The Chant Of Jimmie Blacksmith Film Review: Cinephilia

Set in turn-of-the-century Northern NSW, The Chant Of Jimmie Blacksmith is a powerful condemnation of Australian White Establishment treatment of Aboriginals and, indeed, of racial prejudice and injustice in general. Using much the same creative team as he had for The Devil’s Playground (1976) including Ian Baker (photography), Bruce Smeaton (music), Brian Kavanagh (editor) and himself once again adapting a Thomas Keneally novel the result is a significant step forward from his firsts film, delivering exactly the emotional impact that film lacked. Jimmie Blacksmith (Tommy Lewis) is a half-caste Aboriginal, an individual adrift between two worlds, to neither of which he belongs. To make matters worse, he has a white wife (Angela Punch). Chronically ill-treated by the white settlers, Jimmie finally cracks and the ensuing bloodbath turns him and his full-blooded half-brother ( Freddy Reynolds) into hunted men.

Whilst Schepisi demonstrated his commitment to challenging subject matter with The Devil’s Playground here he definitively confirms it, eschewing the more winsome nostalgic period film characteristic of Australian film of the time for something which is almost revisionist in its damning portrayal of the ignorance and brutality of Australia's early white settlers. Despite being a superbly made film (and at $1.2m the most expensive Australian film made up to that time), albeit perhaps a little long, with strong performances, and receiving positive reviews, it failed commercially. It was, however, invited into competition for the Palme D’Or at Cannes and was not only one of the outstanding films of the period but remains one of our finest achievements.

DVD Extras: The film is presented in a fine new widescreen transfer. Extras include a director’s commentary (which is valuable despite Schepisi’s halting delivery); Interviews with key cast and crew (36m); Interview with Tommy Lewis (26m); Q & A with Schepisi and Geoffrey Rush filmed at MIFF 2008 (34m); Making Us Blacksmiths, a documentary on the casting of Tommy Lewis and Freddy Reynolds; Stills Gallery; Theatrical Trailer. BH

DVD available from: Umbrella Entertainment

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