High Ground (2020 film)

Last updated

High Ground
High Ground 2020 film poster.png
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Stephen Maxwell Johnson
Screenplay by Chris Anastassiades
Story by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyAndrew Commis
Edited by
Production
company
High Ground Pictures
Distributed by Madman Films
Release dates
  • 23 February 2020 (2020-02-23)(Berlin)
  • 28 January 2021 (2021-01-28)(Australia)
Running time
104 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish

High Ground is a 2020 Australian film directed by Stephen Maxwell Johnson, based on historical events that took place in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia, set just after World War I. It has variously been called a revisionist Western and meat pie Western. However it tells of a true historical event in a fictionalised manner but with very close attention to and respect for Aboriginal culture.

Contents

The film premiered at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival on 23 February 2020, with the Australian premiere at the Brisbane International Film Festival later that year, and theatrical release in Australia on 28 January 2021.

Plot

After fighting in World War I as a sniper, Travis, now a policeman in northern Australia, loses control of an operation that results in the massacre of a group of Yolngu people in Arnhem Land in 1919. After his superiors insist on burying the truth, Travis leaves in disgust, only to be forced back twelve years later to hunt down Baywara, an Aboriginal warrior whose attacks on new settlers are causing havoc. When Travis recruits mission-raised Gutjuk, the only known massacre survivor, as his tracker, the truth of the past is revealed and Travis becomes the hunted.

Cast

Themes

The film includes the depiction of a fictionalised version of a real historical massacre known as the Gan Gan massacre that occurred in 1911, when over 30 men, women and children were killed by police and settlers. [1] [2]

Although described as a Western, revisionist Western [3] or "meat pie western" in many sources, [4] [5] Johnson prefers the term "Northern", because it is a fictionalised retelling of a true story, and the film respectfully and meticulously documents Aboriginal culture, in close consultation with the Yolngu people, upon whose history it is based. [3] Johnson said "We really feel it's a film that immerses the audience in a time and place and that perhaps hasn't happened in this way before", and producer Witiyana Marika called it a "northern action thriller". [6] [7] Johnson also said "There's a thriller aspect to it. It's not a Western, it's a Northern". [8]

The story is based on a multitude of real-life past events, most of which are still in the living memory of people who were consulted in the making of the film. Johnson and his team strove to make it a balanced film – he uses the Yolngu language word makarrata [lower-alpha 1] – in order to convey the story as a missed opportunity, where mistakes were made by both settler and Indigenous people, who were all flawed human beings. He describes it as a "deeply human story". [9]

At the heart of High Ground is the tragic story of Frontier encounters and the missed opportunity between two cultures, black and white... Faced with the myth of terra nullius , the aim with the film is to create a new mythology and present a different perspective on how this country was made. It explores the themes of identity and culture and the attempts that were made to preserve and progress culture in the face of an overwhelming threat. High Ground is a story with mythic proportions with complexity and no easy answers... But above all it is a story about the finding of one's roots. My aim has been to entertain and immerse an audience in an environment teeming with unexpected threats, and to take them on a ride through an aspect of our history that is under-represented and hopefully encourage them to rethink the Australian story. [9]

Production

The film was shot on location in the Kakadu National Park and in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. [10] Some was shot near Gunbalanya, which probably inspired the mission. [1]

The film was a High Ground Pictures production. It was financed by Screen Australia, Maxo Studios, Screen Territory, Film Victoria, Bunya Productions and Savage Films. [10]

Director Stephen Johnson's friend Witiyana Marika served as co-producer and senior cultural adviser, and also played the part of Grandfather Dharrpa, [1] while another good friend, Chris Anastassiades, who had also collaborated on Yolngu Boy, wrote the screenplay. Although the story was set in Bininj country in West Arnhem Land, while the 26 clans of Yolngu people live in East Arnhem Land, the film was cast from across Arnhem Land and includes people drawn from the many peoples of the land. [9]

Release

The film premiered at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival on 23 February 2020 with a gala screening, and was selected for the Berlinale Special section. [11] [12] [13] [14] The film was originally slated for release in Australia on 9 July 2020; [15] this was later changed to early 2021, [16] until a further announcement on 1 October 2020 revealed the Brisbane International Film Festival would host the Australian premiere. [17] It was also shown in the Adelaide Film Festival from 17 October, with several extra sessions added to the original schedule. [18]

The film was released theatrically in Australia on 28 January 2021 by Madman Films. [5] [19]

Reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, High Ground holds an approval rating of 89% based on 38 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A gripping action story as well as sobering commentary on colonialism, High Ground is a vividly engrossing attempt to grapple with Australian history." [20]

The Film Critics Circle of Australia named High Ground the Best Australian Film of 2021, [21] and it earned eight AACTA Award nominations. [22]

Accolades

AwardCeremony
date		CategorySubjectResultRef
AACTA Awards 8 December 2021 Best Film David Jowsey Nominated [23]
Witiyana Marika Nominated
Maggie MilesNominated
Greer Simpkin Nominated
Stephen Maxwell JohnsonNominated
Best Direction Nominated
Best Original Screenplay Chris AnastassiadesNominated
Best Actor Simon Baker Nominated
Jacob Junior NayinggulNominated
Best Supporting Actor Sean MununggurrNominated
Jack Thompson Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Esmerelda MarimowaNominated
Best Cinematography Andrew CommisNominated
Best Editing Jill Bilcock Nominated
Karryn de CinqueNominated
Hayley Miro BrowneNominated
Best Costume Design Erin RocheWon

Footnotes

Related Research Articles

The Djang'kawu, also spelt Djanggawul or Djan'kawu, are creation ancestors in the mythology of the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is one of the most important stories in Aboriginal Australian mythology, and concerns the moiety known as Dhuwa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yothu Yindi</span> Australian musical group

Yothu Yindi are an Australian musical group with Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal members, formed in 1986 as a merger of two bands formed in 1985 – a white rock group called the Swamp Jockeys, and an unnamed Aboriginal folk group consisting of Mandawuy Yunupingu, Witiyana Marika, and Milkayngu Mununggur. The Aboriginal members came from Yolngu homelands near Yirrkala on the Gove Peninsula in Northern Territory's Arnhem Land. Founding members included Stuart Kellaway on bass guitar, Cal Williams on lead guitar, Andrew Belletty on drums, Witiyana Marika on manikay, bilma and dance, Milkayngu Mununggurr on yidaki, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu on keyboards, guitar, and percussion, past lead singer Mandawuy Yunupingu and present Yirrnga Yunupingu on vocals and guitar.

<i>Homeland Movement</i> 1989 studio album by Yothu Yindi

Homeland Movement is the debut studio album by Australian rock band Yothu Yindi that was released in April 1989 on the Mushroom Records label. The album peaked at number 59 on the ARIA Chart in 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mandawuy Yunupingu</span> Australian musician (1956–2013)

Mandawuy Djarrtjuntjun Yunupingu, formerly Tom Djambayang Bakamana Yunupingu, and also known as Dr Yunupingu, was a teacher and musician, and frontman of the Aboriginal rock group Yothu Yindi from 1986. He was an Aboriginal Australian man of the Yolŋu people, with a skin name of Gudjuk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arnhem Land</span> Region in the Northern Territory, Australia

Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around 500 km (310 mi) from the territorial capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Company captain Willem Joosten van Colster sailed into the Gulf of Carpentaria and Cape Arnhem is named after his ship, the Arnhem, which itself was named after the city of Arnhem in the Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yolngu</span> Aggregation of Indigenous Australian people in northeastern Arnhem Land

The Yolngu or Yolŋu are an aggregation of Aboriginal Australian people inhabiting north-eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. Yolngu means "person" in the Yolŋu languages. The terms Murngin, Wulamba, Yalnumata, Murrgin and Yulangor were formerly used by some anthropologists for the Yolngu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Gulpilil</span> Aboriginal Australian actor and dancer

David Dhalatnghu Gulpilil was an Australian actor and dancer. He was known for his roles in the films Walkabout (1971), Storm Boy (1976), The Last Wave (1977), Crocodile Dundee (1986), Rabbit-Proof Fence, The Tracker and Australia (2008).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yirrkala</span> Town in the Northern Territory, Australia

Yirrkala is a small community in East Arnhem Region, Northern Territory, Australia, 18 kilometres (11 mi) southeast of the large mining town of Nhulunbuy, on the Gove Peninsula in Arnhem Land.

The Yirrkala bark petitions, sent by the Yolngu people, an Aboriginal Australian people of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, to the Australian Parliament in 1963, were the first traditional documents prepared by Indigenous Australians that were recognised by the Australian Parliament, and the first documentary recognition of Indigenous people in Australian law. The petitions asserted that the Yolngu people owned land over which the federal government had granted mining rights to a private company, Nabalco.

<i>Yolngu Boy</i> 2001 Australian film

Yolngu Boy is a 2001 Australian coming-of-age film directed by Stephen Maxwell Johnson, produced by Patricia Edgar, Gordon Glenn, Galarrwuy Yunupingu and Mandawuy Yunupingu, and starring Sean Mununggurr, John Sebastian Pilakui, and Nathan Daniels. Yolngu Boy is based around three Aboriginal teenage boys linked by ceremony, kinship and a common dream-to become great Yolngu hunters, in a remote community at Yirrkala in North-East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. The feature film traces the metaphorical journey of the three young Aboriginal teenagers caught in a collision between the modern world and traditional Aboriginal culture where they hunt wild animals in the morning using spears and play football while listening to hip hop rap music in the afternoon. The project involved a significant number of community members in the cast and crew of the film.

Raymattja Marika, also known as Gunutjpitt Gunuwanga, was a Yolngu leader, scholar, educator, translator, linguist and cultural advocate for Aboriginal Australians. She was a Director of Reconciliation Australia and a member of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. She was also a director of the Yothu Yindi Foundation and a participant in the 2020 Summit, which was held in April 2008. Marika advocated understanding and reconciliation between Indigenous Australian and Western cultures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian Western</span> Sub-genre

Australian Western, also known as meat pie Western or kangaroo Western, is a genre of Western-style films or TV series set in the Australian outback or "the bush". Films about bushrangers are included in this genre. Some films categorised as meat-pie or Australian Westerns also fulfil the criteria for other genres, such as drama, revisionist Western, crime or thriller. A sub-genre of the Australian Western, the Northern, has been coined by the makers of High Ground (2020), to describe a film set in the Northern Territory that accurately depicts historical events in a fictionalised form, that has aspects of a thriller.

Banduk is a 1985 Australian television film shot in Nhulunbuy in East Arnhem Land, Northern Territory of Australia.

Banduk Mamburra Wananamba Marika, known after her death as Dr B Marika, was an artist, printmaker and environmental activist from Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia, who was dedicated to the development, recognition and preservation of Indigenous Australian art and culture. She uses her artwork to translate her ancestral stories through figures and motifs. She was one of the few Indigenous artists to specialize almost entirely in print making. She was the first Aboriginal person to serve on the National Gallery of Australia's board.

Mungurrawuy Yunupingu (c.1905–1979) was a prominent Aboriginal Australian artist and leader of the Gumatj clan of the Yolngu people of northeastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. He was known for his bark paintings.

Ishmael Marika is a Yolngu musician, filmmaker, director and producer. His installations have been exhibited in many of Australia's most important museums, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney and the Art Gallery of South Australia in Adelaide. He is currently the Creative Director for the pre-eminent Indigenous media unit in Australia, the Mulka Project, based at Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Art Centre at Yirrkala in Northeast Arnhem Land. The Mulka Project seeks to preserve and disseminate the sacred languages and cultural practices of the Yolngu people by collecting and archiving photographs, audio and video.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wukun Wanambi</span> Yirrkala Aboriginal artist (1962–2022)

Wukun Wanambi was an Australian Yolngu painter, filmmaker and curator of the Marrakulu clan of northeastern Arnhem Land, Northern Territory.

Witiyana Marika is an Aboriginal Australian musician, filmmaker and elder, known for being a founding member of the band Yothu Yindi and producer of the film High Ground.

Stephen Maxwell Johnson is an Australian filmmaker, best known for his films Yolngu Boy (2001) and High Ground (2020). He is also known for directing Yothu Yindi's music videos in the late 1980s to early 1990s.

David Jowsey is an Australian film producer, co-founder of Bunya Productions. He is known for producing many films made by Indigenous Australian filmmakers. Bunya Productions' co-owners are Indigenous filmmaker Ivan Sen, and Jowsey's wife Greer Simpkin.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Gumurdul, Julie Narndal; Rademaker, Laura; May, Sally K. (9 February 2021). "How historically accurate is the film High Ground? The violence it depicts is uncomfortably close to the truth". The Conversation . Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  2. ↑ "Gan Gan". Colonial Frontier Massacres in Australia, 1788-1930. Centre for 21st Century Humanities, University of Newcastle (Australia) . Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  3. 1 2 Milner, Johnny (March 2021). "Deep Dive: High Ground: Q&A with Stephen Maxwell Johnson" (Audio (52 mins) + text). NFSA . Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  4. ↑ Groves, Don (5 November 2018). "Simon Baker, Callan Mulvey, Jack Thompson reach 'High Ground'". IF Magazine . Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  5. 1 2 Goodsell, Luke (27 January 2021). "High Ground: Yolngu Boy director Stephen Maxwell Johnson and elder Witiyana Marika reunite for Northern Territory Western". ABC News . Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  6. ↑ "High Ground: creating an outback thriller that resonates". Screen Australia. 3 February 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  7. ↑ Revell, Jack (12 January 2021). "Stephen Maxwell Johnson's 'High Ground' Is a powerful truth about our Indigenous past". The Latch. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  8. ↑ Lemke, Laetitia (30 September 2020). "High Ground, Australian 'frontier western' starring Jacob Nayinggul and Jack Thompson, to premier at Brisbane International Film Festival". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  9. 1 2 3 Johnson, Stephen Maxwell (12 May 2021). "High Ground – Director Stephen Maxwell Johnson" (Audio (16 min.) + text). Film School Radio (Interview). Interviewed by Kaspar, Mike. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  10. 1 2 Keslassy, Elsa (2 November 2018). "Playtime acquires Australian action film 'High Ground' with Simon Baker". Variety. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  11. ↑ Keslassy, Elsa (22 February 2020). "Berlinale Gala Player 'High Ground' With Simon Baker Sells to Samuel Goldwyn (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety . Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  12. ↑ Lodge, Guy (23 February 2020). "'High Ground': Film Review". Variety. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  13. ↑ Bunbury, Stephanie (24 February 2020). "'People weren't ready': Australian massacre aired at Berlin festival". The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  14. ↑ Dalton, Stephen (23 February 2020). "High Ground: Film Review Berlin 2020". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  15. ↑ "Bunya's High Ground official Australian release date revealed". Bunya Productions. 11 March 2020. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  16. ↑ "High Ground will be coming to Australian cinemas early 2021". 8 July 2020. Retrieved 8 July 2020– via Facebook.
  17. ↑ "BIFF 2020 – An Unmissable Season of Cinema". Brisbane International Film Festival . Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  18. ↑ "High Ground". Adelaide Film Festival. 20 December 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  19. ↑ "High Ground – In Cinemas January 28". Madman Films . Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  20. ↑ "High Ground (2020)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango . Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  21. ↑ Vann-Wall, Silvi (3 February 2022). "High Ground, Nitram take top gongs at the FCCA awards". ScreenHub Australia. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  22. ↑ Keast, Jackie (31 October 2021). "'High Ground', 'The Newsreader' lead early AACTA Award nominations". IF Magazine . Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  23. ↑ "Winners & Nominees". AACTA. Retrieved 18 January 2022.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.