BLACK AND WHITE

I watched this film for the first time tonight and have come away from it with mixed emotions. This is a film which works on all sorts of levels and it's a difficult one to define. Above all else it is a true story about an Aboriginal man in the late 1950s who is sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a child. His innocence is apparent, however the South Australian legal system at the time was full of prejudice, insularity and corruption. One small time lawyer agrees to defend him and is presented with brick walls at every turn. Even the presiding judges are dismissive... the attitude is that a black man must be guilty and so to hell with evidence. There have been several films about the injustices of indigenous people and this film proves to be an important one, however the racial aspect is lost amongst the other facets of the story. An important factor in the case was Rupert Murdoch. As a young man recently inherent of a wealthy newspaper, he sees this case as a means of boosting his own position as well as fighting for his own sense of justice. Ruthless as always this is an interesting insight into the man's early years. The shame about this movie is it's length. It feels like a 3 hour story being crammed into 100 minutes. I wish it were longer and consequently it feels like so much has been left out and the surface has only been scratched in regards to other details. Anyhow, its worth seeing. The ensemble cast is impressive with a who's who of Aussie faces (Ben Mendelsohn is great as Murdoch) and leading performances from Robert Carlyle, Kerry Fox and Charles Dance. David Ngoombujarra is exceptional as the man at the centre of it all.

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