Samson Delilah

Headline:

- The film Samson Delilah has extreme violence and distressing images, yet is the most realistic representation of an indigenous Australian group

Bi-Line:

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Introduction:

- In 2009, Warwick Thornton created one of the most significant and memorable films in Australia’s history. Based in the towns of Alice Springs and Santa-Terisa, we follow the struggle of two Indigenous trying to find a direction in life. The imagery the two actors, Rowan McNamara (Samson) and Marissa Gibson (Delilah) embody, are that of racism, abandonment and vexation. But seemingly through hardships of being the forgotten, abandoned, and racially excluded they only have the love of each to count on and make it through the day.

Body 1 (forgotten)

The first

Sure-enough racial exclusion and divide can be seen in many parts of Warwick’s film.

The first links we can see of this horrible behavior is by looking at the population in Alice Springs, besides Samson and Delilah we only ever see one other group of aboriginals who are too homeless and cut off. Not one other Aboriginal is seen in a good circumstance. This image of the aboriginal can also be justified in the scene where Delilah tries to sell a painting of hers to the art dealer. Without even a second of thought the man glimpsed at Delilah, saw what state she was in and told her he wasn’t interested, whereas the man who bought Delilah’s grandmother’s painting presumable sold to him often. Both paintings, Delilah’s one made in Alice Springs and Santa Terresa were beautiful, but the man didn’t care.

This racial exclusion can be linked to how people treat Samson and Delilah at both the church and IGA. At the church, Delilah comes back to the only place she feels she could be safe or get help, after just being raped she goes there to possibly tie connections with her grandma who would always go or just for herself. Instead the priest seeing her in her condition doesn’t bother to try to help or say anything at all, he instead treats her as a menace because of her

But, what he is trying to show it that for some communities the images Thornton portrays of racial discrimination and exclusion are still relevant, pushing people to question why its still going on in Australia. It’s a first world country and yet petrol sniffing and even rape are just part of living in the northern territory with no one really showing any signs of trying to end the cycle. This ignorance to needing any help then extends to the living conditions of Santa Terresa, and the extremely iconic pay phone ring being shun away as a background noise. And yet when presented with all these damaging aspects the sense of hope is kept in the back of the audience’s mind. Delilah and Samson have a resounding love for each other helping them to survive through the roughest of