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Dead Heart

1996, Movie, NR, 107 mins

Dead Heart: Review

DEAD HEART
starstarstarstar
Aboriginal and European culture lock horns in the dusty outback in this ambitious crime drama that revolves around Ray (Bryan Brown), a rural policeman charged with administering Australian law in the desolate aboriginal settlement of Wala Wala. The trouble is, Australian law -- white fella law, the locals call it with derision -- more often than not conflicts directly with tribal law, a situation brought into high relief when an aboriginal prisoner hangs himself in his cell. Tribal law calls for retribution of the "eye for an eye" sort, and the dead man's son, David (Ernie Dingo), is caught uneasily between his modern education and tribal heritage. The situation is exacerbated by the sacrilege of another Westernized aborigine, Tony (Aaron Pederson), who's having a clandestine affair with the wife (Angie Milliken) of a white schoolteacher, and defiantly makes love to her on a sacred ceremonial desert site. Though superficially steeped in issues very specific to Australia, this tightly constructed drama could just as easily take place on an Indian reservation in the United States: Its real subjects are deeply ingrained intolerance and ignorance, the clash between ancient traditions and the realities of life at the end of the 20th century, race hatred and the tangle of personal ambitions and cultural identity that characterize life in the postcolonial world. Bryan Brown, the only well-known member of the cast, gives the role of Ray a hard-bitten depth that keeps him from being the stereotypical representative of colonial oppression, while the exotic red sands and unique geography of Australia's Outback add visual luster to a small, well-told story of violence, betrayal and the unbreachable chasm that divides old worlds and new. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
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