Charlie's Country
| Charlie's Country | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Rolf de Heer |
| Produced by | Rolf de Heer Peter Djigirr Nils Erik Nielsen |
| Written by | Rolf de Heer David Gulpilil |
| Starring | David Gulpilil Luke Ford |
| Music by | Graham Tardif |
| Cinematography | Ian Jones |
| Edited by | Tania Nehme |
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Release date
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Running time
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108 minutes |
| Country | Australia |
| Language |
Yolngu Matha English |
Charlie's Country is a 2013 Australian drama film directed by Rolf de Heer. It was selected to compete in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival where David Gulpilil won the award for Best Actor. It was also screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival and awarded the Best Fiction Prize and the Youth Jury Prize at the 2015 International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH) in Geneva.
The film was selected as the Australian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, but was not nominated.
Charlie, an Aboriginal man who lives in Arnhem Land paints tree barks and fishes barramundi fish, all the while feeling out of place in an Australia which is no longer his. He laments the loss of his culture in modern Australia. After his spear is confiscated by the police who think it is a weapon, he decides to leave his Aboriginal community and go to the bush. He falls ill and is rushed to the hospital in Darwin. Shortly after, he befriends a woman who buys alcohol illegally for other Aboriginals, and he gets arrested. As a result, he is sent to prison. Finally, he agrees to pass on traditional dances from his generation to the young Aboriginal boys, fearing the loss of their cultural identity.
Charlie's Country currently holds an approval rating of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and 75% on Metacritic.
Jane Howard of The Guardian wrote a good review of the film. She argued that the "camera is often motionless and there is a sense of still photography to the work." She added that Gulpili's flawless acting carried the movie. In the Sydney Morning Herald, Paul Byrnes also praised his "extraordinary grace and physical ease" as an actor. He added, "The level of trust between actor and director here is part of the reason this work will live on." Similarly, writing for The Hollywood Reporter, David Rooney praised the collaboration between de Heer and Gulpilil, arguing, "It's a testament to what de Heer and Gulpilil have achieved here -- with simplicity and infinite nuance -- that through all the highs and devastating lows we witness in this brief chapter of Charlie's life, the character's identity remains etched into every aspect of the performance."
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