![]() Mike and his newfound friend find three newborn, newly orphaned pelican chicks nearby and Mike adopts them. Fingerbone shoots at the unwelcome hunters, who flee, but not before they have killed a mother pelican. Fingerbone has made his way to the scene of the disturbance too and they fall in together. Fingerbone scares Mike, who scarpers, but the two meet again soon after, when, out collecting pebbles on the beach, Mike is drawn to the sound of gunfire. He lands to investigate and is startled by an Aboriginal outcast, 'Fingerbone Bill', exiled from his people, the Kunai, after breaking tribal law. While paddling the lagoon one day, he notices woodsmoke rising from the shore. Mike has a raft reminiscent of Huckleberry Finn's and inhabits a Boy's Own adventure playground. They have each other though, and a local landscape of breathtaking elemental beauty. They don't need much and they don't have much. Mike and Tom, free spirits both, work together to generate a subsistence living from fishing consuming little, gleaning driftwood from the beach, taking each day as it comes. Mike lives contentedly with his Dad, 'Hideaway Tom', in a ramshackle hut on the Younghusband Peninsula, a low-lying sandbar separating the Coorong from the Southern Ocean. The film, adapted from Colin Thiele's much-loved children's classic, revolves around a ten-year-old boy, Mike Kingsley, brilliantly played by Greg Rowe in his first acting role. Storm Boy (1976) is an enchanting, subtly subversive coming-of-age drama set in and around the Coorong, a wetland lagoon at the mouth of the Murray River on Australia's southern seaboard. However, the remake was not as well received as Safran’s 1976 adaption, which is proving to be a film for ages.Rogers & Hammerstein, Happy Talk, South Pacific ![]() Storm Boy was remade in 2019, filmed in the same place and starred Jai Courtney, Finn Little, Trevor Jamieson and Geoffrey Rush. The film also gave David Gulpilil one of his earliest roles, helping him become one of the most recognisable Aboriginal faces, and names today. The result was an Australian classic that, inflation considered, out-matches the box office performance of 2021’s second highest film to date (The Dry). But it is Safran’s ability to give the characters such breath of life and not only the human ones (looking at you Mr. The film is well helmed by Safran, while the film is nearly 50 years old, how could it not look great having been filmed in the Coorong, on Ngarrindjeri country. They all come to appreciate one another through the raising of the pelicans, and their respect for the environment. But it is not only one relationship that builds, it the relationship between Tom and his son Storm Boy, The relation between Tom and Fingerbone Bill, and of course between Storm Boy and Fingerbone Bill. The relationship begins to build when Storm Boy finds three baby pelicans that need to be raised, as their parent was killed by hunters. But it is not a feature of the film.įingerbone Bill is just a bloke, an outsider, and when Storm Boy and his father need help, Fingerbone is there to help. Nothing is made of his Aboriginality aside from a few yarns about why he is on the outside. The character is not really written in a stereotypical way, but rather paints Fingerbone Bill as just another outsider, but a friend to Hideaway Tom and Storm Boy. Where this film fits within reconciliation is its portrayal of its Aboriginal character, Fingerbone Bill portrayed by the incredible David Gulpilil. A child on the outside, the themes of teaching, learning and understanding are shining through strongly. Thiele’s perceived life is seen within the film. Storm Boy (1976) was a great achievement. The Dry’s performance has been celebrated country-wide within the film industry. That translates to just under $17,000,000 today – just slightly more than what the 2021 Australian film The Dry earned at the Australian box office. ![]() ![]() The film was also an Australian box office hit, earning $2,645,000 at the time in cinemas. In 1976 long time TV director Henri Safran released what appears to be his first feature film in Storm Boy which went on to become a classic having won four awards, including ‘Best Film’ at that year’s AFI awards (now AACTA Awards) and nominated for a further six. The story of Hideaway Tom, Fingerbone Bill, Mike the Storm Boy and three pelicans. So, when Colin Thiele released his novel Storm Boy in 1964, in which the three lead characters were all outsiders, it seems logical to think that Thiele used personal experiences to tell such a fantastic story. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |