Film of the month: High Ground, a gripping tale of Australia's First Nation People's history

The first ever Aussie Film Festival has landed in Singapore! Presented by the Australian High Commission, you’ll find High Ground (2021) amongst the brilliant films offering a glimpse of Australia ’s rich cultural diversity. A powerful and moving Australian western surrounding power and injustice, High Ground is not to be missed.

Gutjuk is an indigenous boy learning his tribe’s way of life under the tutelage of Baywara, his uncle, when two indigenous men arrive seeking asylum from the North Australian police force. Not wanting any trouble for their families, the tribesmen agree to shelter them for the night and no more, with Gutjuk eavesdropping nearby.

The men, however, were followed by a police unit including former World War I sniper Travis. When the operation goes awry, leading to the massacre of the whole tribe, Travis finds Gutjuk and leads him to safety at a Christian mission. Disgusted with the ensuing coverup, Travis leaves the police force and disappears into the bush.

Twelve years later, Travis’ past comes back to haunt him when he’s tasked by the police to take down Baywara, who survived the massacre, and his renegade group of of Indigenous warriors.

Enlisting the help of 18-year-old Gutjuk, Travis attempts to repent for his past by taking Gutjuk under his wing and acting as a peacekeeper between the police and Darrpa’s tribe, Baywara’s father and Gutjuk’s grandfather. Is peace an option for the people, or for Gutjuk, when he discovers Travis’ role in his family’s annihilation?

Director Stephen Maxwell Johnson takes a microscope to the sobering realities of colonialism in Australian history that grapples with the gross mistreatment of its indigenous population. With the cinematography’s focus on the opposing convictions and turmoil of the film’s characters, it is a humanising gaze in which we witness the futility of oppression and xenophobia.

The film is a powerful commentary on colonialism and how the only form of justice enforced by colonialists is their own, disregarding the lives and rights of aboriginal people who they view as inferior.

On one end of the conflict are Baywara’s mob and the police, righteous in their clashing quest for justice, and on the other are Grandfather Darrpa’s tribe and the missionary siblings, wishing only for peaceful co-existence.

Trapped in the middle are Travis and Gutjuk, whose journeys we follow as they attempt to navigate the contradictions within justice and peace. In the end, while the guilty do answer for their wrongdoings, no one is left innocent and without blood on their hands.

Simon Baker is brilliant as Travis, the perfect embodiment of a principled man haunted by his past. Tortured as he is, Travis is compassionate to the very end, only wishing to do right by Gutjuk even if it cost his life.

Opposite Baker is Jacob Junior Nayinggul ‘s moving portrayal of Gutjuk. For his first ever film role, Nayinggul impresses in his nuanced portrayal of a young mission-raised boy who grows into a man in his journey to avenge his slain family.

Poignant and thought-provoking, High Ground offers insight into an important part of Australia’s First Nations Peoples’ history, a must-watch to drive home the importance of diversity and inclusion.

High Ground is available for screening from now till March 27, 2022 at The Projector 6001 Beach Rd, 05-00 GOLDEN MILE TOWER, Singapore 199589. Tickets are priced at $15.

This article was first published in City Nomads.