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The Chant Of Jimmie Blacksmith

1978, Movie, NR, 108 mins

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This offbeat, violent film stars nonprofessional Tommy Lewis as the title character, a half-white Australian aborigine who is raised by a Methodist minister. Torn between the white and aborigine world, he leaves the latter to live among the whites. After apparently getting a white serving girl pregnant and marrying her, Lewis is allowed to live and work on a farmer's estate. When the child turns out to have a white father, Jimmie still accepts it, but his white employers ostracize him. When they take in his wife and child and refuse to pay him, Jimmie's resentment leads to a violent rampage. Fred Schepisi's attempt to show the mistreatment of aborigines in Australia misfires in that Jimmie's background and motivations are not fully developed and the actors are inadequate, although Ian Baker's cinematography is stunning and sharp. Definitely not for children. leave a comment
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