Review of Ten Canoes (2006) by Donovan D — 29 Mar 2008

Quite simply; Ten Canoes is one of the most refreshing and uniquely Australian of films. While the color of our national cinema is dominated by glacially-paced attempts at arthouse drama and mindless knock-offs of the Castle, Ten Canoes tries for something very different.

While there are quite a few films about the Aboriginal people of this nation, these films have largely presented the Aboriginal experience in relation to Colonization/White Australia. Ten Canoes focuses completely on the Aboriginal peoples' vibrant tradition of mythology and storytelling in a pre-colonial period, and it gives a wonderful insight into the character of a people.

What I was struck with was the warm humour of the film as narrated by David Gulpilil, and how similar this storytelling style was to fables of Western tradition and even those of similarly hunter-gatherer African tribes.

The influence of anthropological photography on the film makes perfect sense given how Rolf de Heer's work on this film will represent for many the first real glimpse into the culture of an often misrepresented people.

Its not quite perfect - it does drift off in flow here and there - but its a fascinating film that represents an interesting avenue for Australian cinema to explore.