Samson and Delilah are two teenagers growing up without family support in a community outside Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory. They fall in love. Faced with the challenges of poverty, violence, boredom, drugs and sexual abuse, they are almost crushed, but survive. Warwick Thornton, the film’s writer and director, believes that while they’re aware of the area’s social problems, they view its Aboriginal inhabitants as barely more than statistics.
Thornton, an indigenous film-maker based in Alice Springs, aims to humanise his people through Samson and Delilah. He hopes to open the eyes of mainstream Australia to their plight, but insists his first feature-length work is about the redemptive power of love, not a political statement.
As for Baz Luhrmann, Thornton is diplomatic, suggesting that their films have different aims. While Luhrmann’s is a romanticised portrayal of Australia 70 years ago, he says, “if you want to tell the world what Australia is like today, you should watch Samson and Delilah”.He speaks to Brekky Broadcaster Gman..
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