Six films worth a watch to understand what Australia is all about...
- Phar Lap (1983). Phar Lap is the film about a racehorse of the same name that won 32 of the 35 races it entered after the age of three until it died it mysterious circumstances in America in 1932. It’s a real Australian legend and goes to the sporting heart of this country. What you are not supposed to mention is that it was actually, horror-of-horrors, from New Zealand.
- Ten Canoes (2006). Set about one thousand years ago in Arnhem Land in the now Northern Territories, Ten Canoes is filmed entirely in Indigenous Australian languages. Watching it you get to understand a lot more about how mythology and storytelling was central to the regulation and continuity of Aboriginal society. It’s also quite revealing about the extent to which highly localised tribes existed alongside each other yet with some remarkable different cultures (and indeed languages).
- The Castle (1997). A comedy that follows the exploits of the Kerrigan family who are faced by eviction following the nearby airport expansion. It really shows the self-image of white working class Australia – lots of latent racism and classic Aussie lingo to boot.
- Ned Kelly (2003). Haven't seen this and heard mixed things but Ned Kelly has a real iconic status in Australia. A bushranger turned outlaw, Kelly became a figure of Irish Catholic and working class resistance to British Colonial ties. Perhaps the equivalent of Robin Hood.
- Gallipoli (1981). Great and very moving film, don’t think I need to elaborate on the plot. One can’t go very far in Australia without realising the extent to which the First World War and the sacrifices it entailed was the first defining point of this nation.
- Australia (2008). Okay a bit premature to add this to the list as it’s still a few weeks from launch. But it’s going to tell the story of the bombing of Darwin by the Japanese in 1942. Why I think this is worthy of the list is the bombings mark the period when Australia began to turn away from Britain as the mother country and towards America for protection (which did eventually come). If the First World War definied a nation, the Second determined its sovereignty.
