Reflective Paper
Set in the Ramingining community on the edge of the Arafura swamp in north eastern Arnhem Land, Ten Canoes is a film dedicated to the traditional notions of Indigenous story telling. Directed by Rolf de Heer, with assistance from Peter Djugurr, the film was born to recreate black and white photographs taken in the 1930s by Dr Donald Thompson, an anthropologist who spent long periods of time living in Arnhem Land. His photographs depicted the community rituals, and one picture in particular, which showed ten men in bark canoes, became the key image in which the film’s story was developed. Ten Canoes is an adaptation of Yolngu storytelling traditions, brought to screen using cinematography qualities from Western society.
Predominately set in a time about 1000 years ago, the underpinning notion of the film is a story within a story. The local community wanted the film to be set in old times, though they did not want their ancestors or their way of life to be portrayed as a period of conflict. So came the idea to present a film that, in it’s essence, encapsulated the lives of the Indigenous Yolngu community before European settlement. The ideals of storytelling were told in two accounts. In order to respect the locals of the area and their requests of a non-conflicting film, de Heer came up with the idea of layering the film, and presenting the core of the story in a much earlier time period. This part of the film is essentially, set in mythical times.
As the narrator of the film, David Gulpilil, leads the audience into the two different time periods, allowing the blend of viewpoints to recognise the actual events with the perceived events (portrayed in the mythical part of the film). In order to separate these multiple viewpoints, different cinematography effects are used. The film is shot in black and white for the real time, keeping with the style of the photographs from which the film is based. The film then moves to colour for the mythical section. The story follows Dayindi (played by Jamie Gulpilil) on his first goose egg hunting expedition. During the expedition, which also depicts Yolngu traditions, such as the making of the bark canoes, Dayindi’s older brother Minygululu (played by Peter Minygululu) tells him a story. The story told reflects the situation that is unfolding on the hunting expedition; Minygululu has come to learn that Dayindi desires his youngest wife. As the first layer of the film is peeled back, the second layer reveals itself, all the while helped along by the narrator.
Minygululu’s story follows another pair of brothers; Ridjimiraril (Crusoe Kurddal) and his younger brother Yeeralaril (also played by Jamie Gulpilil), who desires one of his older brother’s wives. This story involves sexual jealousy, kidnapping, sorcery, inter-tribal conflict and customary law. For the Yolngu community, it is a story of their ancestors and an exploration of their ancient culture, with reference to the laws and beliefs of the time.
Essentially, I was drawn to this particular film due its rich cultural history. I really appreciated Ten Canoes for introducing me to Indigenous social traditions, and depicting this story, before European settlement. By doing this, I felt the ancient culture of the Yolngu people in particular, was able to be presented as a whole and without any preconceptions of what might have happened before. I felt myself being opened to a new outlook on the ways of Indigenous Australia. I felt it even more important that the film itself was filmed entirely in the Ganalbingu language (available to view with English subtitles). The intertwining contexts of the film are brought together through the ancient tradition of storytelling. According to Dr Caroline Josephs, who completed her doctorate thesis on sacred oral storytelling believes that in order to explain Yolngu storytelling to non-Indigenous people, one must tell a story. As a film, Ten Canoes, demonstrates this power of storytelling by creating avid relationships between all the characters, but by also involving the audience. It is this act of passing on the aspect of cultural references that makes Ten Canoes such a rich film, in terms of its ability to evoke emotions of kinship, tradition, and acceptance. De Heer’s vision for the film was to allow the cast to move through the script on their own guidance, as illustrated by Frances Djulibing (who played Nowalingu in the film), when she said “we weren’t really acting, we were channeling our ancestors”. As the first film to recreate pre-European Aboriginal life, Ten Canoes aims to educate its audiences about the real history of the Indigenous Australian people, and how these lives have effected the lives of the Indigenous cultures and communities of contemporary Australia. In making a film with these rich cultural contexts, De Heer felt that it provided the opportunity to make something that would help balance our views on Aboriginal society. The cast of the film were all members of the Ramingining community, and some even had close relations to those depicted in the black and white photographs of Dr Thompson. Many people in the community felt the memory of their culture was diminishing, and so it was a way for them to both respect their ancestors and gain a new and stronger connection to the traditional ways of their people. As Michael Dawu (an actor in the film) expressed these desires, “Ten Canoes done that, bring my memory back and my energy. We got culture because we got memory…what a story.”
I believe there is so much in this film that embodies the positivity of Indigenous Australian culture. It is a beautifully balanced film of cultural values, and in my opinion, is an encouraging promotion of Indigenous society. The rich details of language, sorcery, gathering, and most importantly, storytelling make for an encapsulating representation of Australia before European settlement. The preservation of traditional storytelling culture enabled this layered story to come to screen, in a way that enabled the reinventions of ancient traditions to come to life.
