strugglings of all Aborigins from the eyes of Charlie.

Fortunately de Heer was in theater for answering questions of us. His care to Aborigins impressed me and hearing all questions about Aborigins proved that he did really good job in his movie with making a difference for Indigenous Australians in the eyes of everyone who watched the movie. That means shooting the target you aimed. I hope it will not take centuries to solve all issues in Australia as he said.