The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (film)
| The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith | |
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| Directed by | Fred Schepisi |
| Produced by | Fred Schepisi |
| Written by | Fred Schepisi |
| Based on | novel by Thomas Keneally |
| Starring |
Tom E. Lewis Angela Punch McGregor |
| Music by | Bruce Smeaton |
| Cinematography | Ian Baker |
| Edited by | Brian Kavanagh |
| Distributed by | Hoyts Umbrella Entertainment Industrial Entertainment (U.S. DVD release) |
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Release date
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Running time
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120 minutes |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Budget | A$1,200,000 |
| Box office | A$1,021,000 (Australia) |
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith is a 1978 Australian drama film directed by Fred Schepisi, and starring Tom E. Lewis (billed at the time as Tommy Lewis), Freddy Reynolds and Ray Barrett. The film also featured early appearances by Bryan Brown, Arthur Dignam, and John Jarratt. It is an adaptation of the novel The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith by Thomas Keneally.
The story is about an exploited Aboriginal Australian who commits murder and goes into hiding. It is based on actual events surrounding Jimmy Governor.
For Schepisi the film's reception was a disillusioning experience and he left Australia soon after to work in Hollywood, returning to Australia ten years later to make Evil Angels.
Jimmie Blacksmith, a half-caste child of an Aboriginal mother and a white father, is raised to adulthood by the Reverend Neville and his wife Martha, hoping their influence will civilize him and provide him greater opportunities in early twentieth century Australia. With a letter of recommendation from his foster family, he goes out in search of work to establish himself, but is taken advantage of by multiple parties. His first employer, Healey, repeatedly shortchanges his pay by nitpicking his fencebuilding work, and refuses to write a job recommendation to avoid admitting he himself is illiterate. Jimmie then works for a local constable, Farrell, who uses him as muscle against other local Aboriginals, including capturing a former friend who is later molested and murdered while in custody, and forced to cover up the death. Jimmie finds some stability working on the farm of the Newby family, who still treat him little better than other employers, and decides to summon and marry a white girlfriend, Gilda Marshall, who is already very pregnant when she arrives to move in with him. Gilda later gives birth to a white child, obviously not fathered by Jimmie; while upset at the public embarrassment, he eagerly embraces being a parent.
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