Ten Canoes

I was going thru the list of movies at the video library shop. I saw a DVD which had a very striking cover design, the name of the movie was 'Ten Canoes' and had a tagline 'One hundred and fifty spears, ten canoes, three wives... trouble'. I had never heard about this movie and the shop owner said that nobody has ever taken this DVD. Watched it and truly it was one of a kind viewing experience. The film begins showing an aerial shot with the camera just sweeping over the scenic beauty of the primeval wetland with David Gulpilil’s voice in the background narrating“Once upon a time in a land far, far away. No, it’s not like that. It’s not like your story, but it’s a good story all the same. It’s a good story, this story I’m gonna be telling you about the ancient ones. There’s more wrong love in this story, and plenty spears too, and plenty wives. Ahh, you gotta see this story of mine cause it’ll make you laugh… Might cry a bit too eh? But then you laugh some more cause this story is a big true story of my people.”
If you are interested in Anthropology this movie will at the top of your list. This is an Australian movie made by Director Rolf de Heer. The film is based in large part on the work of Donald Thomson and won a special jury prize at Cannes and is Australia’s entry for ‘Best Foreign Language Film’ at the Academy Awards this year.

Ten Canoes is a film about the Aborginal tribe people and culture which is at the brink of extinction, fighting back and trying to recapture and preserve a small part of who they were and still are... This tribe is from the Northern part of Australia. The Aboriginal perspective of Ten Canoes gives the film a fresh quality while dealing with universal themes about human nature, and the relationship of men and women. The director and the technical crew should be complimented because they used the excellent technical knowlege and for acting part they used people who have next to no experience with the medium of film.

The Director has used a tricky way of narrating the story in this film - simple act of telling old story involving a complex structure with three levels of narrative. It is a story within a story. The story of the ancients told to a young man. A story of how to live, how to behave. a story to teach ... to learn about a nearly forgotten culture ... to continue to understand the link to the land. The film also has a cool website here. Ten Canoes contains nudity, violence and sexual humor but the movie is amazing and must watch for its art of storytelling, excellent cinematography and bringing an ancient tribe to life.