''Dead Heart'' is a 1996 Australian film. It was written and directed by Nick Parsons, and starred Bryan Brown, Angie Milliken,

Ernie Dingo Ernest Ashley Dingo Member of the Order of Australia, AM (born 31 July 1956) is an Indigenous Australians, Indigenous Australian actor, television presenter and comedian, originating from the Yamatji people of the Murchison (Western Australia), ...

, Aaron Pedersen and John Jarratt. As a play, the piece was staged by Belvoir St Theatre, directed by Neil Armfield, at the Eveleigh rail yards, Sydney, in 1994. In 1993, the play received the NSW Premier's Literary Award for a play.

Story arc

The story is set in the isolated

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

, mainly Aboriginal town of Wala Wala, where an Aboriginal man is found dead in the local police lock up. The film explores the strained and complex relations between the people of the town in the aftermath, amidst growing tensions of forbidden love, sacrilege and murder. Bryan Brown plays the hardboiled local policeman and Ernie Dingo plays the idealistic local Aboriginal Christian pastor. Each of the characters is confronted with how to reconcile Aboriginal tradition with contemporary Australia.

Cast

* Bryan Brown as Ray Lorkin *

as David / Pastor *

David Gulpilil David Dhalatnghu Gulpilil (1 July 1953 – 29 November 2021) was an Australian actor and dancer. He was known for his roles in the films Walkabout (film), ''Walkabout'' (1971), Storm Boy (1976 film), ''Storm Boy'' (1976), ''The Last Wave'' (1 ...

as Second Man in Desert * Aaron Pedersen as Tony * John Jarratt * Angie Milliken as Kate / Les's wife * Marshall Napier as Sgt. Oakes

Production

Nick Parsons wrote a script called ''Dead Heart'' based on the true story of an Aboriginal who killed someone in the 1930s for traditional reasons. Parsons was not happy with it but decided to rewrite the story as a play when he attended

National Institute of Dramatic Art The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) is an Australian educational institution for the performing arts based in Sydney, New South Wales. Founded in 1958, it offers bachelor's, master's and vocational degrees in subjects including acting ...

(NIDA). He went up to the outback for five weeks to do research, and the resulting play was very popular. Bryan Brown read the original draft and wanted to produce it."Interview with Nick Parsons", ''Signet'', 19 June 1998
Retrieved 19 November 2012

Awards

The film gained three

Australian Film Institute Awards The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the film and television industr ...

nominations: "Best Achievement in Sound", "Best Original Music Score" and "Best Screenplay, Adapted". The film won the

Film Critics Circle of Australia The Film Critics Circle of Australia (FCCA) is an association of cinema critics and reviewers. It includes journalists in "media, television, major national and state papers, radio, national and state, online and freelance writers, Australian ...

Award for "Best Screenplay".

Box office

''Dead Heart'' was not as successful in the US or UK. In Australia, it grossed roughly $A500,000.

References

External links

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Dead Heart
at Oz Movies 1996 films Australian drama films Films about Aboriginal Australians Films set in the Northern Territory 1996 drama films 1990s English-language films 1990s Australian films English-language drama films Stage plays about Aboriginal Australians {{1990s-Australia-film-stub