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Written by TFS Staff, January 22, 2010 at 2:00 pm 

With its exhilarating humor and catchy musical numbers, Bran Nue Dae is the most lighthearted film to come out of the Australian film industry in many years. Based on the 1990 stage musical of the same name, director Rachel Perkins has made an consistent effort to transition the visual dynamics of the production from stage to screen. Beautiful and engaging to look at, the film is nevertheless lacking in substance. The script remains in close affinity with its stage counterpart and, inevitably, Bran Nue Dae retains its simplicity. However, its innocent humor and good-natured coming-of-age theme manages to keep the audience willingly in their seats with a smile on their faces.

The film adaptation includes a class act of well-known Australian actors and singers, so it is to the credit of newcomer Rocky McKenzie that he is able to hold the principal role of Broome teenager Willie with remarkable ease. Singing and dancing his way through his forced move from Broome to Perth, Willie must give up his love interest, Rosie (Jessica Mauboy), and accept the life of a would-be-priest. But when he rebels at the Father Benedictus’ boarding school, he finds himself on the road back to Broome with a cunning hobo who claims to be his Uncle Tadpole (Ernie Dingo). Together they hitch a ride with a couple of hippies, the idiotic but lovable Annie (Missy Higgins) and the more conservative Slippery (Tom Budge).The fearsome Father Benedictus (Geoffrey Rush) is close on their tail but does very little as a villain, failing to build on some much-needed tension. This is not for lack of trying however, as Rush does a wonderful job playing the eccentric Cherry Ripe, chocolate-bribing oppressor. It’s a shame he’s not given more to do.

Unlike its recent predecessor Samson and Delilah, Bran Nue Dae does not attempt to enlighten its audience to the troubles facing aboriginal people in Australia. Instead, it parodies the ‘white guilt’ that has become common among non-Indigenous people who have little knowledge of Aboriginal oppression. An example of this is the ignorant hippies who consider the disheveled Uncle Tadpole to be a wise Aboriginal elder, merely because he is a middle-aged aboriginal. Humorous musical numbers such as “There is nothing I would rather be than to be an aborigine” focus instead on the patriotic pride of the aboriginal people to each other, their homeland and consequently to those who share the land with them.

The problems with the script arise through this reaffirmation of aboriginality. The messages are clear from the beginning of the film and a resolution after an hour and a half seems redundant. From the outset Willie does not need to accept his aboriginality nor deny it, he simply needs to return to it. And although the journey is entertaining, Bran Nue Dae does not quite fit into the ‘road movie’ genre. It is a film about a boy coming of age and choosing his own path in life, the road trip more an obstacle than a means of emotional change.

Problems aside, the vibrant colors of the Western Australian desert landscape collectively acts as its own character, showing changes in emotion through tone rather than facial expressions. There is no doubt that Perkins’ film succeeds in its visual spectacle. Cinematographer Andrew Lesnie (The Lord of the Rings) gives the audience something to look at while the plot drags. At appropriate moments, the camera does a classically Lurhmann play with a canted angle and quickened pace that sits well with Bran Nue Dae’s carefree attitude.

Technically speaking, the film does not reach the heights it may have reached had the plot been more advanced and the characters fleshed out. However, it’s feel good, catchy and dazzling distractions are enough to make it an enjoyable time filler.

Bran Nue Dae has no American release date as of yet, but is being screened at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday, January 22.

6.5 out of 10

Would you go to see Bran Nue Dae?