I saw the movie Australia today. I loved it so much. I want to see it again soon. The capturing of emotions between the Aboriginal boy Nulla and Mrs Boss (Nicole Kidman) was outstanding and so very moving. The story of the Stolen Generations breaks my heart, especially since I became a mother. To think of those children being taken from their Mothers and their homes just makes me cry.
I once worked in a branch of state government called the Indigenous Employment Unit and I worked with a lot of Indigenous children and my colleagues within the Unit were from Aboriginal decent. I heard stories of the Stolen Generation – one of my colleague’s Mother was of the Stolen Generation and the other was stolen himself and adopted by white people, raised in Western civilisation. The stories upset me and made me sad and ashamed of the white people who had made such decisions, when I hear such stories of racism and lack of willingness to understand, I am ashamed to be white. I feel the same when I hear stories of the way African people were treated in the era of Apartheid and the way people of other cultures are treated in Australia today. To me we are all just people living our lives and doing the best we can. I don’t understand the hatred.
Back to the movie though, there has been a lot of hype and I tried not to listen to it. I like to listen to the synopsis of a movie and decide if I want to see it, I don’t want some reviewer telling me if it was good or bad and that I should or should not see it. We all have different tastes so why should I listen to anyone tell me whether I will like it or not.
My conclusion is that is was a beautiful story of love across cultures and classes with a serious telling of the story of the Stolen Generation as well as some spectacular Australian scenery thrown in. I loved it.
