Reviewed by Mike Anderiesz
Stars Crusoe Kurrdal, Jamie Gulpilil, Richard Birrinbirrin, Peter Djigirr, David Gulpilil, Frances Djulibing
Written by Rolf de Heer
Produced by Rolf de Heer
Certification UK 15 | Australia M
Runtime 90 minutes
Directed by Rolf de Heer & Peter Djigirr
In this year of threequels and action blockbusters, it’s hard to know how to review Ten Canoes — a film in which very little actually happens, very slowly indeed. But don’t panic, this isn’t some introspective European art-flick, it’s a retelling of Australian Aboriginal folklore filled with striking imagery and unexpected twists. Typical of its playfulness with audience expectations is the title, the meaning of which is never revealed until the final shot, adds little to the tale itself but somehow rounds everything off beautifully.
Actually, it’s a tale within a tale within a tale, the first level being set 1000 years ago with two tribesmen telling a story that delves back into mythical times. The tales are linked by a surprisingly familiar moral — basically, don’t screw around with someone else’s wife — which becomes equally pertinent to both sets of ‘heroes.’ And that’s it’s really — all held together by David Gulpilil’s narration that veers from playful Jedi to wise tribal elder. And, if the story rambles, as he explains, this is all part of Aboriginal tradition. ‘All the parts of the story have to be told for proper understanding.’ Admittedly, after a while the narrator’s archness begins to irritate along with the actors sometimes playing to camera. Still, it’s in the diversions that much of the real wit of the film appears; with tales of farting, fatal misunderstanding and sexual frustration striking a familiar chord with western audiences so distanced in every other respect from the subject. There are also flashes of violence, hence the 15 certificate – although nothing that will trouble fans of Apocalypto.
And it would be churlish to criticise anything this unusual. Ten Canoes is a mesmerising trip into distant anthropology with a good yarn thrown in. Visually, it’s quite wonderful — switching effortlessly between monochrome and full colour and cramming in a cast of Aboriginal unfamiliars, whose dignified faces loom large and enigmatically from the screen. What’s the bet the Americans remake it with Nicolas Cage and totally bugger it up?