Skip to main content

Black and White (2002)

 


Black and White (2002), directed by the late Craig Lahiff and scripted by Louis Nowra (Radiance, Cosi), is based on the true story of Max Stuart. Stuart, played by David Ngoombujarra, was an Aboriginal man coerced by police to confess to murdering a white girl in Ceduna in the 1950s, and consequently sentenced to hang. The film dramatizes the efforts of his Adelaide defense lawyers David O'Sullivan (Robert Carlyle) and Helen Devaney (Kerry Fox), in the face of steely opposition from prosecutor Roderic Chamberlain (Charles Dance).   

Living in Adelaide in the early 2000s, I was aware of Black and White’s production, as import stars Carlyle and Dance’s presence in town was deemed newsworthy. I was also aware of its theatrical release, but—truthfully—I blinked and missed it. A week in and out of theatres shouldn’t be all that surprising for a low-budget Australian film, but Black and White had some commercial aesthetics that should have extended its screen life: the courtroom thriller was a multiplex staple of the previous decade, thanks to multiple John Grisham adaptations, A Few Good Men, Sleepers, and their ilk, while Robert Carlyle—in the wake of Trainspotting, The Full Monty, Ravenous, and The World is Not Enough—still felt like someone who’d be headlining films of various scales for decades to come.

Having said that, Black and White also feels, cinematically speaking, belated. I tend to think of 2002 as a transitional moment in Australian film, marked by the films that were partly financed by and debuted at that year's Adelaide Festival of Arts, including Rolf de Heer's The Tracker and Ivan Sen's Beneath Clouds. Though also released that year, stylistically Black and White resembles the Australian New Wave heritage dramas of the 1970s and 80s, and thematically and ideologically it’s cut from the same cloth as late 80s overseas productions Cry Freedom and Mississippi Burning, films in which white directors (Richard Attenborough and Alan Parker) dramatize injustices against blacks from white liberal vantage points via white protagonists/investigators. I like those films, and I like Black and White, but just as those international films have been usurped in cultural cachet by works from twenty-first century black directors like Spike Lee, Steve McQueen, Ava DuVernay, Ryan Coogler, and Jordan Peele, so too does the emergence of Warwick Thornton, Rachel Perkins, and Ivan Sen locally render Lahiff’s film a relic of sorts.

But as relics go, Black and White is undeniably well-meaning and well-made. There is modest but thoughtful period detail in the art direction and costuming, while economical establishing shots of Adelaide locations with mid-century facades intact effectively sketch the time and place. Carlyle is solid but uninteresting as O’Sullivan, while Ngoombujarra, Fox, and Dance have more flavour to play with, as do Colin Friels, Roy Billing, Heather Mitchell, and Ben Mendehlson in smaller roles (the latter as Rupert Murdoch, whose budding media empire advocated against capital punishment and on Stuart’s behalf).

In its resemblance to New Wave heritage dramas, Black and White carries the ‘Seal of Good Housekeeping’ Pauline Kael disparagingly applied to films of that ilk, but it’s much better than the other Lahiff film I've seen, Heaven’s Burning: a ropey crime road movie starring Russell Crowe, again scripted by Nowra and filmed in and around Adelaide (there dodgily substituting for Sydney).

Ben 

 

Popular posts from this blog

John Hargreaves double feature: Hoodwink (1981) and Sky Pirates (1986)

Published 2017 on Down Under Flix Discounting the film  Blackfellas , in which he plays a minor role as a racist policeman, I’m surprised it’s taken this long to cover any John Hargreaves films on Down Under Flix. A six time AFI Award nominee (including for  Hoodwink ) and triple winner, Hargreaves is one of the best leading men to emerge from the Australian New Wave, and I have particular regard for his work in  Don’s Party,   Long Weekend , and  The Odd Angry Shot . Hargreaves was a natural performer: gifted and charismatic, but not unnecessarily flashy; handsome, but not movie star handsome, and slightly crumpled like a creased jacket. He was a quintessential Australian everyman ala Jack Thompson and Bryan Brown, though he’s less familiar to young filmgoers today, partly due to his untimely passing in 1996 at age 50. This article looks at one of Hargreaves’ best films… and one of his other films… 
Read more

Lonely Hearts (1982)

Published 2017 on Down Under Flix Director:  Paul Cox Stars:  Norman Kaye, Wendy Hughes, Jon Finlayson, Julia Blake, Jonathan Hardy This review serves as a somewhat belated tribute to the late John Clarke, who passed away back in April (make that  very  belated…). As one of Australia’s sharpest, savviest satirists, Clarke’s reach and legacy were impressive, as noted in many of the more punctual tributes following his death ( this one is particularly good ). While not his most famous commodities, Clarke was no slouch on the film front, contributing memorable supporting turns in films like  Death in Brunswick  and Crackerjack  and co-writing two features with another late luminary, director Paul Cox, 1982’s  Lonely Hearts  and 1996’s  Lust and Revenge . 
Read more

Manganinnie (1980) and Blackfellas (1993)

Published 2017 on Down Under Flix Manganinnie Director:  John Honey Stars:  Mawuyul Yanthalawuy, Anna Ralph, Phillip Hinton, Elaine Mangan When Down Under Flix  surveyed readers on their Australian film viewing habits last year , 1980’s  Manganinnie  was the least seen film about Indigenous Australians (98%) and tied with 2003’s  Subterano  (also 98%) as the least seen film of the survey. But where sci-fi chiller  Subterano  arguably never made a dent in the first place,  Manganinnie  was the first production (of just two, alas) of the Tasmanian Film Corporation, was nominated for five AFI Awards including Best Film, Director, and Actress, and made a modest profit. However, the film has been somewhat forgotten, dwarfed in the popular consciousness by other releases of its era such as  My Brilliant Career ,  Mad Max , and  Breaker Morant , films that are outwardly more stylish and accessible. 
Read more