★★★★★★★★★★ 6/10

Being an indigenous person in a westernized country is always challenging. In Canada, our native populations face poverty, substance abuse, and violence. It’s no different for the Aboriginals of Australia, they have to endure horrible reserve conditions in the Australian desert.

Delilah (Marissa Gibson) lives with her grandmother. They make a little money selling native artwork they make. Unfortunately she’s paid a minor fraction of what their work is worth. Samson (Rowan McNamara) is a young man with little interest in life. Other than sniffing gasoline, his only other interest is Delilah.

Things dramatically change when Delilah’s grandmother dies. She’s beaten by her neighbors for not taking care of her. Violence it seems, is a common occurrence. On the same day, Samson is beaten when he falls into a gas induced stupor. Tired of life on the reserve, they steal a truck and head for more populated areas. Unfortunately they can’t run away from the lack of hope.

The Australian desert was starkly beautiful. The film portrays reserve conditions as simply tragic.

When there’s little or no dialogue actors and the director need to drive the narrative. Gibson was a powerful presence on-screen, her pain and struggle were incredibly ugly but portrayed it with dignity and beauty.

There’s definitely times when I felt the film was moving too slowly, especially the beginning. In hindsight, the director is letting you absorb the grim realities and the emptiness that surrounds the teens lives. Their lives are impacted by a series of tragedies but they trudge relentlessly forward.

A few of thoughts came to mind after watching this film:

1. Indigenous people have roamed free for tens of thousands of years but are now mostly confined to reserves. How does that affect their psyche, their sense of self?
2. The Australian government took Aboriginal children away from their families for a 100 years between 1869 to 1969. The children were stripped of their culture and heritage. There’s never been a good reason this was done but it’s effects have been devastatingly crystal clear.
3. When you turn their lives into one of welfare sustenance, is it any surprise that people lose their dignity and can’t function normally?

IMDb rating 7.2/10 1,125 votes

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aboriginal, Alice Springs, Australia, film, Gas Sniffing, homeless, info, Love, movie, poverty, reserves, review, Substance Abuse, violence Australia, Drama