Mabo [PG]

When the decision is made to leave his island home in the Torres Strait, Eddie Koiki Mabo heads to mainland Australia and settles as a railroad labourer. It’s here he meets the beautiful Bonita, marries her, and begins a life like any other Australian. But the racism of white Australia against him doesn’t sit well with Eddie and he plans to move his family back to the Torres Strait where a portion of land awaits his inheritance. But his plans are thrown into disarray when he discovers that, according to white Australian law, the government owns the land. And so Eddie goes to court with his peoples’ laws behind him to claim ownership of his portion of land, but what begins as a meagre claim to land rights soon escalates into the most famous case in Australian history: the Mabo Case, de-establishing the myth of terra nullius. 

This is a really lovely film. Directed by Rachel Perkins and made for television, Mabo is a beautiful depiction of self-determination, passion, and endurance. What I really liked about it was that it was one of the few films that centred on indigenous Australians and didn’t have this doomed, defeated, and gritty atmosphere that most of our other films have tended to have. This movie is uplifting, inspirational, dramatic, and romantic, and everything in it fuses together beautifully, culminating in this highly romanticised and moving feature. 

When the decision is made to leave his island home in the Torres Strait, Eddie Koiki Mabo heads to mainland Australia and settles as a railroad labourer. It’s here he meets the beautiful Bonita, marries her, and begins a life like any other Australian. But the racism of white Australia against him doesn’t sit well with Eddie and he plans to move his family back to the Torres Strait where a portion of land awaits his inheritance. But his plans are thrown into disarray when he discovers that, according to white Australian law, the government owns the land. And so Eddie goes to court with his peoples’ laws behind him to claim ownership of his portion of land, but what begins as a meagre claim to land rights soon escalates into the most famous case in Australian history: the Mabo Case, de-establishing the myth of terra nullius. 

It seems that 2012 was really a year romantic Aboriginal-focused films: we had The Sapphires and now Mabo. Perkins’ telemovie biopic depicts indigenous Australians in a way that, until recently, has not been done. Usually in Aussie movies, the Aboriginal characters are depicted as mysterious and intimidating trackers, wild and violent people, and there has always been a doomed, gritty, and defeated atmosphere surrounding them. But what Perkins does here is wonderful. Not only is a very important piece of Australian history being told, but also indigenous culture and characters are being centralised on and depicted in truths without that horrible gritty and dirty sheen that has so often in the past accompanied them. Where before we’ve seen a lack of lighting, harsh language, savagery, and violence, there are now bright and beautifully lit sequences, a lovely romantic underlying score that is interjected with passionate, native, chants, and a soft filmic sheen akin to that of a Hollywood rom-com. As well as depicting an admirable man and a historic chain of events, this movie depicts a softness and beauty that I think even Aussies don’t know they have. 

The chemistry and the performances from both Jimi Bani as Eddie Mabo and Deborah Mailman as Bonita Mabo is glorious with the love, passion, frustration, and determination, really radiating off the screen like sun heat on asphalt. The two of them together were mesmerising. 

Starring Ewan Leslie, Tom Budge, Charles Passi, Rob Carlton, Colin Friels, Miranda Otto, Felix Williamson, and Leon Ford, Mabo is a beautiful film filled with drama, history, vintage footage, romance, determination, and comedy. I really found it to be something special.