Samson and Delilah: Movie Review

Samson and Delilah: Movie Review

Rating: 8/10
Cast: Rowan McNamara, Marissa Gibson
Director: Warwick Thornton
This is the film which set all of Australia talking.
An incredibly powerful piece, it's the tale of Samson (Rowan McNamara) and Delilah (Marissa Gibson) both Aborigine who live on a reservation.
Life for them in the reservation is hard - a series of repetitive monotonies (as signified by Samson's brother's band which bashes out the same tune daily) and which offers no real hope.
One day Delilah's nan dies and after she's set upon by locals who claim she didn't look after her nan properly, Samson takes matters into his own hands, steals a car and the two head away from the reservation for what they believe is a better life.
However, they end up on the streets, struggling to get by and much worse off than they were - will they survive?
What an incredibly powerful and moving film this is.

Director Warwick Thornton's taken examples of his life in Alice Springs and put it up on the big screen for everyone to see.

It's mesmerising, horrific, humorous and will leave you wondering how anyone could live in a place such as this.

Both the first time leads are stunning - their performances compel you to watch them - even if it is with a sense of heartbreak. They spend most of the film hardly talking and as their non-verbal tender relationship grows, I guarantee you will be left feeling sick to your stomach at the moments when the real shocks hit.

Samson and Delilah is at times bleak and painful to watch - but you are glued to the screen and left fully aware that for some, this is the daily reality of their life.

There's light at the end - but even without that ray of hope glistening, the entire film is still compelling - and sickening - in equal measures.