One Night the Moon

TIFF [2002]

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(2001, Australia)
Cast: Paul Kelly, Kaarin Fairfax, Memphis Kelly, Kelton Pell
Screenplay by: Rachel Perkins, John Romeril
Directed by: Rachel Perkins

Rachel Perkins’ period-Outback-musical packs more of a dramatic wallop in its modest 57 minute running time than many of the earnest civil rights melodramas nearly three times its length. It’s the true story of a young girl’s disappearance into the harsh South Australian countryside in the early 1930s. Her father, a proud and racist farmer, refuses the services of Albert, a reputable Aboriginal “tracker” and member of the local police. As the scattershot search plods along for days and then weeks, the father becomes a remote and impotent drunk. His wife surrenders to her conscience and turns to Albert for help, even though he has retired from duty as a result of this bigotry. Knowing instinctually that the child “followed the moon”, Albert navigates the terrain with relative ease, only to discover her dead.

At first glance an unlikely subject for a musical, “One Night The Moon” is one of those rare and welcome go-for-broke creative gambles that “shouldn’t” work but does. Sure, the story could have been told straight, and was intended to, in a documentary entitled “Black Tracker”, until director Perkins was hired to replace a director who had conceived of the story as a mini-opera before taking ill. An obvious labour of love and an important statement to Australia’s current political climate, it’s also something of a family affair, too, as Kelly’s wife (actress Kaarin Fairfax) and daughter (Memphis) assume their fictional counterparts onscreen.

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Perkins, a self-confessed newcomer to musicals, wisely begins with a song, immediately establishing the “tragic-musical” genre of the film. Australian pop singer Paul Kelly as the broken father, sings “I Don’t Know Anything Anymore” as he wanders through his tomb of a home, before exiting into the desert and ending his tortured lament with a single gunshot. None of other numbers are overtly stylized or choreographed (Ken Russell this ain't!); rather, the songs function as dialogue and articulated inner monologues. Most outstanding for me was the duet “This Land”, in which the smug father leads the search, declaring, “this land is mine”, crosscut with Albert returning home in defeat with his softer refrain “this land is me”. Ultimately, each man discovers that the land is an amoral entity that takes what it wants.

“One Night The Moon” has already been released in Australia, hopefully, it will find worthy distribution in North America and abroad—admittedly, even the cheeriest of musicals is a tough sell today. The subject might be bleak, but for such a small and sparse narrative, “One Night The Moon” contains some big themes: racism, tolerance, reconciliation, all conveyed through subtle performances (sung, no less), some truly haunting visuals (both near and far: foreboding landscapes, tortured faces), and a notable lack of ham-handedness. The conflict here isn’t a noisy clash of cultures, but rather, the chasm between them.

- Robert L

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