The Sapphires. Rated PG (mild violence, themes, coarse language and sexual references). 99 minutes. Directed by Wayne Blair. Screenplay by Tony Briggs and Keith Thompson.
Verdict: An incandescent little jewel of a film that is as equally
entertaining as it is contemplative.
It is 1968, and when four
talented young Aboriginal women audition for the chance to take their singing
group to Vietnam to entertain the troops, they are blissfully unaware of the
life-threatening dangers that will confront them. Their collective experiences
of war, death and separation will change their lives forever.
Based on Briggs’s
award-winning play of the same name, and inspired by the true story of his
mother Laurel and aunt Lois, The Sapphires is a sparkling little jewel of a film that not only
entertains, but also provides moments of powerful contemplation focussed on
the true nature of soul, matriarchy, race and the comparatively threadbare
connotations of privilege. One of the film’s many dramatic highpoints – a beautiful
scene where the ‘stolen’ Kay (Shari Sebbens) is welcomed home to country – is
as powerful and involving a scene as all the chaotic, Vietnam war-based
sequences that have preceded it.
