It’s not fashionable to say so, but I think Ken G Hall was a better all-round filmmaker than Charles Chauvel (he had a better scriptwriter in Frank Harvey) – but Chauvel was better at spotting stars. Hall preferred to use stars already established: Bert Bailey, Cecil Kellaway, John Longden, George Wallace; he could claim Peter Finch and definitely Shirley Ann Richards, Jocelyn Howarth. But I think Chauvel pips him, despite less films: Errol Flynn, Chips Rafferty, Michael Pate, and Robert Tudawali.
For Tudawali, despite his tragically short life and career, was a gold-plated star, charisma fairly dripping from every pore, and in a great role. Doesn’t look much like Ernie Dingo, who has a more contemporary “feel” – the better choice would have been Gulpilil, who like Tudawali really gives the impression of timelessness, someone who stepped straight out of the desert – but Dingo is a highly charismatic, talented actor, who is excellent in the role.
The script jumps forward and back in time, starting with the accident that eventually killed him, going back to his casting in Jedda. It focuses on his friendship with a (fictional?) white journo, a character who is a little too baby boomer (making docos about aboriginal land rights that talk about white imperialism, unhappy marriage, worried about selling out by working in television, he really cares about Tudawali – I’m sorry, but it’s hard to care if he’s fictional). (It’s also a little irritating the white person who isn’t mean to Tudawail in a Sydney pub is a Greek – right on).
A stronger relationship is the one between Tudawali and Charles Tingwell, who plays a concerned doctor. Tudawali’s wife unfortunately falls into the “why are you never home” category of nagging wives commonly found in biopics.
But Tudawali’s story is one that should be told – moving, sad, frustrating, a bit of showbiz, politics. Although he died young he did take part in an important battle for aboriginal rights (ever-reliable slimebag Michael Carmen makes a good slimebag again).
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