I can’t seem to rid the film Beneath Clouds off my mind, and the more I think about writing about a film, the more I feel the urge to commit brutal dissections of that masterpiece by Ivan Sen. This time I will attempt to identify some of its similarities with another ‘aboriginal driven story’ (if I may call it so) Rabbit – Proof Fence (Philip Noyce, 2000) in the effort to understand the common themes and intentions that underlie these films and also to relate them to modern day Australian life.
I find it somewhat interesting that the film Rabbit Proof Fence, while set in 1930s Australia, implies almost identical meanings and messages to those portrayed through representatives of modern day Australia in the film Beneath Clouds. As an outsider living in Australia, it is probably not my place to draw assumptions and conclusions on issues surrounding the relationship between white and aboriginal Australians. Therefore my analysis here would be based solely on what I, as someone looking in at the Australian community, am able to draw from these two films.
The journey that Lena and Vaughn take is somewhat similar to that of Molly’s and Daisy’s (and Gracie’s), that is if one reads their travels through the Australian landscape as symbolic of living a life laden with ambiguity attributed to insecurities, neglect and hopelessness. Oppression and abuse are exhibited quite explicitly in Rabbit Proof Fence and are also apparent in Beneath Clouds, particularly in the confrontation between the police and Vaughn’s aboriginal mates. Both sets of characters are driven by sheer hope and determination to escape their current situations and find new grounds and meanings for themselves – a better life, would be the more general and still applicable term here. The relationship between the two films provokes a frightening thought, if not a revelation. It is easy to feel disheartened and even angry while watching the blatant cruelty directed at aboriginals in the one that, as mention, is set in the early 1930s. The lack of outright violence or explicit anger associated with Beneath Clouds could mean that things may have changed since then. But then again, the deeply suppressed feelings of anger and hatred are so painfully palpable through the characters Vaughn and Lena who both live in contemporary Australia, almost as if implying the prevalence of such feelings persisting in concealment today. His mother’s death drives him to reconciliation and to forget the unpleasant past. It signifies the notion of gaining through loss, similar to the situation of Molly and Daisy when they had to leave Gracie behind (who was re-captured by the authorities)for their own safety and to ensure they could go on to find their mother. The shot of Lena on the train in the final scene, juxtaposed with shots of industrial sites and factories on the outside, so vividly demonstrate her mournful state at the insecurities associated with change, the fears experienced in this transitional stage, and the uncertainties that cloud the prospect of finding the security and sense of belonging that she and everyone who she represents are in need of.
Talking Film - Tackling Celluloid 