Australian Film Belonging

Film and television has taken over the world we live in, becoming one of the most popular ways for different personalities to express their stories in local and worldwide settings. Film allows auteurs to capture the essence of time, emotional circumstances and cultural differences in order to create stories that linger in the minds of their audiences. In particular, this is demonstrated in Australian film. Historically, Australian film tends to explore the cultural difficulties associated between Indigenous and ‘white’ Australia. The relationship between these two very different cultures is showcased in the early years of film in an incredibly marginalised, stereotypical fashion, often portraying Indigenous Australians as mysterious, mythical …show more content…
The film’s beginning is slowly paced to present the characters, specifically Charlie, and the monotonic, repetitive life they lead. The film steadily continues at this pace in order to signify Charlie’s tumbling emotional wellbeing as he falls further into the abyss created by the implementation of white Australian culture. It is not until the last third of the film that this pace slowly begins to change after Charlie is arrested and sentenced to prison. De Heere uses this opportunity to establish the stripped nature of Charlie’s sentencing by representing this through the shaving of Charlie’s hair before he is imprisoned. The emotions captured in this scene heavily reflects on the audience in a sorrowful manner. De Heere successfully creates a belittled view of Charlie as the shaving of his hair symbolises how the influence of white Australia has driven him to confusion and self-doubt. The physical action of his head being shaved symbolises how he has been stripped of his identity, his dignity and his culture, becoming another figure and statistic for white Australia to abuse. This physical representation is accompanied by strategic cinematography as the close up camera angle as well as the lighting, plays a major role in aiding the emotional turmoil felt in this scene. By centralising the protagonist and using a close up shot of his face, de Heere forces …show more content…
Rolf de Heer cleverly uses this theme to compose a sorrowful undertone to the majority of the film, creating an unsettling atmosphere that cannot be ignored. The slow pace of the film combined with the strategic decision to repeat Graham Tardif’s instrumental score piano symbolises Charlie’s monotonic emotional state as he lives out his repetitive life. As the whole film centralises around this idea, the audience themselves are dragged through the struggle alongside Charlie. It is at the end of the film where this atmosphere dramatically changes as Charlie is asked to teach the young Indigenous children the traditional style of dance. The music transitions from the sorrowful piano score to an uplifting and traditional native musical score. The group of children, Charlie and other Indigenous adults dance around a fire, indulging in their culture. This is the point in the film where both Charlie and the audience realise the importance of continuing Indigenous culture. The dramatic change in the atmosphere symbolises the love that Indigenous people have for their culture, emphasising the negative impact of forcing an entire ethnicity to subliminally abide by white culture (Charlie’s County,