SERENADES
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Key Cast
Jila Alice Haines |
Key Crew Story
by Christine Stephens and Mojgan Khadem |
Financed
by the Australian Film Finance Corporation |
1890,
Central Australia. Given
no choice, no say. Only
the landscape could give her comfort. |
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From a review by Louise Keller Jila (Alice Haines), the daughter of a young Aboriginal woman and an Afghan cameleer, grows up on a mission after her mother's death, and is sold for marriage by her father, Shir Mohammed (Sinisa Copic) to Mullah Jalal-Shah (Nico Lathouris). When Johann (Aden Young), the young German boy she met at the mission all those years ago retums, her hopes are lifted that he may free her from the forced marriage. SERENADES is a very different type of Australian film that recounts an intriguing tale about forbidden love set on a backdrop of culture, religion and tradition. Embracing not only our own aboriginal culture, but adding Middle Eastern and European cultures to the mix, the juxtaposition is bewitching. The set up and premise engage, and there's a strong sense of place. The friendship between the young children is well established and we are enchanted by the little girl with saucer eyes, hair as wild as a tree whose leaves are dancing in the wind. The colours and textures of cultural identities, customs, superstitions and beliefs are as varied as life itself. Russell Boyd's superb cinematography captures remote Australian locations and draws us into a melee of cultures where the exotic collides with the conservative. The opening scenes of camels crossing the desert are quite extraordinary. What astounding creatures camels are, their eyes peering into the camera suspiciously, while their uneven bodies fascinate by their irregularities. Watch out for the scene where the camel is dressed and decorated for the wedding - this is visual exotica to dream about. |
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