Ten Canoes

Saw Ten Canoes, a film that's half ethnography, half myth. It opens with an Aboriginal man telling a story about a hunting party. In that party an old man tells a story to a young man about the old days. Since we are focussed here on the old times, the old days are shown in color, the present is in black and white. This indicates both the backward-looking nature of storytelling, and also the unconventionality of this film. There's not a clear moral, for example, and there's less action and more analysis. The omniscient narrator tells us of the characters' inner lives, of what was going on in their hearts or in their souls.

This is a slow film. Like a Tarrence Mellick film, it will either entrance or induce sleep. We get lots of gorgeous long takes of swampland and Aboriginal folks stripping trees and performing ceremonies. It's gorgeous to look at but, like I say, a little meditative and slow. Approach with coffee.

Since this a partial ethnography of the Aboriginals, there's a danger of mythologizing, of making something mystical and exotic when it's really just the same human feelings handled slightly differently. I am out of my lane here, but I feel that that's not happening too much here. The narrator sanguinely rebukes us for being impatient and for expecting the story to go another direction (very postmodern!) but there's little talk of spirits and magic (although there is some) and more talk of personalities and tribal law.

This is a nice little film. Unpretentious and kindly, it was too slow for me, but it was very pretty and very different. I liked it.