It's a Bran Nu Dae... or is it?

I saw Bran Nu Dae the other day. I had no idea what to expect, and so was in turn surprised, delighted and occasionally a bit disappointed.
Between the sizzling on-scene presence of the main aboriginal characters, the bawdy, self depreciating humour, and the ridiculous story line I really wasn't sure whether to loath or to like this movie.
I realised that to be sitting in a theatre watching it performed live would have been the optimum way to see Bran Nu Dae. The atmosphere would have been wonderful; one might have been swept along in the romance of the road-trip and the music.In the coolish, dark and half empty Readings theatre on a Monday afternoon, I almost was.

I adore Dan Sultan- a black Elvis to be sure- and Jessica Mauboy is hot, hot, hot. Rocky McKenzie, as the lead boy, made love to the camera- and I hope he keeps his 'old-worldly' good looks, as he is just gorgeous. Ernie Dingo was quite wonderful as the errant Uncle Steven (Tadpole) Johnson. Geoffry Rush was the epitome of the creepy German Priest. Deborah Mailman was saucy and sultry as the drunk and over-sexed Roxanne.
Somehow, though, I felt some of the cast might have been playing to the camera, and others to the live audience. Such is the problem of the stage musical adapted for cinema.

I guess I didn't expect the movie to be the same as say, a Baz Lerhman production, or subtle and charming like other out-back stories we have come to love. Bran Nu Dae never tried to be a Samson and Delilah. You are supposed to laugh. I'm sure of that.
I just wish it had been bigger, fuller, more rounded, and with the finishing touches to make it a 'proper' movie because the level of talent was second to none. A more professionally padded and better edited package would have done them proud.

And yet it will no doubt exist as a cult classic and possibly become very popular in the future as a video. People will say that it's lack of polish improves it. You can't take away from the excellent treatment of the songs and the beauty of the scenery and the players. And the humour- totally culturally relevant and legitimate. I for one, felt slightly alientated in the way it positioned me, a white Australian- was I really allowed to laugh at the homeless alcoholic Aborigines? The drunken slut? The buffoonery of the young indigenous men? Well I did, but not unselfconsciously. There was a somewhat tokenistic treatment of the Aboriginal death in custody issue inserted into the plot, which sat awkwardly for me.
There was feel good ending, in the mad tradition of HMAS Pinafore, where everyone is related to each other, and it's all OK. But only onstage can this kind of insane premise work. Am I making my point clear?

At least the beautiful Mauboy and Sultan voices, the soft brown eyes of the main protagonist, the charm and surprise of the tuneful Ernie Dingo and the magnificent colours of the beautiful WA coastline will linger in my thoughts and bring cheerful memories to mind....