In Australian cinema this is a landmark film in many ways. The level of co-operation between the indigenous people of Warranmining and the white Anglo-Saxon filmmakers is worth noting. Also, this is the first film to solely use an Indigenous language. But, significantly for me, there are no 'white fellas'. And for this reason I hope it has evaded any comments from white audiences of "Oh, not another Aboriginal film". Ultimately, these comments are factually inaccurate. Perhaps this is the first authentically Aboriginal film. The films that are normally labelled Aboriginal films are simply films about Aboriginals.
The whole way through the film I kept thinking about funding. I'm sure that without government funding this project would have been incredibly difficult, perhaps untenable. I normally hate funding bodies, and their arbitrary content rules. However, if they have to make ten below average Australian films to mean that a film like this qualifies for funding, then perhaps I'm happy to turn a blind eye.
Perhaps, this is not a good way to look at it. We have been discussing film funding in our tutorials and perhaps a conservative/libertarian approach is the best one here. That is, a firm belief in the operations of the free market economy; in this case, no film funding. If our film industry cannot support itself perhaps it shouldn't exist. But where do you draw the line on this issue. Can you say the same for libraries, art galleries, etc. Ultimately very few people use these institutions, and some would argue that taxes would be lower, and more could be spent on health and education without these facilities draining fiscal policy. But ultimately are these institutions necessary for a healthy society?
All this aside, Ten Canoes, works. There is a great story, the visuals are fantastic, there is humour, and we genuinely worry about what will happen in both stories.
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