Samson and Delilah (2009)Starring: Rowan McNamara, Marissa Gibson, Mitjili Napanangka Gibson, Scott Thornton
Introduction the Cinema this week is looking at Indigenous cinema. For the last few years we've watched Rolf De Heer's Ten Canoes for this topic but with Warwick Thornton's Samson & Delilah going gangbusters and winning awards all over the world it seemed logical to make the switch.
Samson (McNamara) and Delilah (Marissa Gibson) are two Aboriginal teenagers living in a small community outside of Alice Springs. Delilah's life is consumed by taking care of her aging grandmother (Mitjili Napanangka Gibson), while Samson leads a largely purposeless existence, constantly stoned on petrol fumes. A tragic turn prompts Samson and Delilah to run away from their community and head for Alice Springs. However the grass proves to be no greener on the other side of the hill as they find themselves with no option but to live under an overpass with an Indigenous hobo called Gonzo (Thornton). As they continue to struggle for survival, Samson and Delilah grow ever more dependent on each other, demonstrating the strength, devotion and non-judging nature of love.
2009 was a pretty good year for Australian film in terms of the quality of some of the films that were released. Usually the AFIs are a one horse race but in 2009 we had Samson and Delilah, Balibo, Mary & Max, Last Ride, Beautiful Kate, Cedar Boys and a couple of others all drawing a bit of attention. The fact that hardly any of them attracted a box office audience is another matter entirely, but we were at least making some good films. The jewel in the crown though was, no doubt, Samson and Delilah. Made on a small budget (Thornton takes great joy in letting people know that the entire budget for his film was equivalent to the catering budget for Baz Luhrmann's Australia) this film has made noise both in Australia, winning AFI awards for Best Film, Best Screenplay and Best Director, and abroad, winning Best film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and the Dublin International Film Festival and the Golden Camera for Best Debut Feature at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.
The tag line for the film is 'True Love' and Thornton is adamant that what he has made here is a love story, not a political film. While politics is seemingly always going to be a presence in Indigenous cinema at the moment, simply because so many of the Indigenous issues the films explore are political issues, this film doesn't set out to lecture or finger point. Despite it's harsh realism it is not a documentary, it is a personal story. It is a love story. That being said, it is not the sort of love story we are used to. I don't think their is anything overly romantic about the film. It is not a love story in the sense that we are watching a boy and a girl stare longingly into each others eyes and swooning. Samson and Delilah explores love beyond the more shallow level of romance. It looks at the complete dependence of these two on each other and their undying, non-judging devotion to each other, and in doing that effectively it becomes quite a powerful love story.
The first thing that strikes you about Samson and Delilah is the lack of dialogue in the film. In the entire film Samson only says one word, his name, and while Delilah says a little bit more the two of them never talk to each other. Rather all of the communication between the two is non-verbal, through looks and gestures. As film viewers we are so conditioned to getting our narrative information and character development verbally that it is challenging when that is not the case. But the silence of this film is quite powerful. However, despite the fact that our two protagonists are reasonably quiet, sound, particularly music, plays an important role in the film. From the endlessly repetitive song that Samson's brother's band jams to on his front porch to Delilah's Spanish music cassette she listens to in the car for a bit of privacy, to the drunken singing of Gonzo and the songs coming through the indigenous radio station Samson listens to, music is a reasonably constant presence within the film.
The smallish cast puts in some powerful performances. Performances made all the more impressive by the fact that the cast is made up largely of non-actors. Warwick Thornton grew up in Alice Springs and nearby communities so in an effort to achieve a level of authenticity he auditioned local kids for the two lead roles, and that authenticity does seem to shine through in the faces of McNamara and Gibson, faces which you really feel have seen more than someone of 14 or 15 years of age should have. With the lack of dialogue and the dependence of the narrative on more subtle acting through looks and gestures, it is truly remarkable the performances he has managed to get from McNamara and Gibson. In an interview on the making of the film Thornton admitted that unlike most films today there was absolutely no room for improvisation in the shooting of the film. Every glance, every shrug, every gesture was scripted and had to be followed in order for the story to work. So if nothing else McNamara and Gibson did a wonderful job of obeying instructions.
The casting of the film was also quite a family affair with Marissa Gibson (Delilah), Mitjili Napanangka Gibson (Nana) and Matthew Gibson (Samson's brother) all being related, and the role of Gonzo going to Warwick Thornton's brother Scott. Scott had been an alcoholic since he was 16 and was largely the inspiration for the character, so Warwick offered him the role on the condition go through rehab. Scott puts in a bit of a scene stealing performance as Gonzo, and needless to say plays a pretty good drunk.
Samson and Delilah is a very powerful film which packs an emotional punch without feeling preachy. Thornton effectively presents issues and questions without trying to offer the answers or attribute blame. It is arguably the most important Australian film of recent years and it is a bit of a shame that it ended up getting only a fraction of the audience that went to see the quite good but infinitely more shallow Australia.
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