''Where the Green Ants Dream'' (german: Wo die grünen Ameisen träumen, links=no) is a 1984 German film directed by

Werner Herzog Werner Herzog (; born 5 September 1942) is a German film director, screenwriter, author, actor, and opera director, regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema. His films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with un ...

, made in Australia. Based on a true story about

Indigenous land rights in Australia Indigenous land rights in Australia, also known as Aboriginal land rights in Australia, relate to the rights and interests in land of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia, and the term may also include the struggle for thos ...

but slated as a mixture of fact and fiction, the film only got a limited release in Australia and was not well received by critics, although it did fare a bit better in Europe and North America.

Plot

Based partly on the ''

Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd ''Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd'', also known as the Gove land rights case because its subject was land known as the Gove Peninsula in the Northern Territory, was the first litigation on native title in Australia, and the first significant lega ...

'' ("Gove land rights") case about

Indigenous land rights Indigenous land rights are the rights of Indigenous peoples to land and natural resources therein, either individually or collectively, mostly in colonised countries. Land and resource-related rights are of fundamental importance to Indigenou ...

on the

Gove Peninsula The Gove Peninsula is at the northeastern corner of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. The peninsula became strategically important during World War II when a Royal Australian Air Force base was constructed at what is now Gove ...

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia, with the term still in use. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compan ...

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

, it was a mix of fact and fiction. The ant mythology was claimed as Herzog's own, but some First Nations peoples did consider the green ant as a

totem A totem (from oj, ᑑᑌᒼ, italics=no or ''doodem'') is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan system. While ''the wo ...

animal that created the world and humans.

Wandjuk Marika Wandjuk Djuwakan Marika OBE (1927 or 1930 – 16 June 1987), was an Aboriginal Australian painter, actor, composer and Indigenous land rights activist. He was a member of the Rirratjingu clan of the Yolngu people of north-east Arnhem Land in ...

noted that the ant Dreaming belief existed in a clan that lived near

Oenpelli Gunbalanya (also spelt Kunbarlanja, and historically referred to as Oenpelli) is an Aboriginal Australian town in west Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia, about east of Darwin. The main language spoken in the community is Kunw ...

in the Northern Territory.Hurley, AW (2006) "Re-imagining ''Milirrpum v Nabalco'' in Werner Herzog's ''Where the Green Ants Dream''. Passages: law, aesthetics, politics 2006, Australia. The film is set in the

Australian outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a n ...

and is about a land feud between a mining company called Ayers (based on

Nabalco Nabalco, (North Australian Bauxite and Alumina Company) was a mining and extraction company set up in 1964 to exploit bauxite reserves on the Gove Peninsula, Australia. Nabalco was renamed ''Alcan Gove Pty Ltd'' in 2002. Nabalco was formed from ...

) and the local Aboriginal people. The Aboriginal people claim that an area the mining company wishes to work on is the place where green ants dream, and that disturbing them will destroy humanity.

Production

Herzog made use of professional actors as well as Aboriginal activists from the

who were involved in the case and local Aboriginal people from the main filming location, the desert town of

Coober Pedy Coober Pedy () is a town in northern South Australia, north of Adelaide on the Stuart Highway. The town is sometimes referred to as the "opal capital of the world" because of the quantity of precious opals that are mined there. Coober Pedy is ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. It was also filmed in and near

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Victoria.

, recommended to Herzog by

Phillip Adams Phillip Adams, Philip Adams, or Phil Adams may refer to: Sports * Phillip Adams (American football) (1988–2021), American football cornerback * Phillip Adams (sport shooter) (born 1945), Australian pistol shooter * Phil Adams (cricketer) (born 1 ...

, was a leader for the

Rirratjingu The Dangu (Dhaŋu, Dhangu) are an Aboriginal Australian people of Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory, one of many Yolŋu peoples. They are, according to Norman Tindale, to be carefully distinguished from the Djaŋu. Two prominent clans of ...

clan of the Yolngu people, an artist and musician who was involved in activism for Aboriginal rights. His

didgeridoo The didgeridoo (; also spelt didjeridu, among other variants) is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgeridoo was developed by ...

music is used in the movie, and several members of his family were cast in the film. The contract with Herzog allowed the Marikas to make enough money to move from

Yirrkala Yirrkala is a small community in East Arnhem Region, Northern Territory, Australia, southeast of the large mining town of Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Nhulunbuy, on the Gove Peninsula in Arnhem Land. Its population comprises predominantly ...

to their ancestral region of

Yalangbara Yalangbara is a coastal area in the East Arnhem (Miwatj) region of Australia's Northern Territory, around south of Nhulunbuy, the largest town in the area. It is on the country of the Rirratjingu clan of the Yolŋu people, and is one of the m ...

(aka Port Bradshaw).

Cast

Bruce Spence Bruce Spence (born 17 September 1945) is a New Zealand–Australian actor. Spence has amassed over 100 film and television credits and has also acted in theatre. Biography Spence won an AFI Award for Best Actor for his role in the 1971 comedy ...

as Lance Hackett *

as Miliritbi *

Roy Marika Roy Dadaynga Marika (1925 – 1993) was an Aboriginal Australian artist and Indigenous land rights in Australia, Indigenous rights activist. He was a member of the Marika family, brother of Mawalan 1 Marika, Mathaman Marika, Milirrpum Marika and ...

as Dayipu *

Ray Barrett Raymond Charles Barrett (2 May 19278 September 2009) was an Australian actor. During the 1960s, he was a leading actor on British television, where he was best known for his appearances in ''The Troubleshooters'' (1965–1971). From the 1970s, ...

as Cole *

Norman Kaye Norman James Kaye (17 January 1927 – 28 May 2007) was an Australian actor and musician. He was best known for his roles in the films of director Paul Cox. Early life and education Kaye was born in Melbourne and won a scholarship to study at ...

as Baldwin Ferguson * Ralph Cotterill as Fletcher * Nick Lathouris as Arnold *

Basil Clarke Sir Thomas Basil Clarke (12 August 1879 – 12 December 1947) was an English war correspondent during the First World War and is regarded as the UK's first public relations professional. Early life Born in Altrincham, the son of a chemist, C ...

as Judge Blackburn *

Ray Marshall Freddie Ray Marshall (born August 22, 1928) is an American economist who is the professor emeritus and Audre and Bernard Rapoport Centennial Chair in Economics and Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. Early life and education ...

as Solicitor General Coulthard * Dhungala I. Makika as the "mute" *

Gary Williams Gary Bruce Williams (born March 4, 1945) is an American university administrator and former college basketball coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Maryland, the Ohio State University, Boston College, and American University. I ...

as Watson *

Tony Llewellyn-Jones Tony Llewellyn-Jones is a British-born Australian actor. He was nominated for the 1976 AFI Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his role in '' Picnic at Hanging Rock''. Born in London, England, Llewellyn-Jones lived in Singapore, Kua ...

as Fitzsimmons * Robert Brissenden * Michael Edols as young attorney *

Bob Ellis Robert James Ellis (10 May 1942 – 3 April 2016) was an Australian writer, journalist, filmmaker, and political commentator. He was a student at the University of Sydney at the same time as other notable Australians including Clive James, Germa ...

as supermarket manager * Paul Cox as photographer *

James Ricketson James Staniforth Ricketson is an Australian film director, known for the feature film '' Blackfellas''. He became more widely known when he was charged with espionage for flying a drone in Cambodia in 2017. Film career Ricketson studied at the ...

Philip Adams Sir Philip George Doyne Adams KCMG (17 December 1915 – 14 October 2001) was a British career diplomat. He was born in Wellington, New Zealand and was educated at Lancing College, Sussex, before going on to read Philosophy, Politics and Eco ...

, mining leader *

Colleen Clifford Irene Margaret Clifford (née Blackford) (17 November 1898 – 7 April 1996), known professionally as Colleen Clifford, was a British-born performer, who worked in her native England as well as New Zealand and, later in her career, Australia. As ...

as Miss Strehlow

Reception

Critics of the film found it uncomfortably placed between a documentary and a

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

. Public intellectual, broadcaster and social commentator

was particularly incensed and claimed that the film implied that the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...

was against Aboriginal peoples, leading him to write an article titled "Dammit Herzog, you are a Liar!"Adams, P (1984), "Dammit Herzog, You Are a Liar!", ''The Weekend Australian Magazine'', 2–3 June, p. 2. It was generally poorly reviewed in Australia and did not get a wide release, and did not do as well in Germany as Herzog's previous films. Because of his name, it did get wide release in North America and Europe.

Film festivals and accolades

The film was entered in the

1984 Cannes Film Festival The 37th Cannes Film Festival was held from 11 to 23 May 1984. The Palme d'Or went to the ''Paris, Texas'' by Wim Wenders. The festival opened with ''Fort Saganne'', directed by Alain Corneau and closed with '' The Bounty'', directed by Roger D ...

, but did not pick up any awards there. It appeared as an official selection at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

, the

Thessaloniki Film Festival The Thessaloniki Film Festival is a Thessaloniki-based cultural institution focusing on cinema. The Institution organizes the Thessaloniki International Film Festival every November and the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival every March, while its y ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Festival du nouveau cinéma The Festival du nouveau cinéma or FNC (English: ''Festival of New Cinema'') is an annual independent film festival held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, featuring independent films from around the world. Over 160,000 people attend each year. One of ...

and the

Moscow International Film Festival The Moscow International Film Festival (russian: Моско́вский междунаро́дный кинофестива́ль, translit. ''Moskóvskiy myezhdunaródniy kinofyestivál''; abbreviated as MIFF) is the film festival first h ...

, but was not selected at either the

Sydney Film Festival The Sydney Film Festival is an annual competitive film festival held in Sydney, Australia, usually over 12 days in June. A number of awards are given, the top one being the Sydney Film Prize. the festival's director is Nashen Moodley. Histo ...

Melbourne International Film Festival The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venice Film Fest ...

. It won a Silver award in the Outstanding feature film category and Gold for Best Cinematography at the

German Film Award The German Film Award (), also known as Lola after its prize statuette, is the national film award of Germany. It is presented at an annual ceremony honouring cinematic achievements in the German film industry. Besides being the most important ...

s in 1984, and was chosen as the film of the United Nations International Conference of Constitutional Rights in

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

in March 1985.

References

External links

* * * {{Films and television series about Indigenous Australia 1984 films 1984 drama films Australian drama films German drama films West German films English-language German films Films directed by Werner Herzog Films set in Australia Films about Aboriginal Australians Films shot in South Australia 1980s English-language films 1980s German films