Global acclaim ... Deborah Mailman, Miranda Tapsell,
Jessica Mauboy and Shari Sebbens as the Sapphires.
Garry
Maddox, The Sydney Morning Herald, reports
Australia's answer to the Supremes entertain
the troops with Motown groove in The Sapphires.
It's
a cold Friday night at one of the dingiest locations in Australian filmmaking
history. The old Summer Hill Flour Mill in Sydney's inner west - complete with
broken pipes, a rat trap and a carpet of dust - is doubling for a hospital
basement where a budding singing group is practising.
Familiar
faces Deborah Mailman and Jessica Mauboy, in casual 1960s outfits, are working
on a song with newcomers Miranda Tapsell and Shari Sebbens.
It's
a key scene for the new Australian film The Sapphires, a comedy-musical
about an indigenous girl group who entertain the troops during the Vietnam War
as Australia's version of the Supremes. Their manager, Dave, played by Irishman
Chris O'Dowd (Bridesmaids), is trying to turn four amateurs from an
outback mission into a proper group.
''When
I first met you, you were doing your whole country and western thing,'' he
says. ''That's fine. We all make mistakes.'' The girls look at each other, not
sure whether to be insulted.
Dave
continues: ''But country and western music is about loss. Soul music is about
loss, too. But in country and western music, they've lost and they've given up
and they're just whining about it. In soul music, it's the relentless struggle
to get it back.''
The
group is now interested as Dave gets more passionate: ''So every note that
passes through your lips should have the tone of a woman grasping and fighting
and desperate to get back everything that's been taken from her.''
Watching
the scene from the back of the room are a group of older Aboriginal women -
''the aunties'', who were the real-life Sapphires - and writer Tony Briggs, who
turned his mother's story into a hit stage musical.
Fast
forward to this year's Cannes Film Festival.
In
considerably more glamorous surroundings, The Sapphires is getting a
10-minute standing ovation at its world premiere.
Having
been bought for international release by Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, the
film has just about the best possible launch.
''Just
walking up that red carpet was pretty surreal,'' director Wayne Blair says.
''It was a beautiful night. I didn't sleep at all, just from the high of it.''
As
an indigenous actor and theatre director, Blair had a role in the stage musical
in 2005. When it closed after successful seasons in Sydney and Melbourne,
Briggs told him various producers were interested in turning it into a film.
''Tony
said 'I want you to direct it,''' Blair says. ''I said, 'OK', not really
knowing the ramifications of that. Then Keith [Thompson] and Tony started to
write the film script and it felt great. I started to get behind it much more
as the director. For the past four years, we just worked all together.''
As
the reaction in Cannes suggests, The Sapphires is a feel-good film full
of rousing soul standards. It is also more than just a story about four young
women discovering love and tragedy in a war zone. Within a comic framework, it
talks about the obstacles they have to overcome as Aborigines in a country that
had only just given them the right to vote.
Mailman,
who also starred in the Belvoir stage show of The Sapphires, wanted to
be in the film version because she loved the strength of the four women.
''It's
an uplifting story,'' she says. ''The fact is, at that time in our country,
these women just went, 'We can do this', and were given an opportunity, and
they embraced it. It's inspiring for us in the younger generation.''
Mailman
says one scene that addresses the racism of the time was difficult to perform.
''We come into the pub for the talent show and us three sisters are playing a
Merle Haggard tune. To be in that situation, where it's a white racist pub, and
to be standing up on-stage having those people absolutely hate us was quite
confronting.''
Tapsell,
a NIDA graduate who describes her character as a female version of Mick Jagger
or Freddie Mercury, had never wanted a role so much.
''I
would have gone into a very deep and dark depression if I didn't get this,''
she says. ''Ever since I saw Deb do it back in 2005 with Belvoir, it's just
made me realise why I love acting, why I love performing. To see these strong
Aboriginal women in control of their destiny just inspired me so much to be
part of this project.''
Laugh it up
Australian
films dealing with Aboriginal stories have often been tough, uncompromising
affairs. Think Rabbit-Proof Fence, Samson and Delilah or last
year's Toomelah.
But
the little-seen Stone Bros. and the musical Bran Nue Dae have
widened the range of stories to include comedy.
Director
Wayne Blair says he wanted to make The Sapphires ''a joyful film, a
celebration'', while still addressing the politics of the time.
''To
see four black women up on screen just being who they are and not apologising
for it, that's quite special,'' he says.
Deborah
Mailman, who plays the oldest sister in the singing group, says the film shows
Aboriginal humour in a way rarely seen onscreen.
''The
next journey for us now within filmmaking - within our storytelling - is to
show the sense of humour that us blackfellas have in spades,'' she says.
''That's just part of who we are. When you get a mob of blackfellas together,
there's so much laughter and there's so much music. This story really
represents that.''
The Sapphires opens on August 9
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