High Ground

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio Ballarat and South West Victoria on March 5, 2021 and on ABC Central Victoria on March 1, 2021.

(MA15+) ★★★

Director: Stephen Maxwell Johnson.

Cast: Jacob Junior Nayinggul, Simon Baker, Callan Mulvey, Jack Thompson, Caren Pistorius, Ryan Corr, Aaron Pedersen, Sean Mununggurr, Witiyana Marika, Esmerelda Marimowa, Maximillian Johnson.

Xmas family photos were always so awkward.

There are moments when this well-intentioned Northern Territory drama soars like the hawk that gives its lead character his name. With its beautiful setting and ugly time period, High Ground often offers a difficult but riveting insight into the running battles and cultural clashes of the indigenous Arnhem Land people and the white colonials.

But too regularly the film struggles like a swimmer who ignored the "danger - crocodiles" sign and is now lunch - it's doomed by its own mistakes. It's a shame because this outback adventure has so much going for it.

The story focuses on Gutjuk (which means hawk) and Travis, played by Nayinggul and Baker respectively. Gutjuk is one of the few indigenous survivors of a massacre at the hand of white soldiers and settlers. Travis, who was with the murderers but didn't kill any indigenous people, takes the young Gutjuk to a nearby mission to be cared for and raised as an "assimilated aborigine".

But another survivor Baywara (Mununggurr), has re-emerged seeking revenge 12 years later and Travis' former superiors (led by Jack Thompson) think Travis and Gutjuk are just the men to bring Baywara in.

The biggest flaw here is the film's inability to get its motivations in order. Travis and Gutjuk have no real imperative to go on this quest, and are obviously the last people the authorities should be sending. This is just one spoiler-free example of the inexplicable motivations of those involved, with Travis' superiors - Moran (the iconic Jack Thompson) and his offsider Eddy (Mulvey) regularly doing things that are frustratingly confusing.

Similarly, the relationships between certain characters are either pointlessly obtuse or poorly constructed. Travis, a fine character well played by Baker, has an important and fascinating connection with Gutjuk, but easily corrected misunderstandings are never rectified. The relationship between Travis and Eddy is also laboured, while it feels like editing left out the important bits of whatever connection supposedly existed between Travis and the laughably underwritten mission matron Claire (Pistorius, whose character apparently doesn't age a single day in 12 years).

These key factors put a real dampener on the high points of High Ground. Newcomer Nayinggul is excellent and the film really shines in its second half when he is more dominant. Baker is a grounding influence when the film feels like it's getting lost in its mistakes, Thompson adds gravitas, Pedersen is awesome if under-used, and Mununggurr, Marika, and Marimowa are all excellent, particularly the latter as a powerful warrior woman who probably deserves her own film.

The film's efforts to display indigenous culture and use language are to be commended. While the many shootouts are visceral and well done, just as riveting is a mid-point scene where an indigenous clan sits down for a meeting with Thompson's police chief. It's a powerful demonstration of the cultural differences at play, told with a grace and humour and that are the film's best assets.

Johnson's attempts at a documentary-style works on occasion, capturing the danger and beauty of the landscape and the various forces within it. Elsewhere, the incessant camera wobbles are distracting and add little, and the film regularly dips into travelogue territory.

High Ground often soars like a wedge-tailed eagle, but too often it fails to fly, stifled by attempts to wedge characters into places they shouldn't be. Still worth a look, but not the classic it could have been.