Green Bush
The story of one night at a radio station situated in Australian bush, this was, in my opinion, by far the best film of the short film programs of the Berlin Film Festival '05.
Wonderfully subtle and shot beautifully, it renders the Australian bush with a unique sense of PLACE and SPACE I had not seen before or since. The radio station the film gravitates around and it's different inhabitants rang of being a real place with a unique prehistory, latent conflicts and gallery of true, living characters - a feat not easily achieved within the confines of a short film.
It's not known to me whether this was an effect intended by the director, but the film was also infused with an odd sense of mystery, of the great dark unknown surrounding you, throughout. It's the feeling typical of experiences in the wild or in nature, where the scale of the world we don't control surrounding our small human beacons becomes apparent.
Green Bush left me with a sense of truly having been there that night in the bush: as an observer of a period, a situation and a mood. Which in the end is an effect most short film makers would sell their mothers screenplay for.
Every night, Indigenous radio announcer and DJ, Kenny. hosts the Green Bush show for Aboriginal communities. Isolated at the station, he takes requests for music, while at the same time coping with the pressure of the community around him.
Based on his own experiences as a radio DJ in Alice Springs in central Australia, Warwick Thornton (later director of the award-winning feature, SAMSON AND DELILAH) made an international impact with this graceful and powerful short drama.
At one level, the film explores the role of the media in Aboriginal communities – where the radio station serves as both a physical gathering-place as well as providing a musical and verbal bond that connects disparate segments of the community. But through the story of Kenny, played by David Page, the film also comments quietly and effectively on concepts of manhood, leadership and community responsibility.
“A film that crackles with the music of politics, humanity, ideas and humour as it tells the story of a man's daily struggle to sustain his fragmented community and keep the pain at bay”. - Berlin International Film Festival notes.
Un cortometraggio sconosciuto, di nicchia, di cui sono riuscito ad avere il DVD. Una storia bellissima nel bush australiano, raccontata da un DJ arborigeno. Solo una notte, si raccoglie tutta l’atmosfera di questo angolo remoto dell’Australia. Evidentemente la stessa che ho vissuto io quando per sbaglio ho intravisto questo film e che ho cercato in tutti i modi di prendere.
Bellissima la scena finale quando il dj sposta la tazzina su cui è raffigurata la bandiera arborigena. La capolge per sistemare il verso della bandiera. Bellissimo.