Customer Reviews

Ten Canoes

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As art house films go, this movie is very good, maybe even exceptional. On the other hand, if you like Hollywood type movies, than you might want to pass. However, even if you are not inclined to the type of movies that don't get the publicity or distribution and are stacked thirty deep at your local movie rental conglomerate four months later, you still might enjoy this movie. Remember the Australian classics The Last Wave - Criterion Collection, Walkabout - Criterion Collection? Well, this will probably someday be considered alongside those movies as great movies from Australia. Coincidently , David Gulpili, who starred in the aforementioned movies, narrates , often times tongue in cheek, and as he says ,that is another story. The storytelling is superb, a story within a story, an adventure for the ages and a moral tale that doesn't club you upside the head. The humor is great, it is funny stuff that transcends the cultural differences.The scenery is spectacular, especialy on your giant screen with surround sound. You will feel as if you are walking with the aborigines. The mixture of mystical shamans beliefs and otherworldly scenery, shifting from black and white to color is hallucinatory and adds an extra dimension to an already multi-layered on many levels movie. The ages old lust-for-your-brother's wife is the vehicle for the narration as you join in the adventure two fold(two different time periods)in creating ten canoes from scratch(pulling the bark)as the men embark on a journey that reveals the past in the present. One of the features to not be missed is the making of the movie extra that is included. The directors, Rolf de Heer and Peter Djigirr, take you through the scenes and you see just how difficult it was to get the aboriginal "actors" to act so naturally. It is amazing because they come across so natural in their roles, but it did require alot of coaching. The directors, did a marvelous job and the result was a superb movie. If you are in the mood for some National Geographicesque tribal scenes (some nudity), exotic landscapes and an adventure back in time, then check out this Australian flick that is soon to be a classic.

"Ten Canoes" unusual story-within-a-story structure allows a glimpse of one Indigenous Australian culture while it offers a timeless fable with enough drama to satisfy both Western and Yolngu tastes. The film was conceived by writer/director Rolf de Heer as a project for and about the native people of Arnhem Land in Northern Australia, from whence his friend actor David Gulpilil, who narrates the film, hails. The film's style and narrative structure were inspired by the photographs of anthropologist Dr. Donald Thomson, who took over 4,000 pictures of the Yolngu people in the 1930s while their ancient traditions were still widely practiced, including an iconic photo of ten canoeists on a goose egg hunt.

As the film opens on the beautiful blue and green of Arnhem Land, a Storyteller (David Gulpilil) introduces us to a story of his people, of the young man Dayindi (Jamie Gulpilil) who covets the youngest wife of his older brother Minygululu (Peter Minygululu). While Dayindi experiences his first goose egg gathering expedition with the men in Arafura Swamp, his brother tells him a tale of their ancient ancestors to guide him: Among the ancients, there was a young man, Yeeralparil, who also fancied the youngest of his warrior brother Ridjimiraril's (Crusoe Kurddal) wives. One day, a Stranger (Michael Dawu) appeared in camp to trade objects of sorcery. He was sent on his way with food and good wishes, but a cloud of misfortune and ill will remained behind.

"Ten Canoes" offers drama, humor, and a striking visual exploration of a traditional culture and the lands that shaped it for millennia. The goose egg hunt sequences are in black-and-white, placing them in "Thomson Time", as they recall and dramatize the photographs that captured that annual ritual. It seems strange at first to see a sun-drenched swamp in black-and-white, but the heavily highlighted foliage lends the scenes an appropriate mythical quality. Working with mostly non-professional actors who speak limited English, in keeping with their tribal laws, presented some hurdles which were surmounted in part due to the efforts of actor Peter Djigirr, whom Rolf de Heer credits as co-director. There is nothing remarkable about the story told in "Ten Canoes" but the telling itself is hypnotic and transcendent. In English and Ganalbingu with optional English subtitles.

The DVD (Palm 2007): There are 5 bonus features. "The Batandu and the Bark Canoes" (51 min) is a documentary narrated by Rolf de Heer about making the film, from its inspiration, to casting, the obstacles of traditional kinship laws, working with the actors, etc. It's an interesting and well-produced sort of director's journal. "Aerial Map of Arnhem Land" (3 min) is an attractive aerial survey of the area that zooms in and out on its own. "Thomson's Photographs" (3 min) is a slideshow of some of Donald Thomson's photos compared to the film, which attempts to recreate them. "An Interview with Director Rolf de Neer" (4 min) talks about the evolution of the idea for the film. "An Interview with Peter Djigirr" (4 min) discusses the meaning of the film to Yolngu culture.

I am very surprised at the first review that has been posted. If the story didn't capture your imagination, then I cannot comprehend how the cinematography didn't - visually, it is amazing and beautiful!

If you want un-subtle hollywood-type action, then this film is definitely not for you - you will not be spoon-fed. It is humourous (not in an overt, shove-it-in-your-face way), and the characters well developed (also unheard of in most mainstream h-films). The shifting time structures also emphasise the way that the oral tradition is used within the film. For those with time to allow their imagination to go beyond the horizon, then I would definitely recommmend this film for you!

The best film I've seen about the aboriginal culture of Australia.

After watching this film for 10-15 minutes, the viewer either will be intrigued by the story, acting & cinematography or convinced that it's not to their liking. If you enjoy cinematic art, you will be rewarded richly by De Heers' respectful portrayal of the indigenous people - their humor, hunting and gathering expeditions, and everyday life in the lands where they and their ancestors lived and died for centuries.

The aboriginal cast speaking in the native language of Ganalbingu adds a degree of authenticity that few film makers ever capture and that enriches the viewing experience. Watching this production is akin to being an unseen visitor in a world that is so different from any that most of us will ever encounter or imagine.

To heighten appreciation of the tremendous effort and care that went into making this film, I highly recommend watching the Special Feature entitled BALANDA & THE MAKING OF TEN CANOES.

**1/2

Despite its exquisitely photographed and exotic locale, "Ten Canoes" is strictly for those who still need a bedtime story to help them fall asleep. Set in the Australian outback, this tale of life among the Aborigines is as beautiful to look at as it is tedious to sit through. As we watch a group of men building canoes, a wizened but droning narrator spins an ancient yarn about a stranger who wanders into a village, forever altering the lives of those who live there (interestingly, while the scenes in the past have been filmed in color, those set in the present are in black-and-white).

"Ten Canoes" may have value as an anthropological study of sorts, but its desultory pacing and lack of compelling drama make it a very dull slog indeed for even the most adventurous of armchair-traveling moviegoers.

Ten canoes is a charming, delightful in depth look into the aborigines of Australia. The film captures the beauty of Australia's Northern Territory as it opens upon the green landscape "in a land far, far away." It explores the lives of the aborigines while at the same time revealing an unknown culture before the Balanda (white person) took over. We would have never been able to see or experience a culture like this if it wasn't for this film. This is the story of a young man Dayindi who covets one of the wives of his older brother, Minygululu. To teach Dayindi the proper way his brother tells him a story from the mystical past of wrong love, kidnapping, sorcery, and revenge gone wrong. Director Rolf de Heer was inspired by Dr. Donald Thomson who first captured the aboriginal group with an extensive group of photographs, especially one photo of ten men in bark canoes. The movie is unlike anything I have ever seen before. It sends you to a land away from that of Hollywood blockbusters and transplants you into an enchanting hypnotic land of solidarity. I highly suggest it. The bonus features grant the viewer a deeper insight into the making of the film and how difficult of a process it was, especially with non-English speaking actors, yet Heer maintained an authentic quality throughout.

I just saw this excellent film at a local College's International Film Program and I'd like to thank them for making it available - Thanks, Eckerd College! I only wish it were more easily seen by everyone else. While this movie probably would not appeal to a lover of the typical Hwood action movie, I strongly recommend it all the same. Australian Aboriginal mythology and storytelling are an experience which everyone should be exposed to. I believe that you'll find that while, at first glance, one might be tempted to pass off this movie as slow paced or too simple, the truth is, the events that engage us in modern "civilization" are no more significant, and possibly even less meaningfull than those which composed the lives of more "primitive" societies. In fact, I think that it's the very complexity of our modern lives which tend to dilute the significance of so called "simple" things, such as hunting for food, telling of stories, singing of traditional songs. By all modern standards, this movie should be boring, but it's not. The characters throughout are well developed and engender a surprising amount of empathy from the viewer, despite the vast difference betwen our lifestyle and theirs. The story itself has a timeless relevance, and the idea that a young man would subject himself to the slow unfolding of his elder brother's story, at first unwillingly, but then with greater and greater interest, serves as a cautionary tale in itself. The death and funeral scene at the end of the movie will certainly make you question the significance and appropriateness of our own western practices. On the whole, I think I'd much rather be "sent off" like Ridjimiraril with my mates playing the Didj and clapsticks than wasting away in some old folks home. Watch the movie if you can find it, and tell me you don't feel the same way!

"Ten Canoes" is an extraordinary movie about the indigenous Aboriginal natives from the Arnhem region of Australia. Learning is often passed along through instructional story-telling and at the heart of this tale is the story of an unmarried younger brother's lust for for one of the wives of his elder brother.

As the men of the tribe hunt for goose eggs in a remote swamp, having to team-build canoes to carry them, they boast about their sexual prowess. The elder brother uses this opportunity to explain what happened to some of their ancestors when a younger brother also coveted an older brother's wife. So, this is a story within a story, filled with mystery, tribal rites, revenge, sorcery, and a beautiful untrammeled background.

The bonus features are not to be missed. The movie was 2 years in pre-production and that they managed to make it is almost a miracle. For example as filming was about to start, one of the key actors disappeared; scenes between husbands and wives had to use actual married people and there were cultural norms and relationships that had to be honored. Even the skills required to make the canoes, once the province of every tribesman, had long been forgotten and only one cast member actually knew how to make the canoes (shown in detail as part of the movie).

This will be a classic, remembered Australian movie. It is for those who value the unique and unusual, and not typical Hollywood fare.

This is a very interesting film. It is not an action movie and does not have much of a story line. Nothing much happens, but you are part of a fantasic visual experience. You feel like yoy are there with the natives as the live their daily lives (except they speaking in their nature tongue and you need a translator). You are part of the tribe. You see the land as they see it. You are with them as they build canoes and hunt goose eggs. Even more, the director went out of his way to make many of the scenes into works of art. There is balance, striking lines, dimension, and depth. All in all, an education and very visual experience. I highly recommend this movie. Be sure to watch the discussion with the director.

This is a wonderful film based on an ancient Aboriginal tale that is interwoven with a story from a 1000 years ago. Though it is in the old indigenous language of the northern Arafura Swamp it is surprisingly warm and funny as the universal humanity of the characters comes through. I hope it comes to the US and gets the attention it deserves. I was fortunate to be able to see it on a plane flying back from my trip to Australia in August 2006. So, even though I saw it on a tiny screen with earphones I was transported to a totally new time and place and completely absorbed in the film. Though the language, the customs and the setting were strange, the human desires, actions, humor and responses were so recognizable. It has a dreamlike quality that weaves a spell of enchantment... Thank you, Qantas, for giving me the opportunity to see this wonderful, special film.