Synopsis of Yolngu Boy

Yolngu Boy (Stephen Johnson, 2000), about the friendship between three adolescent Aboriginal men and the way each relates to the ancient cultural tradition to which they belong, arrives at a time when awareness of Australia's colonial history, in particular, phenomena like the 'Stolen Generation', is considerable. But this is a very troubled time of awareness, in which the fight to 'write' or 'claim' 'history' according to one's own political and personal ideology is shockingly evident, as outlined by Robert Manne in a recent article (1). In a public screening for the film that was followed by a Q&A with the director, scriptwriter and producer that I attended, it became quite obvious in the tenor and content of the audience's questions that they not only enjoyed the film but were indeed moved by what they had just seen. It was apparent that the main reason for such a reaction was because the audience was given a rare opportunity to relish in the sounds and images of Aboriginal characters, their communities and their stories, portrayed in a naturalistic, detailed and genuine light. Despite the Australian government's notorious refusal to apologise to the indigenous community regarding Australia's colonial past and its efforts to discredit the 'Stolen Generation' there is a strong willingness among a good portion the Australian public to forge an understanding for indigenous culture and history - a sentiment that was evident at the public screening of Yolngu Boy which I attended.

Referring to questions regarding the film's comment or position in relation to current debates, director Stephen Johnson emphasised that this was of secondary importance and that primary was the drive to capture the energy of the story, the characters and their journey. This is in fact a huge credit to the film and one of its delights - that it is never didactic or dogmatic in its treatment of social and political issues and does not justify its characters or story in the overall scheme of serving such goals. In terms of where Yolngu Boy sits within a broader spectrum of the politics of representation, this is encapsulated in the fact that the film does not deal at all with racial conflict. Yolngu Boy's story and characters derive from within the Yolngu community, in which white people appear infrequently, and when they do, the filmmakers treat it nonchalantly, for example, when icon Jack Thompson appears it is a completely modest and underplayed moment. The most notable examples in Australian cinema history which feature indigenous characters - Charles Chauvel's Jedda (1955), Nicholas Roeg's Walkabout (1970), and Phil Noyce's Backroads (1977) -explore their indigenous characters via inter-racial relationships. However, Yolngu Boy's perspective on Aboriginal culture is completely independent of the wider context of white Australia. One only has to consider the level of detail in the many references throughout the film to traditional objects, symbols, and totems. This level of detail is a result of the local community's full support and the presence of the Yothu Yindi Foundation as one of the film's major producers.

Yolngu Boy begins in flashback mode, with three young Aboriginal boys - Lorrpu (John Sebastian Pilakui), Botj (Sean Mununggurr) and Milika (Nathan Daniels) - gallantly and happily striding through a river at low tide pointing their spears before them, while a voice-over, belonging to Lorrpu, reminisces about "three boys . one dream". The dream, which the older Lorrpu - the one most interested in ensuring the boys embrace their Aboriginal past - reminisces, is that of the three becoming great hunters like their forefathers.

The film then jumps forward to the present day - Lorrpu's flashback swiftly and comically revealed as a fantasised, idyllic Aboriginal past, interrupted by the present-day urging of Milika to join him to play football. Although the film acknowledges this past, as this flashback shows, it is also realistic about the modern world and forthright in suggesting that these two worlds can and do co-exist. Its treatment of these issues with humour and general understatement is one thing that is immediately uplifting about Yolngu Boy.

Early on, the film's central premise is established - at the same time, Lorrpu and Milika are chosen by the Aboriginal elder, Dawu (Nungki Yunupingu), to receive "ceremony" and be initiated into the community's ancestral belief-system, Botj returns home from a 6-month stint in prison for having stolen a motorbike. He is quickly identified as the 'bad boy', the bad seed from within the circle of childhood friends that has grown up to be an angry, rebellious man. Furthermore, he has no family to come home to - his mother has disowned him, convinced that he is a substance abuser like his father - and so Lorrpu and Milika are his surrogate family.

Not long after his return home, Botj urges his friends to join him in robbing a local convenience store for "smokes". The three rampage the store in a sequence of MTV-style proportions immersing themselves as much as possible in all that commodity culture has to offer - food, drink, music, clothes, gadgets and toys. When Botj becomes out of control, Lorrpu's and Milika's attempts to stop him are met with anger and hostility, leading to a rift between the boys and the opening of a spiral of self-destruction for Botj. He begins sniffing petrol, hallucinates at an open religious site and accidentally alights the community centre. Throughout this fantasised sequence, Botj is haunted by the totem of the "baru" (the venerated totem of the Gumatj people; it refers to the crocodile and is represented by a diamond pattern). It is likely he will return to prison for this latest crime, and so the film's journey begins when Lorrpu decides to save Botj from this fate by taking him to Darwin to meet with Dawu, who can protect him from the law (how it is not very clear). Lorrpu convinces both Botj and Milika to join him on the trip from North East Arnhem Land to Darwin even though they have no money and Botj is still injured from the fire.

Throughout the journey through the harsh North Australian outback, the boys gradually resort to ancient cultural practices of hunting and gathering that they learnt as children in order to survive. So the journey facilitates a process of returning to their cultural origins, which in this case is also synonymous with restoring their strong friendship bonds. The complete immersion in the bush and ancient practices is then brilliantly contrasted when the boys arrive in Darwin with the otherworldly, surreal space of shopping malls and suburbia. Shortly after arriving in Darwin, Botj goes