LITTLE ROCK — A sunny, colorful Australian Aborigine musical sounds like a good idea, but Bran Nue Dae is a very slightly plotted, overthe-top film with hammy acting suitable for an old Benny Hill episode. If that sounds like fun, go see it, mate.
But it is kind of amusing, and some of the songs are nice, even if the choreography resembles a high school musical (not the high school in Glee; that would have been way cool). And there’s Geoffrey Rush as a strict Catholic school priest, so that’s something.
It should be noted that Bran Nue Dae is based on a smash-hit Australian stage musical from about 20 years ago, and the film version was a smash hit in its home country this year.
Set in 1969 in the northwest Australian town of Broome, it’s about a teenage Aborigine, Willie (Rocky McKenzie), whose quest to date the lovely Rosie (Jessica Mauboy) is painfully cut short by his mother, whowants him to become a priest and sends him to a strict school in Perth run by Father Benedictus (Rush).
He doesn’t last long, running away from school with Father Benedictus in hot pursuit, and tries to make his way back to Broome. He meets up with a grizzled Aborigine and travels cross-country in the VW bus of a pair of hippies -a German tourist and his Aussie girlfriend.
The ride is a little bumpy, but any time the plot hits a pothole, it is paved over by a song, and many are catchy: Nothing I Would Rather Be (Than to Be an Aborigine); a rendition of Stand By Your Man and, of course, the title tune.
MovieStyle, Pages 38 on 09/24/2010