David Gulpilil. Australian actor, Indigenous elder. Proud to have screened Gulpilil: One Red Blood (2002) directed by Darlene Jonhnson at Sguardi australini, Italy, in 2003
David Gulpilil. Australian actor, Indigenous elder.*
I first saw David Gulpilil in the film Walkabout (1971), directed by Nicolas Roeg. Gulpilil played an Indigenous person living on Country. I was drawn to the ease with which Gulpilil moved in the Australian bush in contrast to the "Australian" characters, who walked into it hesitantly. Gulpilil’s character was no stranger, going so far as to offer a glimpse of the stark beauty of the Australian landscape. I dare say that Gulpilil provided Roeg, who hailed from England, an advantage in interpreting Australia. Roeg had unwittingly overturned the idea of the Australian bush as an “unknown” place, while, for his part, Gulpilil had anchored the 'Australian imagination' to “Country”.
Darlene Johnson's documentary Gulpilil: One Red blood (2002)** attested to Australian actor and Indigenous elder David Gulpilil as a person to reckon with in the Australian cultural milieu. Molly Reynolds, director of Another Country (2015), with whom I shared a moment at the Melbourne Atom Awards in 2016, went on to make the documentary, My Name is Gulpilil (2021), in which Gulpilil speaks.
In Walkabout (1971), David Gulpilil had shown the bush to be alive. With this film, I first caught sight of what lay beyond the Australian urbanscape, swept away from the dusty migrant camp that mapped my arrival to Australia in 1971.
I am grateful to David Gulpilil. His generosity allowed the Country that is home to his Ancestors, and now to his Spirit, appear for what it is, a paradise. Gulpilil provided all of Australia with a passport to Australia.
I feel that the greatness of David Gulpilil is yet to be fully acknowledged by mainstream Australia, and there are too few David Gulpilils’ in all walks of life and in every part of Australia.
Silvana Tuccio PhD, May 2022
* DISCLAIMER I publish this piece with due respect to the people and cultures that I mention. And will make changes where appropriate.
**I am proud that the documentary Gulpilil: One Red Blood (2002) directed by Darlene Johnson screened as part of the second edition of Sguardi australiani: Koori Australia in Camogli, Italy, in 2003 (With patronage from the Australian Embassy in Rome, Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Regione Liguria).
Related pages
Sguardi australiani (conceived by Silvana Tuccio) featured the documentary Gulpilil: One Red Blood (2002) directed by Darlene Johnson
My 21+ years of Australian film criticism research, writing and events
"Zach's Ceremony(2017): un film per tutti" a workshop I delivered departing from Zach’s Ceremony (2017)
Time to listen, to Joseph Camilleri addressing the "Uluru Statement from the heart"