Comments on: Interview with Warwick Thornton, writer/director of Samson & Delilah

By: nicoll

nicoll — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 01:56:41 +0000

And last night S and D picked up Australian Writers Guild Awgie awards, for best feature screenplay, and outstanding script … in spite of the fact that Warwick Thornton left school at 12 or 13 and has more or less taught himself to write.
This work must be a MUST see.

But I want to know … where did the two of you get the yak? And what did you have it with? Veges?

By: julie keech

julie keech — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 03:57:27 +0000

I work in the NT Darwin assisting youths in treatment programs for volatile substance misuse. I would love that this film could be used as a teaching tool for youths in the communities of the Top End as part of teaching, discussion program. What Warrick has done is terrific and extremely powerful because of the honesty.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 04:36:11 +0000

I think this is the best film i have ever seen. It is beautiful, powerful, original, important, poetic. Absolutely a “masterpiece”. I just wonder about the film that won the Palm d’Or this year. It must be quite good.

But I can’t wait to see more from this filmmaker and the doco about Aboriginal art is something I will really look forward to.

To me its interesting that Thornton is a cameraman and perhaps this explains why the film was made with so little dialogue. Its beautiful how well it has worked here.

I saw this when i got back home from the Northern Territory from my first just recently. I think not only should every Australian see it but every Aboriginal Australian. The violence in the film is not discussed above and was quite shocking in its specificity in the film. I think there’s nothing like being confronted with your own behaviour than something like a film or art. I mean the way those women beat the girl. That was truly shocking to me. And something i think only an aboriginal filmmaker could show.

As far as us whiteys go, it should help people who still don’t get it – about aboriginal Australia – this should help people find some compassion and understanding – if they could just be open to it.

By: Marie

Marie — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:35:51 +0000

I saw the film yesterday (happy birthday Warwick!) in Auckland, New Zealand, at the International Film Festival, with my young adult children. The theatre was packed. People applauded. A film that resonates quite deeply here too.

By: Maria Vouis

Maria Vouis — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 05:33:40 +0000

Brilliant film – realistic and tender. So well made considering it was made with so little money. Puts the Holleywood Big Spenders to wasteful shame. Little to no dialogue in the film and use of Indigenous Language and English as subtitles tells us a lot: Indigenous Language suffers so much in Post-Colonial Australia – these peoples are silent in more ways than one.

By: Fruth-Sachs Heide

Fruth-Sachs Heide — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:23:54 +0000

Travelling in Australia I saw Samson and Delilah in Sydney. It is a masterpiece. A grim reality is faced recklessly, but with humanity and hope. It is such a subtle performance, even if there is much violence (but one understands why). The main character speaks only one word, his name, but his body language is expressing it all. I loved the silent dialogues between the protagonists. What a contrast to all these chatty (mostly American) movies.
As a foreigner I felt very priviledged to have seen this film before going to Uluru und then to Nebo to meet friends (among them also Aborigines). My understanding of their situation has widened immensely. I am looking forward to seeing this film also coming to Europe (and Germany).

By: Hannah

Hannah — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:16:53 +0000

I saw the film last night and it lived up to expectations.
It was absolutely harrowing though I must say, and I think it will have massive implications for Australian society on the whole.

I think this is as major turning point in Australian and Indigenous cinema…I’m really hopeful. As a cinema studies student I have been studying Indigenous documentaries and narratives, and many of the criticisms of such films or areas that they could go ‘further’ are answered in Samson and Delilah.

I love that the film, as in Warwick’s short films, directly address the current problems but are not about white perceptions or relations with Aboriginal people. Films like Rabbit Proof Fence seem to be about condemning white behaviour, but a film that presents Indigenous subjectivities is so much more powerful. It’s not about the white characters and their behaviour, but about the Indigenous people themselves.

Well done to everyone involved, a film that we should all be proud of!

By: Haneke Wins Palme d’Or « The Movie Overdose

Haneke Wins Palme d’Or « The Movie Overdose — Mon, 25 May 2009 12:44:25 +0000

...] for Best First Feature was given to Australian Warwick Thornton for Samson and Delilah (interview here and review, by The Telegraph’s Sandu, which indicates the love to have come for this film), [...

By: john morse

john morse — Mon, 25 May 2009 02:26:58 +0000

I saw the film in Sydney surrounded by white middle aged folk . The gasps were continual and very audible. They were shaken by the honesty of this incredible film.
There are so many emotions and dimensions to it. The rawness, the love,the anger, the humour, the sadness, the culture, the understated morality of young aboriginal people searching for a new way, the despair and most of all the hope. The fact that this has been achieved with few words is quite brilliant.
This is one of the best films i have ever seen and richly deserves the Cannes award as the best first film. Every Australian shpould see it. As Warwick said in his interview it breaks down the wall between black and white because most of all,its an Australian story.

By: shirley foster

shirley foster — Sat, 16 May 2009 05:01:41 +0000

Congratulations. It is a very powerful beautiful story. I saw it yesteray at the State Theatre Hobart. wow! Shirley aged 80