Ten Canoes

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details about Ten Canoes' classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of Ten Canoes completed by Young Media Australia (YMA) on 23 September 2006.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) and the associated consumer advice lines.

YMA review

This review of the movie Ten Canoes contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie's message

A synopsis of the story

Ten Canoes , with narration by David Gulpilil, is partly set in current times, while at the same time telling an ancestral story set a thousand years ago. Ten men are going on their seasonal goose hunting and egg gathering expedition in the Arafura Swamp region of north-eastern Arnhem Land . The group is led by Minygululu (Peter Minygululu) an older man who has three wives. Minygululu has learnt that his younger brother Dayindi (Jamie Gulpilil) has “wrong feelings” towards his youngest wife. Minygululu worries that Dayindi's lust will endanger tribal law, and to deal with the problem he recounts an ancestral story, the telling of which takes many days, as the men continue their hunt.

The ancestral story tells the tale of Ridjimiraril (Crusoe Kurddal) and his three wives, the youngest of whom is the beautiful Munandjarra. Yeeralparil (also played by Jamie Gulpilil) has no wives and lusts after Munandjarra. A stranger (Michael Dawu) visits the group, and when, some time later, the second of Ridjimiraril's wives disappears, Ridjimiraril believes the stranger is responsible. Birrinbirrin (Richard Birrinbirrin), another tribe member, aided by Ridjimiraril, spears the man they believe is the stranger, but they discover that they have killed the wrong man, and that the man they killed is in fact the stranger's brother.

The stranger and a group of fellow warriors confront Ridjimiraril and Birrinbirrin and demand payback. Ridjimiraril confesses to the crime and a payback ceremony is agreed, during which Ridjimiraril is speared and justice is done. Ridjimiraril later dies back in camp and Yeeralparil inherits Ridjimiraril's three wives, but finds his new life is not as desirable as he had thought it would be.

At the end of the goose egg hunt Minygululu's story is finally over and Dayindi understands the wisdom in the story and no longer has wrong feelings towards Minygululu's young wife.

Themes

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Traditional aboriginal laws and ways of life, Lust and revenge

Use of violence

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie including:

• there is an argument between Ridjimiraril's three wives resulting in some pushing and shoving
• bloody and gory images of the stranger kneeling over the body of a man lying face down on the ground. The stranger repeatedly stabs the lying man in the back with a long spear. The man on the ground convulses with each spear stab and most of his body and the surrounding ground are covered with blood. The arms and upper torso of the stranger are covered in blood.
• a group of men abduct Ridjimiraril's second wife. They grab hold of her and lead her away.
• Ridjimiraril and other men from his camp prepare for war, shaking their spears and talking of war, spearing and killing.
• Ridjimiraril and his band of warriors abduct two women from the other tribe as payback.
• women communally cry and moan over their men going off to war.
• Ridjimiraril spears the stranger in the back while the stranger is squatting down relieving himself. The stranger is shown lying on his side with a spear protruding from his back. A wound was visible and blood is leaking from it.
• the stranger and a group of spear-wielding warriors confront Ridjimiraril and his men. The group have their spears aimed at Ridjimiraril in an aggressive manner and repeatedly threaten Ridjimiraril's group.
• the stranger and his group of warriors throw spears at Ridjimiraril and Yeeralparil with Ridjimiraril and Yeeralparil dancing to avoid the spears. This is depicted as a surreal type of dance between the two brothers and the flying spears. While the actual spearing of Ridjimiraril is not shown, he is shown afterwards lying on the ground with a spear protruding from his stomach, a visible wound and seeping blood.
• Ridjimiraril's first wife treats his stomach wound.
• Ridjimiraril does a death dance in which he dances back and forth doing little jumps, which appear to cause him great pain. At the end of the dance he collapses to the ground.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under eight

Children under eight are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations, the death of a parent or child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, children under the age of eight could be disturbed by the appearance of a sorcerer who has a bone through his nose and is painted from head to foot in red and blue clay. In one scene the sorcerer repeatedly pulls one bone from his nose to replace it with another.

Aged eight to fifteen

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

The above mentioned violent scenes, and particularly the graphic blood and gore may be disturbing to children between the ages of eight and fifteen years.

Product placement

None

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

• at the start of the film, the narrator provides an ancestral understanding of how conception occurs including a description of how the new child “went like that into her vagina.”
• “When I'm older my prick will grow limp.” “You're laughing because you think my prick has gone limp.”
• “See how his prick is covered, maybe it's a small one. I never trust a man with a small prick.”
• “Whenever we dig for swamp nuts she has to go and piss.”
• In reference to Yeeralparil's intensions towards Munandjarra: “Go away and play with a female croc.”

Nudity and sexual activity

Ten Canoes contains full frontal naturalistic nudity. All characters are depicted fully nude at all times as would befit the time period.

Use of substances

None

Coarse language

There is some coarse language and toilet humour in this movie, including:

• farting
• prick
• shit
• bum.

The movie's message

Ten Canoes is unique in that it combines ancestral story telling with drama and some comedy. It is shot entirely in traditional language (Ganalbingu) and the entire cast was indigenous to the region where the film was shot, giving both the cast and location an extremely authentic appearance. Ten Canoes provides the audience with a real feel of how the land and its people would have looked and lived a thousand years ago. The film contains unexpected humour that was truly funny, and performances from the film's “non-actors” were outstanding.

The message of Ten Canoes is that traditional beliefs, values and laws must be upheld or traditional society will break down. Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• individuals working and sharing for the benefit of the whole.
• the value of using ancestral stories to teach male adolescents and promote the understanding of cultural values, beliefs and laws.

Opportunities for discussion include:

• while the men may have had more than one wife, families and family interactions were very similar to our own
• the difference between the traditional laws presented in the film and modern laws, including the pros and cons of the traditional payback system compared to modern laws and punishments.
• Ridjimiraril's hatred towards the stranger is described as having an evil spirit enter his body. In the end this consumed him, resulting in his act of murder and him losing his own life through payback.