MANGANINNIE

Australia, 1980, 90 minutes, Colour.
Mavugul Yanthalaway, Anna Ralph, Phillip Hinton, Elaine Nangan.
Directed by John Honey.

Manganinnie was made by the Tasmanian Film Corporation and is a credit to their enterprise. Technically the film is beautifully made, Tasmanian photography to ad vantage, a score by Peter Sculthorpe and tasteful design and editing. The story of an aboriginal woman who survives the 1830s round-ups, and a six-year-old girl who travels with her and his cared for by her, the film gives us the Tasmanian tragedy but in gentler story with fine detail, full of regrets and the lost possibilities of bonds between black and white. Slowly paced by quite absorbing for a wide audience who like humane films made with style.

1. The overall impact of the film, its quality? For what audience was it made? Age groups? Australian audiences, overseas?

2. The work of the Tasmanian Film Corporation? The Tasmanian story, locations? Tasmanian history? The perspective on early days from the late 20th century? Observation, critique?

3. The importance of the colour photography, the landscapes, the flora and fauna of Tasmania? The period of the 1830s and its re-creation – the English settlers and their homes, way of life? The aborigines and their way of life? The contribution of the musical score for style and atmosphere?

4. The pace of the film, the importance of the editing, the tone?

5. Joanna's recounting the story from her adult point of view? Her comment on her memory, its seeming like a dream? The memories- of legend? History? The effect of this experience on her life and her point of view? Her symbolising a grown-up Australia looking back on its history?

6. The different perspectives of the history of Tasmania for the aborigines – their extermination, for the whites and their dominance? The tragic history of Tasmania – the possibilities of co-existence, the learning and its mutual benefit for black and white? Nineteenth century guilt? Guilt in the present?

7. The portrait of Joanna – a persuasive performance of a six-year-old girl? Her ability to see the aborigines and understand? The opening with the sun, the file of aborigines on the horizon, fire and cloud, their disappearance? The fact that Joanna was the only one to see? Her place within the family – relationship with mother, father, her brothers? The effect of the experience on her and her reminiscences, her survival? Her British manner, the love and care in the family, the grief of her parents at her disappearance? A credible little girl – the sequences at home, at prayer and Bible readings, the outing and playing with her father, her following of Manganinnie after discovering her, sleeping, eating, following? Her distaste for the food but her having to survive? Following Manganinnie through the landscapes of Tasmania, searching for the tribes, for the sea? Her learning to steal from the man sharpening his axe? Her ability to stalk? Her love for the wombat, for the dog? Her communication with Manganinnie, the lack of words, the sensitivity to feeling, sorrow and joy? Mutual talk, the discussion about the moon, the myths? The landscapes and the changing seasons? The freeing of Manganinnie from the convicts? The wound, the return home? Her presence at her death, her grief? The setting the barn on fire and mourning for Manganinnie? Her ability to come back to the family after Manganinnie's death, clasping her father's hand? her brother going out to search for her? What did she learn from Manganinnie? The changes in her manner after the year? Her reflections on the experience? Now persuasive and plausible this story?

8. The film's portrait of Manganinnie – a woman in her tribe, her place with the fire and her continually holding it, the legends, her love for the tribe, her man? The ugliness of the round-up, the shock, her hiding? her mourning, her search for the tribe? Her watching Joanna and her father? Her silence, her ability to move without being seen? Her response to Joanna's following her, the mother-and-daughter relationship? Her care for Joanna? Talk, laughter, impatience? The stalking of the wallaby? The food? Teaching Joanna how to survive, to eat, to move silently? The mythology of moon and fire? The anguish of her search for the tribe? The trek through the landscapes? Stealing, moving with stealth? The growing sense of loss? Her being caught, freed, shot and her illness and delirium? her returning to die? Her hearing the voices in nature and her acceptance of her death? Her care for Joanna, being a mother for her, returning her to her parents? The voices and being united finally with the tribe?

9. The initial parallels of white and black society? The settlers, the dray? Tenderness within the family, the Bible readings, the outings? The comparisons with the aboriginal group, the telling of legends, the bonds, the traditions? The comparisons of values? The meaning of the word 'civilisation'?

10. The background of the history of Tasmania – Governor Arthur and the pursuit of the aborigines, the rounding up? The reasons given by the soldiers, the demands of loyalty? The effect on the family, the disagreement, the participation in the chase? The shootings? The round-up? The white man's shame? The glimpses of the aboriginals going to the hut and being fired on?

11. The old settler and his sharpening his axe, the pursuit of Manganinnie? The convicts and the help for escape? The brutal attitudes towards the aboriginal woman? The shooting? The ugly picture of the transported white settlers?

12. The flora and the fauna of Tasmania – the mountains and the trees, the snow and the close-ups of the snow and water, waterfalls? The wombat, the kangaroo, the dog? The protectiveness of the dog especially with the convicts? Surviving and eating from the land?

13. The landscapes and beauty, the influence on the aboriginal, the possibility of surviving?

14. Themes of communication between white and black? Non-verbal communication?

15. The aboriginal woman not knowing what had happened and her trying to survive, the little girl not understanding and surviving with her? The emphasis on human dignity, values?

16. The feeling at the sequences of Manganinnie's return and death? Joanna and her being with the family again? The difference in her manner, walk, attitudes towards her parents? The ritual of the shed burning? Knowing Joanna's future from her comment on the past?

17. The symbols of light, fire? The importance of the loss of fire and Joanna's gaining it? The tradition of fire, the use of flint? The sun and the clouds and fire?

18. Themes of human nature – the dignity and equality of human nature, sharing, respect, learning? A film of feeling and sentiment?