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Video/Film
Reviews:
Australian Film Institute
During
the month of August I attended the AFI screening of
feature films made in Australia in the past year.
As usual, the offerings were a mixed bag. There were
25 films to view of which I saw 16 and the only film
I regret not catching was 15 Amore. Feedback
of the other missed viewings was all negative. The
power of word of mouth!
Currently,
three of the films have a cinema release: Chopper,
Angst and My Mother Frank. Chopper
is indisputably a marvellous piece of film-making.
Odious as it may be to many to celebrate a thug on
celluloid, one cannot help but praise the cinematic
treatment of the boastings and evil, banal self-agrandissment
embodied in Mark Read's best-selling books. (Best-selling?
to teenage boys and that's a worry.) Andrew Dominik
has made Chopper Read look like the low-life loser
that he is, despite living off the proceeds of his
books in peace and harmony in Tasmania with his wife
and child. Who says crime doesn't pay? Well, Chopper
the film does, actually. Who would want to emulate
a delusional, aggressive crim portrayed as a speed-fuelled
dickhead? Eric Bana, whose previous claim to fame
is in comedy, invests Chopper with life, playing
him for truth of character and not for laughs, which
creates comedy out of ludicrousness. Chopper
is predicted to win Best Film, and Eric Bana, Best
Actor at the AFI Awards in November.
Angst
is also a film worth catching. Young people's issues
are explored with warmth, humour and insight. Abi
Tucker is a knockout Goth.
My
Mother Frank, while also funny and issue-based,
starts lines of exploration that really do not add
to the main thrust of the film. It needs pruning.
Looking
for Alibrandi, now available on video, is a fresh
approach dealing with a young woman caught in cross-cultural
fire.
Finally,
the other film worth watching out for and should get
a cinema release is Russian Doll, with a new,
vibrant actress, Natalia Novikova, stealing the limelight
from heavyweights Hugo Weaving, David Wenham and Sacha
Horler.
The
AFI Awards will be televised on SBS on Saturday 18
November. (Watch out for yours truly in her sparkly
arklys, hanging off the arm of a nominated actor.
No! Not Eric Bana.)
Book
Review
Don't
Let Her See Me Cry
A
Mother's Story
by
Helen Barnacle
Publ:
A Bantam Book
The
fact that Don't Let Her See Me Cry has been
five weeks on the best seller list (as of 5 September)
ignites hope that members of the community are ready
to educate themselves on issues of addiction, criminality
and punishment. Anyone reading Helen Barnacle's honest,
moving story will be gently persuaded into a deeper
understanding of and compassion for women caught up
in the cycle of addiction and subsequent incarceration.
I
found Helen Barnacle's description of women in prison
providing each other with love and affection, often
the first time some of the women ever experience genuine
love and affection, of particular interest. It made
so much sense.
Helen
Barnacle was given the longest, drug-related sentence
meted out to a woman in Victoria. She also made history
by being granted permission to keep her child with
her beyond the age of one.
While
she describes continued heroin use in jail, the how
and the why, she never asks for sympathy, only understanding.
And in particular, understanding of the plight of
desperate women who have sustained childhood abuse,
both physical and sexual, leading to heroin addiction
to ease their pain, and prostitution to support their
habits.
During
her long sentence she embarked on a course of study
which she completed after achieving freedom. She also
managed to conquer her addiction.
Don't
Let Her See Me Cry is a story of hope. If Helen
Barnacle can pull through from the depths of her addiction
to become a practising, respected psychologist, then
there really is hope out there.
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