The chant of Jimmie Blacksmith / screenplay by Fred Schepisi ; produced and directed by Fred Schepisi ; produced through The Film House ; with the assistance of The Australian Film Commission, The Victorian Film Corporation, Hoyts Theatres.
disc 1: International version (117 minutes) -- disc 2: Australian version (122 minutes)
Summary:
Jimmie Blacksmith is a young Aboriginal half-caste raised in rural Australia at the turn of the century, a boy initiated by his tribe but also educated by a stern Methodist minister. Looking to gain respectability in colonical society, Jimmie finds a white bride while performing back-breaking work on local farms; but cannot escape his skin colour, suffering ongoing racism and oppression. Discovering that he may not be the father of his wife's child, and fired without pay, Jimmie explodes in a fury of violent revenge and escapes into the bush with his brother Mort, cutting a bloody parth of retribution upon the society that has rejected him. In 1901, the year Australian democracy is born, Jimmie Blacksmith finally faces his fate and with it the fate of his people.
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