CINEMATINEE- JULY 2008
A potpourri of movies, past and present, often with an emphasis on life in the west - which could mean the new west, the old west, or anything in between- and ‘movies that missed us’- films that are notable but never had a lot of publicity- the CineMatinee series is designed to show area residents that film is a form of art as well as entertainment! At least one film a month for this series has a ‘New Mexico Connection’, drawing from the vast pool of movies made in the state or perhaps featuring a star/story from New Mexico talent.
July 5- Ten Canoes (2006, 92 minutes, not rated, in the Ganalbingu Australian Native language/w subtitles) This culturally authentic and spiritually rich Australian film directed swept the Australian Academy Awards, winning Best Film, Best Director, and Best Cinematography. The film is the result of a partnership between the director and the Ramingining Aboriginal community as the first feature made entirely in an Australian indigenous language and based on native stories.
In the film, a tribal elder named Minygululu is leading men on an expedition that includes harvesting bark to make canoes and then going through a swamp hunting goose eggs. When he learns that his younger brother Dayindi is lusting after his third and youngest wife, he decides to tell him an ancient story from long ago about a young man in a similar predicament. The point of the story is to teach his brother the "proper way' to behave. Lives can be transformed when a tale is properly understood and taken to heart.
Minygululu tells the story in a meandering way, stopping and starting as they perform various tasks in the swamp. Young Dayindi grows impatient with all the delays and seeming excursions in the account, but for Minygululu the story is a large tree that just keeps branching out. He has deep respect for the ancestors and for their way of doing things.
Ten Canoes also shows the large and important role of sorcery in the lives of Aboriginal communities. Strangers can bring bad spirits with them and that is why they are usually shunned. The sorcerer (Philip Gudthaykudthay) in Minygululu's story lives alone and conjures up powerful medicine with his fear-based ideas. Luckily the tribe has an antidote in the buffoonery of Birrinbirrin, a big-bellied elder who is obsessed with honey. There are plenty of jokes about flatulence and sexual performance among the men as they go about their tasks in the swamps fighting off mosquitoes and avoiding crocodiles.
Ten Canoes offers an authentic look at aboriginal life that ought to appeal to audiences around the world whose lives are animated by the same universal desires, fears, and human flaws. Best of all, this ambitious and sturdy Australian film demonstrates that a story well told is good medicine for all who take it to heart.
Unless otherwise noted, screening time is 1.30 PM, and admission is $4 for everyone except film society members who are admitted for $1. The theatre is located one half block of the Mesilla Plaza. For more information, please call 524-8287 or 522-0286.
