This joyous celebration of love and discovery, Bran Nue Dae brings the best of Australia’s young Indigenous talent to the screen. In his performing début, Rocky McKenzie is young Willie, a God and mother fearing fella in the pearling port of Broome. Its 1969, Willie is smitten with his girl Rosie (Jessica Mauboy) but the summer is closing and Willie’s return to a religious boarding school in Perth looms like doomsday.
Handsome love rival Lester (played by swooning real life musician and Deadly Award winner Dan Sultan) rocks and rolls his way into Rosie’s heart with all the smooth moves of a more experienced player. Poor Willie appears to be punching above his weight dreaming of a life with the beautiful song bird Rosie.
At the purgatory confines of school Willie struggles with his longing for Rosie and embark on an AWOL 2,500 kilometer road trip back home that becomes a comical caravan of catastrophes. Geoffrey Rush is evil as the obsessively flawed Father Benedictus perfectly counterbalanced by Ernie Dingo’s laid back Uncle Tadpole.
The burning red sand of the outback is a home to the delectable desert sex-pots Roxanne (Deborah Mailman) and Roadhouse Betty (Magda Szubanski ), who try their flirty best to turn the red dust into red-light along the road to Broome.
Watching this adaptation of Jimmy Chi groundbreaking 1990 stage musical, you can’t help but draw similarities with other feel good Aussie Musicals. Bran Nue Dae splices into its bubble gum musical veneer a lesson about discrimination and subjugation, just as Priscilla Queen of the Desert bitch slapped homophobia and Strictly Ballroom taught us to love the underdog.
Bangarra’s Stephen Page delivers dance sequences that show his acclaimed talent in fusing traditional aboriginal dance and contemporary style to colourfully support the original stage play music by Knuckles.
A true celebration of Australian’s entertainers, director Rachel Perkins took risks in bringing so many untested acting talents to the screen. Pop princesses Missy Higgins and Jessica Mauboy bring such natural joy to the film you want to reach out and hug them. All the actors tested their chops, singing the political but wickedly funny songs. At times the acting is a touch ham, but hello! It’s a musical!
In cinemas nationally from January 14 2010
