Film Review: "Ten Canoes" by Rolf de Heer

The following review was recently published online in TorontoinLove.com, for which I'm the film critic, and will be published online and in print in YOU Magazine, when the magazine is launched this Fall. I'm the Film and Arts Editor for YOU, and will publish my reviews on my blog for other readers ... like you!

“AT THE CINEMA” with Ron Boyer

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*** Ten Canoes. In this visually beautiful but wandering story-within-a-story by filmmakers Rolf de Heer and Peter Djigirr, we are introduced to the fascinating and magical world of an exotic and primitive people, the Yolngu Aborigines of Australia’s Northern Territories. Part anthropological field work and part epic ancient legend, the parallel storylines begin a millennia ago (about the time William the Conqueror invaded England), then use that time as a point of departure to visit the primordial past, the mythical Paleolithic “dreamtime” of the Aborigines. The twin stories unfold as an ancient aboriginal leader relates a much more ancient legend of his people, a parable of how a tribal leader in a similar position to his own once addressed the difficult moral and social problem confronting him, with the fate of the tribe hanging in the balance.

The story, narrated by famed Aborigine actor David Gupilil (de Heer’s The Tracker, Nicolas Roeg’s Walkabout) develops slowly in the authentic if long-winded style of aboriginal oral tradition, inherited from the timeless past, as ten tribesmen in canoes (the “ten canoes” of the title) enter the croc-infested Arfura Swamp of Australia’s Northern Territories on their traditional, annual quest for goose-eggs. There, the leader Minygululu (Peter Minygululu) learns that his younger brother, Dayindi (Jamie Gulpilil, David’s son), who has no wife of his own, covets one of Minygululu’s wives. In response, the wise elder Minygululu relates a story to Dayindi intended to dissuade him from violating a sacred tribal taboo and disrupting the delicate equilibrium of the community. The story he tells, set in the mythical past of their tribal ancestors, concerns two men who once found themselves in an identical predicament: the leader of an ancient foraging party in this very swamp—Ridjimararil (Crusoe Kurddal), and his brother Yeeraliparil (also played by Jamie Gulpilil) who also lusted after his older brother’s wife. The cautionary tale of forbidden love (is there any other kind?) teaches a moral lesson to Dayindi, because Yeeraliparil’s coveting of Ridjimararil’s wife brings tragic consequences to the tribe, upsetting its social balance and resulting in an escalating drama of intra-tribal conflicts, kidnapping, sacrifice, revenge, black arts and even murder.

The lengthy tale related by Minygululu is at once tragic and funny, one of the many charms of this film. Comedy, it might be said, is tragedy viewed with a sense of the absurd. The sometimes off-color humor of the Yolngu people, as they alternate between sad clown and happy clown, is disarming and expresses an intrinsic universality at the heart of the story. That an ancient, faraway people enjoy a good, adolescent fart joke as much as we do, appeals to something universal in our nature that transcends time and place. This timeless quality is reinforced by the film’s authenticity expressed in its realistic primitive setting and convincing performances by the cast, mostly ordinary local tribal folk “self-casted” by the aboriginal community to which actor David Gulpilil belongs and who still inhabit these ancient ancestral lands in the Northern Territories. This lends authority and “fictional truth” to the tale that shines through despite the fact that filmmaker de Heer invented much of the story himself based on news accounts and bits of folklore.

Filmed on location by de Heer, who, along with his crew, lived among the Yolngu practically as a member of their community while filming, another of the movie’s virtues is that it offers a rare glimpse of what historian of religions Mircea Eliade called an “archaic society” in its natural surroundings. The Aborigines of Australia are one of the few surviving ancient cultures that, in spite of the often destructive impact of modern civilization, remain more or less in tact, still in harmony with the natural (and supernatural) world.

While I personally enjoyed the slow, meandering style of the storytelling, similar as it is to the more loquacious unfolding of narrative typical in classic literature, it can be a bit confusing and tiresome at times. I like the authenticity of the style, which faithfully mimics the oral storytelling tradition of all primitive cultures before the advent of writing. However, the mainstream contemporary movie-going audience, impatient as it is, conditioned to receiving information from the mass media in bite-sized fragments, and desirous of cutting immediately to the chase, is more likely to see and enjoy Pirates of the Caribbean than a relatively obscure little film like this, with its wandering, less than dramatic storytelling. But for those of us who enjoy a good yarn and for whom special effects and complex yet fairly predictable plots aren’t everything—and who enjoy immersing ourselves occasionally in faraway times and places just for the novel experience and perspective gained (e.g., those of us who enjoy reading or watching National Geographic)—exploring the aboriginal world depicted here is a refreshing treat.

I, for one, applaud director de Heer—and his colleagues, cast and crew—for his attempt to fictionalize, and hence make more accessible and entertaining, tall tales of the Aborigines. Insofar as he faithfully mimics their oral tradition in pictures, he helps preserve what might become, unfortunately, a vanishing culture—and one that embodies an ancient wisdom we moderns should learn from. First and foremost, de Heer is an anthropologist and only secondarily a filmmaker. If Ten Canoes at times nearly lulls us to sleep from its meandering dialogue and lack of tight plots, it succeeds brilliantly as social science. Any anthropologist who can turn typically dry accounts of field studies into entertaining fictional storytelling—transforming statistical facts into artistic truth—is to be encouraged. In such pathless yet important terrain, de Heer finds himself slashing his own way through the wilderness on the leading edge of social science. We can only hope for more of the same from him, and other scientifically-oriented filmmakers, in the future.

A favorite on the festival circuit since it won an award at Cannes, Ten Canoes is a film worth watching. And if you liked The Gods Must Be Crazy or Walkabout, this may be a “can’t miss” film for you.


Ron Boyer, Film & Arts Editor for YOU Magazine, is an entertainment critic currently visiting Toronto from the West Coast. A descendant of early French settlers in Quebec, he resides in California. He also writes screenplays and recently completed a feature-length script for The Disappeared, a socially-relevant Kafkaesque drama based on the desaparecidos of Argentina during the 1970s Dirty War. Boyer is also an award-winning poet and author of short fiction. Comments are welcome at: rlboyer10@hotmail.com.



Ron’s Ratings Guide:

* Stinker. Don’t waste your time unless you’re a kid and like “so bad it’s good” movies. Earns an automatic nomination for the annual Razzy film award.
** Flawed. Probably not worth seeing, or reviewing. Some redeeming qualities, but save your money for Starbucks and watch it later on TV for free.
*** Solid. A genuinely good, entertaining film. Definitely worth watching, this rating includes many box office blockbusters.
**** Excellent. A must see movie, blockbuster or not. Lots of obscure art-house films as well as Oscar-caliber movies and other critically-acclaimed winners, here.
***** Great. Superlatives like “exceptional”, “brilliant”, “stunning”, “perfect” and “breathtaking” apply to these award-worthy, top caliber films. As good as it gets. Watch for them at the Golden Globes, Oscars, and other prominent award venues.