Racial Tragedy, Australian History, and the New Australian Cinema: Fred Schepisi’s The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith Revisited

Robert J. Cardullo

Autors/ores

Robert J. Cardullo University of Michigan

Paraules clau:

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Fred Schepisi, Thomas Keneally, New Australian Cinema, racism and colonialism

Resum

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978) broke ground in its native country for
dealing bluntly with one of the most tragic aspects of Australian history: the racist
treatment of the aboriginal population. Adapted faithfully from the 1972 novel by
Thomas Keneally, the film concerns a young man of mixed race in turn-of-the-century Australia who feels torn between the values and aspirations of white society, on the one hand, and his aboriginal roots, on the other, and who ultimately takes to violence against his perceived white oppressors. This essay re-views The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith from the following angles: its historical context; its place in the New Australian Cinema; its graphic violence; and the subsequent careers of the film’s director, Fred Schepisi, and its star, Tommy Lewis.

Biografia de l'autor/a

Robert J. Cardullo, University of Michigan

ROBERT J. CARDULLO is R. J. Cardullo is the author or editor of a number of books, including Soundings on Cinema: Speaking to Film and Film Artists (SUNY Press, 2008) and In Search of Cinema: Writings on International Film Art (McGill-Queens UP, 2004). He is also the chief American translator of the film criticism of the Frenchman André Bazin, with several volumes to his credit, among
them Bazin at Work: Major Essays and Reviews from the ’40s and ’50s and André Bazin and Italian Neorealism. Cardullo earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from Yale University and taught for four decades at the University of Michigan, Colgate, and New York University, as well as abroad. He is currently Professor of English at the University of Kurdistan Hewlêr in Iraq.