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Craig Hill
Oracle of Delphi'Kanyini': An Australian film by Melanie Hogan
August 27th 2006 01:02
'Kanyini' is a film by a young white Australian filmmaker called Melanie Hogan about an Aboriginal elder, Bob Randall, who was born in the Central Desert near Uluru some seventy years ago. 'Kanyini' is Bob Randall's testament. As a writer, a poet and a teacher, he's well-practised in communicating an understanding of traditional Aboriginal culture to both indigenous and non-indigenous people.
Melanie Hogan had read his autobiography, Songman, and she requested a meeting with him. Their friendship grew and, eventually, they collaborated in creating this unique portrait, almost a snapshot, of the Aboriginal story since white invasion more than two-hundred years ago.
I haven't seen the film yet but Peter Thompson describes it thus: "It's a story many of us think we know, but few of us have heard told with such elegance and clarity. It begins with home. Bob Randall feels deeply and blissfully at home in the desert."
His father was a Scottish station owner, but Bob grew up exclusively with his Aboriginal family and for several years he saw very little of the European way of life. He lived as his people had lived for thousands upon thousands of years.
Having only seen the review of the film on channel nine's 'Sunday' programme, I'm probably not in a very good position to pass judgment on the film. However, as I watched the review, especially the comments made by the film's director Melanie Hogan, I became troubled at her objectification of aboriginal people, that is, the way that she constructed them as part of the natural landscape. For instance, as if describing an ornate antique, witness Hogan's use of the word 'beautiful' in the following extract "My role for the film was to try and get across Bob's point of view. Now, if Bob has a beautiful spirit, which he does, and he sees the beauty first, then I'm going to, as a filmmaker, get close to Bob's spirit in telling his tale."
This is just a preliminary thought - I'll have to check the film out before going any further.
Melanie Hogan had read his autobiography, Songman, and she requested a meeting with him. Their friendship grew and, eventually, they collaborated in creating this unique portrait, almost a snapshot, of the Aboriginal story since white invasion more than two-hundred years ago.
I haven't seen the film yet but Peter Thompson describes it thus: "It's a story many of us think we know, but few of us have heard told with such elegance and clarity. It begins with home. Bob Randall feels deeply and blissfully at home in the desert."
His father was a Scottish station owner, but Bob grew up exclusively with his Aboriginal family and for several years he saw very little of the European way of life. He lived as his people had lived for thousands upon thousands of years.
Having only seen the review of the film on channel nine's 'Sunday' programme, I'm probably not in a very good position to pass judgment on the film. However, as I watched the review, especially the comments made by the film's director Melanie Hogan, I became troubled at her objectification of aboriginal people, that is, the way that she constructed them as part of the natural landscape. For instance, as if describing an ornate antique, witness Hogan's use of the word 'beautiful' in the following extract "My role for the film was to try and get across Bob's point of view. Now, if Bob has a beautiful spirit, which he does, and he sees the beauty first, then I'm going to, as a filmmaker, get close to Bob's spirit in telling his tale."
This is just a preliminary thought - I'll have to check the film out before going any further.
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