Charlie's Country - Quotes Flashcards
1
Q
First encounter with Luke
A
- “You come from far away and bring alcohol,ganja, tobacco…all bad!” - Yolngu how he really feels
- “You white bastard” - “You black bastard”
- Luke standing on doorstep - higher symbolic of power dynamic
2
Q
Scene with Erol representing government
A
- “Anything else you want Charlie?”
- “You got a job, you got a house, on my land … where’s my house, where’s my job?”
- Camera points up at Erol and down on Charlie - shows power dynamic
- Messy office - ineffective/ complicated/ damaging bureaucracy
- Back turned - symbolic of governments unwillingness to help fix a problem until they are faced with it
3
Q
Old Lulu talking to Charlie by the fire
A
- “I have no money left or food” “I’m hungary”- Charlie
- “There’s lots of food in the bush…it’s’ like a supermarket out there”
- “We need you to teach the children how to dance… properly” - tells Lulu to ask Bobby
- “The kids go to school now. They don’t care anymore”
4
Q
Charlie ‘tracking’ criminals
A
- “Damn you black fellas are smart when you wanna be”
- Charlie yelling “stop” and “Get out” which the police listen to
- Shows shift in power dynamic - perhaps respect for his knowledge and time
5
Q
Albert in wheelchair has kidney disease - going to be taken to Darwin
A
- “It’s all that white man junk food we eat”
- “Then you’ll die in the wrong place…a long way from your country”
6
Q
Talking to luke about permit
A
- “Hunting isn’t recreational, it’s for food”
7
Q
Looking at photo again in humpy
A
- “I’m not a recreational shooter…I am … a hunter. I danced for the Queen of England when they opened that building. I bet you never did that.”
- No one else is there - talking to audience/ Luke and letting them in on secret of photo
- Sounds of memory return
- Soft piano score emphasises sadness
8
Q
Appointment with doctor
A
- Told he need to “eat better” which is impossible because he only has access to “white man junk food” and he’s teeth don’t fit “I can’t eat with them and I can’t eat without them…I’m starving” response by doctor is that Charlie’s gotta wait for the dentist to come
9
Q
Makes spear
A
- “It’s a hunting spear, not a battle spear”
- “I’m gonna have to destroy it”
- “But you took my gun”
- “Treacherous bastard”
10
Q
Charlie walks past police station - angry now
A
- “Oy why did you come here? From far away…stealing people’s stuff! In this you land?
- “They took your rifle…and your car. They took my spear…and my gun. I work for them catching criminals and they don’t pay me. They stole our land and put a police station on it.”
- “Live the old way…where we used to sleep as kids…we’ll hunt and fish there”
11
Q
Positive experiences out bush
A
- Crossing threshold - leaving influence of non-indigenous culture
- Begins with long shots of grass which is symbolic of - roots (which Charlie is connecting to), connection (to the land) and foundation
- Wide angle shots of land with Charlie in the centre - deep focus
- Ability to track and navigate vast areas - intelligence demonstrated by confidence
- Sentimental piano score - Aboriginal people mourning loss of connection
- “Good tucker, this”
- Camera pushes in to a close up - “our food”
- “I’m free now! Lots of fish. I have my own supermarket. And this is my country! I can dance with it”
- Dances
12
Q
Negative experiences out bush
A
- Rain comes and puts out warm vibrant fire - symbolic of Charlie’s mood and health - foreshadowing of health deterioration
- Cave scene
- Surreal soundscape - camera pans over rock paintings - sounds of his ancestors
- Eerie and slightly disconcerting for Charlie
- Disconnection from culture and impact of past
- Eerie and slightly disconcerting for Charlie
- Surreal soundscape - camera pans over rock paintings - sounds of his ancestors
- Charlie sleeping under log
- Camouflage - nature protecting him
- Ribs exposed contracting in fits of coughing - unhealthy due to white influence
- Emaciated body on display - not wearing shirt - Rolph deHeer
- Looking at photo again
- Non-diegetic sound scape of piano returns - sounds of memory also return
- “Mother country is a long way..too far”
13
Q
Charlie with doctor in community after being out bush
A
- “I thought I told you to look after yourself Charlie”
- “It’s off to Darwin for you now my friend”
- Sinister feeling as if he won’t return - faceless voice
14
Q
In hospital
A
- “Do you mind if I call you Charlie? I have difficulty pronouncing foreign names.
- “Now I’m a foreigner?” - in Yolngu
- “Found in the bush”
- “I was born in the bush, they didn’t find me in the bush.”
- “I see you still have your sense of humour”
- “I want a doctor”
- Crying when with Albert - causes him to give up - only very minimal humour after this point
- Only sound of respirator - mechanical heart beat - not truly alive
15
Q
Long grassers
A
- Faith banned from buying alcohol - NT intervention
- “What a mess..they should just shoot us like in the old days” - Faith
- Pete and old Lulu visit
- “She’s wrong skin for you”
- “And that’s poison you’re drinking; it rots your brain”
- “He didn’t go straight way; he went any which way”
- Repetitive montage of descending into alcoholism accompanied by the piano music
- Nod head to black woman on the street
- Charlie pushes Faith - toxic relationship
- Runner pushing past Faith and Charlie emphasises disrespect
