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
16
Q
Police come to long grasser’s camp
A
- “This is our land you bastards!”
- “Where’s your home?”
- Hits cop car
- “You treacherous fuck! Come on, I trusted ya”
- “You fucking turn on me you useless black bastard”
17
Q
Luke Arrests Charlie
A
- “I should have hunted you down that day Charlie…but I did nothing and that is a big mistake by me”
- “You know you can’t just sit on the grass and call it the old ways”
- “No they haven’t. You’re still trying to change our culture to your bastard culture”
18
Q
Court scene
A
- Tie - hamburgers and fries - constricting vices of “white man junk food”
- Suit - guise
- Judge is higher (like Luke and Erol were) with camera pointing up at him but level with Charlie
- “My country is my home”
- Judge is unseen as he gives sentences reflecting the faceless bureaucracy that controls the lives of the indigenous people.
- When the camera does pan to him he is clearly frustrated by Charlie speaking in his language
- “I was living in my home, nice and peacefully, then the police came to throw me out.”
- Looking down barrel of camera - challenges audience - asking them am I a criminal
19
Q
Charlie meets parole officer
A
- “What about going back to your community? You can live your own way”
- “Nah, whitefellas locked me up for being aboriginal. I might have to live white fellas way now”
- “The police are known drinkers”
20
Q
Deciding to go home
A
- “I want to go home now…back to my own country…where my place is”
- Bird song/ bush soundscape is overlaid on the shot of Charlie behind bars suggesting committing to the decision takes him home
21
Q
Back at Ramingining store
A
- “The food in prison is better than this. Ahh, doesn’t matter”
22
Q
Pete and Old Lulu
A
- Bobby has been sent to Darwin - nothing has changed - cyclical - piano music shows how Charlie is moved
- Charlie decides to dance only after having heard the news
- He is the change and breaking the cycle
- “Okay, I’ll teach them. I’d like to do it. Me”
23
Q
Title
A
- The fact that his non-indigenous name is used insinuates it is not truly his country and illustrates how native title like his name has been tainted by colonisation and anglo-influence
24
Q
Looking at photo of dancing at opening of opera house
A
- Contemplative/ nostalgic piano score - audience is othered as we cannot see the image
- Dogs barking and glasses that he needs to see picture - already influence of colonisation
- Charlie looks towards camera and we here clapping stocks - entered into his memories briefly
25
**Throws cigarettes in fire**
* Caught between two worlds
* Rejecting ‘vices’ as they cause harm
26
**Drinking in front of no liqure sign**
* Shows defiance and resilience
27
**Albert is taken to Darwin**
* Tear rolls down Charlie’s face - no humour - shows the devastation of this event as it cannot be masked as usual
28
**On plane to Darwin**
* Depressed expression - dull half closed eyes
* Soundscape from cave returns then fades entirely - symbolic of being turn from country
29
**Prison**
* Shaving Charlie’s hair
* Stripping of identity as an aboriginal elder
* Looks at and challenges audience - looks down given up
* Montage emphasises solitude, isolation and loneliness
* The mundanity is depressing - repetitive and monotonous
* Shots of Charlie through fence highlights entrapment
* Soundscape
* Harsh abrasive sounds of lights
* Deep ominous hum of dryers
* Food better than in community
* Pete representative of an indigenous person navigating life in a society controlled by white bureaucracy
* Doing his best to deal with the constraints of the system
30
**First scene back in Ramingining**
* Charlie sitting outside humpy throwing cigarettes in fire with hair fully grown back
* Nothing has changed - cyclical structure
31
**Teaching children to dance**
* Tells story of dancing for the queen - dance will make society that looks down on them respect them
* Becomes a role model
* Passing on pride in their culture
* Camera is more free flowing - reflects Charlies free state of mind and liberty that comes from connection to community and culture
* Blazing fire represent Charlie's happiness, pride and feeling of community/ respect
32
**Credit run**
* Gazing towards the horizon - hope
* Blazing fire is symbolic of Charlie's renewed sense of purpose
* Peaceful community soundscape
