Charlie's Country

Charlie's Country Poster

Aboriginal people always suffered when another group of people came onto their land and then took whatever and wherever didn't belong to the newcomers.

Indians in America, in South Africa and many places in the world, also in Charlie's Country—the Australia.  Usually poor, and have many health issues and likely unemployed.

In my country, I and most population are not indigenous to the land, we were migrated, but has been in here for many generations.  Then, another group had come, like us and aboriginal people. there were conflicts.

When I was growing up, in the elementary school, we were prohibited to speak our native languages, you must speak the official language or you would be punished.  It's a method of culture assimilation, some had even used despicable method as heard in Stolen Children.

But in the last two years of the school years, things started to change as the group became to lose the political grip.  When I was in junior high, it was like 180 turn, and I remembered one teacher even tried to teach us to speak another native language.

There was one thing I remember the most, it's the aboriginal students have advantages on all national exams or governmental recruitments, they would get an extra percentage in scores.  I used to think that's not so fair as it's been so many years, but perhaps they were still in disadvantages in living.

Newcomers wanted to get whomever were on the land to do the things their way, but they never respected or even tried to understand why the people before them did things different.  All they did was just rid of the people's life, unemployed, poor, and becoming newcomers' social problem.  The people was having a life.

I'd believe my country did try to help the people, even though I had heard of the alcohol story, but there were conservation effects to preserve their cultures and languages, although I am sure that there is probably none is still living in the old ways, just showcasing when tourists come to understand their old way of living like many countries have special villages that you see people living in their indigenous life, just to show the visitors.

In this film, there are many of silent scenes and a few Charlie (David Gulpilil) conveys the old way to the viewer through speaking to himself on screen.  No words spoken, but you see them and read the sadness, joy, pang, anger and despair from his face.

I can't imagine what it's to feel the loss of identity of what you are and the dignity, the lands they have taken, the law they enforced, the junk food they sell.

Banned, I never heard of that, but it's just a ridiculous law, that's never going to solve the drinking issue, because it's the same about smoking and doing drugs, those laws or taxes never dealing with the issues.

How many cigarettes can you hide in your hair?