Samson and Delilah by Warwick Thornton - Movie Review Example

Creative Response and Rationale Review of the 2009 Australian film “Samson and Delilah” Samson and Delilah Scarlet Pictures & Caama Productions in association with Screen Australia Indigenous Branch, New South Wales Film & Television Office, Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Film Written and directed by Warwick Thornton, “Samson and Delilah” is about the life two young Australian Aboriginals dealing with the everyday reality of growing up indigenous in the Australian outback. Played by Rowan McNamara, Samson is a young Aboriginal sharing a worn out and dirty cinder-block house with his brother, unemployed, addicted to sniffing petrol and solvents, and a person who hate his brother for not letting him play guitar in their reggae band. Delilah (Marissa Gibson) on the other hand is caring granddaughter who run errands and helps her frail grandmother “Nana” (Mitjili Gibson) paint and makes a living by selling folk art canvas paintings to white dealer or “Katriya” (a non-Aboriginal Australian) on the outstation. Samson is sweet and infatuated to Delilah but the young girl who seems to share similar feelings repeatedly discards his clumsy advances and keep Samson at bay with her hands subtle movements and small flicks of fingers. However, the violent confrontation between Samson and his brother and the brutal beating suffered by Delilah from relatives who are holding her responsible for Nana’s death brought Samson and Delilah together in mutual support. Consequently, alienated from their close relatives and the rest of the community, the two went to Alice Springs and dwell under the dry Todd River Bridge where they experience poverty, oppression, and host of difficulties faced by other homeless Aborigines in the City. As Samson’s petrol and solvents sniffing get worse, Delilah saw an opportunity to draw and sell her paintings in a nearby gallery but unsuccessful and later was abducted two white males while walking few steps behind petrol “stoned” Samson. However, Delilah survived the ordeal and returned hours later with contusion and swelling right eye but with seems unyielding determination to survive. With still unhealed wounds, Delilah once again tried to sell some of her paintings to the mall but she received nothing but the abhorrence of lunchtime dinners and later hit by a car while crossing the street behind Samson. Nearly on the edge of oblivion, Samson knows nothing about Delilah’s accident and patiently waits for her return under the bridge. Delilah survived the car accident and return not to join Samson under the bridge but to bring him home and start a new life. Film Review Samson and Delilah is deeply emotional film touching various social issues such as substance abuse, poverty, homelessness, and others. One of the main characters in the film – Samson- is a young Aboriginal living a miserable life who probably turned to petrol sniffing to ease his boredom and physical hunger. The other main character- Delilah- on the other hand seems spending most his childhood helping her sick grandmother earn a living with folk art canvasses sold to a local dealer for a pittance . The “Australian-ness” of Samson and Delilah as young Australian Aboriginals growing up in the outback is evident in their way of living, talking, clothing and others. Samson for instance, demonstrated some characteristics of indigenous outback dweller such as hunting and communication through looks and gestures that according to is an important and realistic element in the story. Samson’s character also effectively demonstrated the intensifying and worsening drug or substance abuse among Aboriginal youth and the social obstacles facing them in contemporary Australia such as jobs and other opportunities. His clothing resembles those worn by indigenous Australians including color of the skin and blond hair typical of a Blackfella . Similarly, Delilah’s character demonstrated the predicament of an indigenous young woman producing folk art canvasses with her grandmother in exchange for meager amount of money. Her physical features and clothing resemble those of female indigenous and also effective in her use of Australia Aborigines gestures and sign language . Compared to those seen in other Australian films such as “Tracks” where the lead character starting from Alice Springs travelled across the Central Australia desert and mingled with various Indigenous Australian living in remote settlements, Samson and Delilah’s features, clothing, gestures, dialogue, and way of life are undoubtedly similar and well presented. Analysis of the film suggests that the most compelling character is Samson. For instance, in his review of Samson and Delilah was convinced that Samson is the most compelling character because the character realistically portrayed the world of a petrol sniffing addict bound to get stoned and succumb to the numbness of addiction. The character according to realistically depicted the damage done by petrol with Samson’s convincing dumb laughs, half spits and stutter, and behaviors resembling a person with mental defect. Similarly, result of analysis suggests that Samson’s character is more convincing than Delilah who as a young aboriginal female survived the assault with no evident emotional implication. Note that contrary to its biblical namesake, Samson in this film is frail while Delilah, the biblical clever woman who discovered the source of Samson’s strength is an incredibly strong woman capable of unyielding determination and persistence, and control emotional sufferings. For instance, despite Samson’s repeated failure to protect her against horrifying experiences such as the beating from her relatives, the abduction and assault by white males, and the car accident that all happened despite Samson’s presence, Delilah is still concern over Samson, took him home, placed him in wheel chair, and assumed the role of a wife and a husband. Note that while Samson is comfortably sitting is his wheel chair, Delilah in the latter part of the film is carrying a large dead wood, cleaning the house, starting the windmill, carrying a small kangaroo in her shoulder, pushing Samson’s wheel chair and giving him a bath, and doing folk art canvas painting. Further analysis of the film reveals some messages that may be only comprehensible to those aware of Indigenous issues. For instance, the story of two young indigenous Australians in poverty and oppressed may be taken as unreal by moviegoers with limited knowledge of Indigenous Australians. The issues concerning Katriya’s buying folk art painting from the Indigenous for a pittance according to is longstanding, shameful, and parasitic situation that many Australians knows little about and therefore may be taken as flaws of the film. Katriya buyers in reality is selling these paintings to Alice Springs art dealer at a high price and therefore making massive profit out of a few hundred dollars paid to Australian Aboriginals . Samson’s hunting ability shown in the early part of the film seems intended to deliver another message concerning Aboriginal culture and traditional methods that is now rarely use or practice by Indigenous Australians. Another is Samson’s caveman approach to express his affection such as throwing rocks on Delilah , scrawled graffiti on the stone wall, and hurling mattress over the Delilah’s front fence . Moreover, the absence of direct dialogue between Samson and Delilah who often use gestures and looks to communicate according to is indicative of difficulty in verbalizing their feelings and therefore expression of Samson and Delilah’s poverty and oppression. As mentioned earlier, this Warwick Thorton film touches many social issues and these include showing a refrigerator with no food, a dirty dwelling devoid of any genuine furniture, a desperately poor community being exploited by non-Aboriginals, and a decaying Health Centre with no evident medical facility or healthcare workers. Another important message effectively delivered in the latter of the film is when Delilah, after being abducted and assaulted by two white Australians and with fresh wounds tried to sell her paintings to the mall filled with dining “Whitefella” who were clearly disgusted by her presence. This part of the films seems to reiterate the reality people like Delilah are secondary citizens in the eyes of many white Australians. However, some viewers should notice that the maker of this film is cautious in generalizing this issue as right after the mall incident, the film showed the readiness of some white Australians in helping a severely injured Indigenous girl (Delilah) bumped by a speeding car. In fact, Delilah survived the accident with minor injuries and managed to return home and work. The title of the film gives an impression that like the 1949 version, Wharwick Thorton’s Samson and Delilah follows similar metaphor but it is not. Samson in the Australian Samson and Delilah is a weakling and seemingly doomed from the very beginning. His world is all about getting stoned on petrol and eventually suffer the depressing consequences of addiction . However, deeper analysis of Delilah’s role suggest that if Thorton actually used the title to denote a certain type of strength and betrayal, then the film successfully made its point. This is because the strength shown by Delilah is remarkable in terms of emotional stability, motivation, and persistence. The film in essence is not centred on Samson but on Delilah. For instance, Delilah as a young female Aboriginal experienced the brutality of her relatives, her white Australian abductors, white Australian owner of the gallery where she attempted to sell her paintings, the white Australian dinners in the mall, the exploitative Katriya local buyers, and Samson himself who failed to protect her from horrifying experiences. Compared to Delilah, Samson’s character is nothing but demonstration of the atrocious effects of substance abuse. In contrast, Delilah in the story was good granddaughter, peaceful and a productive member of the community. After the beating, Delilah in the story was given the opportunity to sell her paintings in Alice Springs’ gallery while Samson merely sniff petrol under the bridge. The importance of Delilah in the story is more evident after her abduction and assault as she returned emotionally stable despite the horrifying experience. More importantly, the film not only portrays her as more determined person than Samson but also used her to present an important social issue in the mall. After the car accident, Delilah’s centrality in the story becomes even more evident when he returned to take the ailing Samson home and build a new life on her own. Samson and Delilah therefore is not merely love story, horror, and a vehicle for social issue but a film about courage, determination, survival, and hope for Indigenous youth. Since Delilah rather than Samson turned out to be the sole champion in the story and clearly used to deliver the film’s most important messages, the widely publicized plot summary of the film about “Two Australian aboriginal kids… when tragedy strikes they turn their back on home and embark on a journey of survival. Lost, unwanted and alone they discover that life isn’t always fair, but love never judges” is partly wrong. One reason is the fact that Samson and Delilah left their small isolated community for different reasons. Note that Samson started the violent confrontation thus his brother was merely retaliating. Samson is an unproductive family member, a substance abuser for many years, and as shown in the film is capable of extreme violence and property destruction. Delilah on the other hand did not harm anybody, falsely accused, and badly beaten by her own relatives. In other words, Delilah is actually the aboriginal kid that was struck by tragedy while Samson is merely an aboriginal kid running away from problems that he himself started. The above reason made Delilah’s decision to leave home and embarking on a journey of survival more realistic compared to Samson whose survival is dependent on Delilah’s initiatives. Delilah experienced the reality of being unwanted from both sides – relatives and white Australians in Alice Springs – while Samson, who is always under the influence of petrol and never attempt to get a job, will probably not feel the impact of rejection from the other side. Similarly, life is really is not fair to Delilah who was horrified and harmed in the assault, humiliated by a lot of people, repeatedly neglected by the man he love, and almost die in the car accident. Finally, Delilah’s love never judges because despite her sufferings, she never abandoned Samson. Rationale A. The Main Ideas Behind the Film 1. The main ideas behind the film is to demonstrate how two young Australian Aboriginals deal with their everyday life as indigenous living in a small remote community in the Central Australian desert. The film also wishes to explore and present important social issues by showing the predicaments of these two young Australian Aboriginals who later left their home and later faced the difficult life in Alice Springs. 2. There are a number of inspiring scenes in the film but the most interesting are the brutality of Delilah’s own relative who blamed and beaten her mercilessly, the return of Delilah after the horrifying abduction and assault, Delilah’s attempts to sell her paintings in the mall where she received disgust rather than compassion, and the scene where Samson and Delilah are back home and managing their new life. B. Aim of the Creative Piece 1. The aim of the creative piece is to offer insights regarding the life of Australian Aboriginals and create an emotional response from its audience. C. Format / Choice of Medium – Film 1. The visual metaphor in the film include a poor remote community located in the Central Australian desert, refrigerators without food, decaying health centres, and people living under the bridge. The themes on the other hand include love that never judge, acceptance to society, triumph over challenges and difficulties in life, the detrimental effect of substance abuse, poverty and oppression in society, and reality of life. The premise and representation of character were based on the enduring Australian Aboriginal issue particularly associated with poverty, discrimination, oppression, drug addiction, and social services. 2. The central features of the response include the “Australian-ness” of the main characters, analysis of the most compelling character, identification of messages contained in the film, and relationship between the character and issue being presented. These features help the response explore that aims of the creative and assist in the formulation of ideas for the response. 3. The audience is expected to think about the predicament of the Australian Aboriginals and becomes sympathetic of those who are in poverty and oppressed. D. Conclusion 1. The most successful aspect of the creative is the clarification of issues surrounding the Australian Aboriginals depicted in the film. These issues are not readily available in the film and will only emerge through careful analysis of the story and familiarity with the community involve. Reference / Bibliography Bradshaw, P. 2010. Samson and Delilah: Sensitive film about a tragic love affair in Australia's Aboriginal community. The Guardian. Fisher, B. D. (2001). Saint-Saėns' Samson and Delilah, Opera Journeys Publishing Gorman, S. 2009. Review of Samson and Delilah. History Australia, 4, 2. IMDB 2009. Samson and Delilah. Onlie. Kendon, A. (2004). Gesture: Visible Action as Utterance, Cambridge University Press O'Reilly, N. (2012). Exploring Suburbia: The Suburbs in the Contemporary Australian Novel, Teneo Press Philips, R. 2009. Samson and Delilah: a searing portrait of life for Central Australian Aboriginal youth.  Read More