Samson & Delilah (II) (2009) User Reviews

Confronting

[hylinski · 8/10 · 22 September 2009]

This is an uncanny film which shows a side to Australia most Australians would prefer not to know. First Time Director Thornton presents a series of small tragedies without preaching, moralising and mostly without words, in a similar way to Cronenberg's masterpiece Spider. He creates an uncomfortable atmosphere, which is confronting but wholly realistic.

The main characters rarely speak. Delilah speaks only in an aboriginal tongue. Samson says one word in the whole movie, and that is a laboured attempt to say his own name. Other characters speak English freely, creating a point of difference between Samson and Delilah and the world they encounter. It also alienates them further.

This film gives a snapshot of the effects of substance abuse, extreme poverty, the violence within aboriginal society as well as the violence directed at it and worse of all the general apathy of the white population to these issues. The acting is unpretentious, the soundtrack sparse and conversation is absent.

The tragedies experienced by aboriginal people have no simple solutions. The first step toward a solution is to be aware that there is a problem. This film does that in spades. The sparse non-verbal presentation makes the viewer have to work to interpret the images shown. In the process one may glean an intuitive understanding, which is often the role of art.

Highly recommended.

A heartbreaking, original feature

[velutha1 · 8/10 · 11 March 2009]

I just saw this film at a screening in Melbourne following its premiere at the Adelaide Film Festival and was highly impressed. Not often are we shown Aboriginal stories shown on the big screen and told with sensitivity and realism. The filming of the Central Australian landscapes are beautiful and the characters are sweet, endearing and maddening at times (the grandmother is the most joyful character and worth the price of admission alone). Following the story of two star crossed lovers and the reality of Aboriginal life in the Territories, this is a film that should be shown widely and help to dispel the myth that the Australian film industry is somehow lacking - with films like this being produced, it's certainly not - we just need to see more of it.

demanding

[petersj-2 · 6/10 · 22 November 2009]

This movie is one that demands something from the movie goer. It needs to grow on you slowly. The pace is slow and if the audience is patient and prepared to give something back to the film it will affect you. I found it repetitive at first but rather than switching off I stayed with it and was glad I did. The acting is excellent. It is not a movie for the feint hearted and it is depressing. It should be. It is a film about hopelessness. Its hard to like Samson yet there are moments he smiles and your heart goes out to him. Della is superb as is the old woman and the drunken man who lets them share his home. Films like this should be made as there is an honesty you rarely see, the film is not dogged by political correctness. There is a danger people will not feel compassion for the characters as they are not glamorous likable people. The more you allow the film to touch you and you open your heart and your mind you will feel great compassion and love.

Samson and Delilah: the good fight

[kevin-rennie · 10/10 · 4 May 2009]

Samson and Delilah is a film that all Australians should see. It is confronting and disturbing: poverty, unemployment, petrol sniffing, violence, clashes within aboriginal communities and with so-called mainstream society. Nevertheless in keeping with the optimism of its writer/director Warwick Thornton, it offers some hope.

Warwick Thornton told Real Time magazine that:

"I'm one of the biggest romantics in the world and, from day one, these two kids had to live. That was the most important thing. It would have been quite easy for them to die and that's just wrong, that is so wrong. I couldn't live with myself as a writer. I need them to live for me as a human being, to feel stronger."

This is a very personal story about teenage love, more Romeo and Juliet if anything. The one bit of good fortune they have is that they are the right skins for marriage. The hair-cutting connection to the biblical story of Samson and Delilah is based in an ancient aboriginal custom.

Their courtship and bonding are unique, as Samson doesn't speak. Traditional communication such as sign and body language are a necessity.

This drama cannot be divorced from its social and political context. The seeming hopelessness and helplessness of remote aboriginal communities like this one screams out for not just understanding but some way forward. Some will not be happy with the solution presented here as it involves traditional homelands, demonised by some Australian commentators as "cultural museums" that offer little positive for the future.

Samson lives out the despair of many young men caught in this cultural chaos. Their lives revolve around western music and fading attempts to maintain traditional connections to land and family. Chronic boredom and lack of purpose exacerbate the aimlessness.

Delilah spends her time supporting the only functioning member of her family who is around, her Nana (Mitjili Napanangka Gibson). When the inevitable happens the pay back aunts follow ritual in punishing her but offer little other help to this 14 year old.

Their escape to Alice Springs reflects the everyday life of many aborigines who have looked to towns for some solution. We see the exploitation of indigenous artists, local hostility to the homeless, the massive gulf between tourists and the people they have come to see. Gonzo, played by Warwick's brother Scott Thornton, is a riverbed refugee who finds solace in cask wine and his own songs. He is their sole support in Alice. When he looks to religion for his salvation, they do not follow this well-trodden path.

Thornton brings out the best in his inexperienced cast. The performances of relative newcomers such Marissa Gibson Rowan MacNamara are remarkable. They handle the tragic and comic moments with equal ease.

The Real Time interview, the official website and its downloadable Press Kit have detailed insight into Warwick's motivation and methods. Both well worth a visit.

"Everybody owns a reason for being. In everybody's journey through life there is the good fight. Samson & Delilah is my reason for being. It is my good fight. (Warwick Thornton)

Lacking a connection

[jem132 · 6/10 · 14 June 2009]

I was left slightly disappointed by this Australian drama that has got rave reviews, and a Camera D'Or from Cannes Film Festival. I can't deny that it's much better than the average crop of Australian cinema, but I felt director Warrick Thornton's willingness to take a measured approach towards conveying the hardships of young Indigenous Australians also makes the viewer emotionally distant towards his characters, and story. I just felt that I could never really connect with Samson and Delilah, and the love they are supposed to share. The two actors in the roles are good though, especially as they had no acting experience previously. The cinematography is wonderful, with many breathtaking images. But I just couldn't connect.

A classic in the minimalist tradition of Bresson

[manjits · 10/10 · 18 December 2009]

Don't go by the fact, it's an Australian film made by a virtually unknown aboriginal writer-director-cinematographer Warwick Thornton on a shoestring budget with untrained first-time actors. "Samson and Delilah" is a movie Robert Bresson, Ingmar Bergman, Werner Herzog or Federico Fellini would have been proud of at the pinnacle of their glory. (And in the true Australian tradition, the next movie by Warwick Thornton may turn out to be a total dud – whatever happened to Stephan Elliott? – but I hope not.)

It's made in the austere style of minimalist emotions pioneered by Bresson in 1950s and 60s. There is no background music, other than a few recordings the two characters listen to on radio or tape; and hardly any dialogues (the two 14-year old aboriginal protagonists don't exchange a single word throughout the film).

Getting bored? Don't be. It's a profoundly touching and satisfying art film, the like of which we have not seen too many in the history of world cinema. It would easily be in my personal top-50 best movies of all times. However, if the best of Robert Bresson, Ingmar Bergman, Werner Herzog and Federico Fellini bore you, then please don't bother.

Faking the real

[thecatcanwait · 9 November 2011]

The racial stereotype of modern day Aborigines: deprived, disadvantaged, work-shy, illiterate, apathetic, living hopeless marginalised life's; prone to boozing themselves into oblivion.

Was this film going to deviate from the stereotype to tell us something new, different, original? No.

Non-actors doing a lot of non-acting. Don't give them too many, or any – in Samson's case – words to say; this mute inexpressiveness representative of how Aborgine's – in the wider society – have not been warranted a voice; they've barely any valid means by which to express their identity – other than flogging their tatty dot art; or authenticate their indigenous existence – other than being stuck away in isolated dusty tin huts, and left to, well – waste themselves away inside a vacuum of apathetic poverty.

I didn't see Samson and Delilah as romantic lovers; more like inured victims torpidly wandering around one another with nothing much better to do. Chronic passivity seems to leech out their souls like some kind of fatal disease. Even the "action" scenes look limply acted; Samson whacks a bro on head. Bro whacks Samson on head. Delilah gets whacked on head by aunts and elders for letting her old nan die. But all this whacking feels faked; the sticks look hollow, the whacking lacks real fight or resistance. Maybe that's Aborigine Warwick Thorntons (director) point: Aborigines have lost their resolve to resist, their will to fight for themselves. So they give up, give in, without a protest, without a murmur. Stupefied victims.

This passivity follows the film around like a mute little dog. Various horrible humiliations Thornton ticks off a checklist of offscreen accidents and abuses to contrive ongoing narrative; thereby giving a prick or two to the liberal conscience of white audiences; while tacking these Aborigine amateurs along, not giving them too much character to express or emote or saying to do. Thornton even casts his own brother Scott as a homeless alcoholic gonzo living under a fly-over; Scott repeats his dialogue like he were reading the script off the back wall. In other words, once again, the acting feels fake. Maybe something as contrived as "acting" is something yer old fashioned original Aborigine never had to do. Pretending – as in acting, and faking it better – is what yer new style inauthentic Aborigine is going to have to learn how to get a whole lot smarter at.

But right now the attitude – as personified in this film – is: Aborigines can't really be bothered. Or if bothered, they have to be returned to the outback to shoot kangaroo living in state subsided tin shacks, isolated, disconnected, disappeared. But with original Aboriginal authenticity preserved, and with integrity somehow still in tact.

An implausible, hopeful, "faked" ending. About as phony as the rest of the film had been.

Maybe art should kick you in the guts

[gr679317 · 7/10 · 16 March 2010]

I felt this film like a kick in the guts, and as I gasped for breath, the film embraced me with the restorative power of earth and human kindness. It might be going too far, however, to claim that the film shows the redemptive power of love, or to suggest that the absence of dialogue heralds a new and visual cinematic style.

I want to suggest that the absence of dialogue is, in this case, part of the work of art that contributes to portrayal of a world in which (after Spivak) those who are subordinated cannot speak.

As provoking as this film is, the outcome of a work of art is unpredictable and uncontrollable. It is not a documentary. A low budget film, short on actors. This world has no peers for the teenage protagonists. They are alone and outside, even in their own community. Both are beaten and cast out. The music played by Samson's brothers is played by wrote, without a spark. Delilah's role is to care for her grandmother. The daily routine passes, sunrise after sunset, suggesting more than literal time passes.

Take some of the visual imagery. The earth is lived in. The opening shot features the curtain lilting in the breeze, the image chillingly alters when Samson sits up to sniff solvents. Samson bathes in the sandy creek bed, his art is to kill a kangaroo, a cute travel documentary style shot of the animal is followed by his effortless art in killing it for food. The canvas on which Delilah and her grandmother paint is a part of daily life, to sit on, stand on, sleep on. The value of art in other hands cannot be comprehended or, despite a price tag, measured. Artists have always been outsiders, exploited.

Does the film show courtship or freeloading? Delilah starts as carer, with a purpose, loses that purpose and acquiesces, and only regains her purpose as carer at the end. The boy walks on in a daze while, pantomime-like, she is dragged off and raped, or struck by a car, in full view of the audience but behind his back. Her apparent return from the dead provides him with salvation, but not necessarily redemption. The curious Christian imagery – the church turns her away (or she forsakes the church), yet she places a cross of twigs inside the rough stockman's hut in the closing sequence. Indeed the curious European imagery of the closing sequence leaves you wondering.

The image of the first stone hitting her back still strikes – you know that must have hurt. The cutting of her hair, the sound of the serrated knife – you don't need to know the customs (or indeed if there is a custom or a mythic reference) to feel what it means. The sequence at the end when she bathes him in the stock trough, white soap on his black skin, the first (maybe second) time she has touched him in the entire film. The rifle crack when she shoots a kangaroo for food. She has rediscovered the power of having a purpose, not the power of love.

A magnificent allegory

[brimon28 · 10/10 · 20 May 2009]

One goes to a drama to suspend disbelief. Whether you are a believer or sceptic, Samson and Delilah is different. This is true realism, the director establishing time in a truly cinematic way. The beginning is slow, with the utter boredom of the characters shown by the repetition of scenes in which nothing changes. Later in the film a very subtle sequence shows the lapse of time by the change from a full moon to a crescent. Other viewers seem to have misinterpreted this sequence. This is true cinema. Samson is a petrol sniffer. In a community where there is no work, no commercial entertainment, and no fun, Samson and his brothers try to amuse themselves. The result is violent, but funny. Delilah is learning to paint with the help of her grandmother. Painting is a valuable source of income to the Australian aboriginal. They say: 'You whitefellers have to go to school to learn art; we know, in here.' Australian film makers have an enviable reputation for documentary. This is a documentary with a story. We now have a tradition in photography, cinematography and the graphic arts, particularly amongst Aboriginal women, that is very significant. It is no surprise that the Aboriginal woman has brought new weight to feminism. In Samson and Delilah, Delilah finishes up with the power. She controls the gadgetry - and the psychology.

We don't need to be told that Samson thought Delilah was dead. He is shown inspecting the skid mark. This movie is so full of these subtle hints. So Delilah appears with her hair 'done.' Well, she'd been in hospital for two weeks, hadn't she?

Conscice and functional on an array of different levels, Samson and Delilah is a strong debut feature on top of everything else good about it.

[johnnyboyz · 7/10 · 3 May 2011]

Samson and Delilah, for the most part, appears to play out like True Romance as directed by Abbas Kiarostami; a love story of sorts between two relatively down and out people slowly chugging along in their lives, and yet pertaining to whatever law exists, within a working community torn apart by squalor and down-trodden existences whom decide to high tail it out of there in an attempt to start over out in the wider world. It is to first time director Warwick Thornton's credit that he manoeuvres a story about two disparate youngsters of opposing genders down a path that more-so resembles something such as Malick's Badlands than something in the vein of True Romance; Samson and Delilah a really rather wonderfully executed coming of age piece set amidst the lower echelons of Australia's indigenous community, a political parable linked to Australia's indigenous communities' 'place' in Australian society and a rather sweet, underplayed love story with ample attention to the duality those therein share.

The film begins with one half of the titular duo waking up on this, another hot; lazy; sluggish morning in dusty Outback Australia. We wake up into the film with him, a young boy named Samson, played by Rowan McNamara and here cutting rather-a dash as Lasith Malinga, whom lives alone with his brother in a small wooded house in a small street doubling up as an entire community. Samson enjoys sniffing motor oil, a batch of which he has tucked away in a plastic bottle enabling him to remove the lid once in a while so as to inhale a fix. In other areas of living, the man is positively Neanderthal; the drawing on walls calls to mind that of crude scribblings on caves one might have done millennias ago, his lack of speech going hand in hand with his ambling around from place to place – attempts at 'wooing' a female ending as we predict whilst the clubbing of a wild animal during a bout of Heaven-only-knows-what instills a crude, highly primitive sense about the guy. Upon waking up, he tries to steal a quick five minutes on his brother's guitar, a musical instrument requiring grace and precision, and he does so very badly before he is forced off it: dismissing those whom go on to strike up a good sound as a four-man-band.

Additionally awakening on this morning is Delilah, and additionally played by first-time actress Marissa Gibson; a character whom must care for her elderly grandmother, her last surviving relative and make sure to provide her with the correct medicine and such in what is a demonstration of precision and grace instilled into an activity which Delilah is able to execute. Delilah and her relative additionally spend their time creating neat mosaics on basic canvases so that they may be sold in a nearby town, activities again which require creativity and precision which it's established the man Delilah shares the title of the film with lacks. Samson and Delilah converge, once, outside of a store during this day; very little is said but much is implied through body language and suggestion, an early coming together a demonstration of the pair of them communicating through action and reaction which will go on to forge the essential characteristics of their bond.

In the evenings, music is again an item that arises; for Samson, the tuning into an FM radio as a DJ churns out popular music for anybody willing to send in a request is the order of proceedings; his lack of having a definitive taste and therefore having to feed off of what everybody else wish to hear prominent. Delilah, on the other hand, tunes into a very specified brand of music; a tape cassette of Latin American music which she enjoys by herself in the confines of an automobile on its tape player. These characters could not be any further apart in this sense, and yet opposites begin to attract; a final instance of binary opposition as the catalysts which push them together being the shooting of Delilah through hues of red as Thornton constructs an objectification of Samson around her gaze: his wiry shirtless dancing to blued out compositions having her come to feel what she previously did not.

The film mutates into the having of them leave the slum, a branching out into the wider world driven by two tragic instances that befalls either character; instances specifically linked to internal problems with whatever little family each of them has, a breaking up through whatever means or for whatever reason ultimately the item that pushes the disparate pair together. The leaving of the township for a homeless existence beneath a flyover bridge sees them maintain a solid partnership for the best part without ever actually saying anything; an unusual characteristic that will for some carrying with it problems more broadly linked to realism but in actuality, is probably some sort of sociological metaphor for the general marginalisation of Australia's indigenous people (that is to say, the literal taking away of their voices) by the state itself. Thornton strikes us as a competent director, his cine-literacy rendering this on screen silent romance one of which is executed with the sort of vigour imbued within, whilst most probably drawing inspiration from, something such as Chaplin's City Lights. Regardless of sources of inspiration, and more-over the mere labelling of it as "Kiarostami does Natural Born Killers by way of City Lights", the film is an exciting; enthralling debut from someone whose future work ought to be looked forward to with great anticipation.

It had potential but it failed to really achieve

[ahk_darah · 3/10 · 15 January 2010]

OK, so I finally went out and watched this film and I really did not like it a great deal either. I am Aboriginal and from a small community and now live in the city and I am very familiar with a lot of what the film presents.

I think the acting was great and they both came across very real but I think the script or lack of was very unbelievable. I understand why Samson didn't speak, because sniffing petrol actually destroys the brain, but Delilah should have spoke at a lot of times. There is no reason for her not to speak, especially since she seemed at least a bit switched on. I understand her Nan just died and that affected her, but it is just not really real that she would have not have said anything to Samson ever. If she had enough frame of mind to go get paint and canvas and try to sell she would have definitely at least said something to somebody. I think the film maker was trying to be artistic and he sacrificed dialogue for it, and it was not believable to me. I also understand non-verbal communication is a very big part of my culture, but when we are with our own people we talk a lot. I know a lot of people dealing with similar things and they definitely speak. I had no problem with Samson not speaking because of the petrol, but I had a very big problem with Delilah not speaking.

Also, people keep saying they communicated through body language and looks, but for the most part they didn't do that either. They did it a little in the first few scenes at the town camp but after that they didn't really communicate at all, it was more like she was just following him around and he was too high off petrol to really care. By not allowing his characters to speak he did not allow them to express their frustrations and anger and this really was a let down.

I also did not believe it as a love story. The first scenes of courting made sense but she did not seem to take a shine to him at any part of the movie, it just seems like she stayed with him just because. I mean did she ever even smile at him? Aborginal people are very passionate and it makes no sense to me why they did not really interact with each other or what she liked about him.

I think a lot of people who like this film think it gives them a glimpse at remote Aboriginal life, but I think it does not offer any explanations and leaves too much open for interpretation and it seems to me most people interpret wrong. I also am not comfortable with the shoplifting thing and the lack of positive Aboriginal characters. There are never any good Aboriginal characters for our youth to aspire to be like on TV, all we got is sports and music, thats not good.

I think the praise this film is getting should have been given to Yolngu Boy ten years ago. That is a film that was criminally overlooked and still is.

regarding Samson and Delilah, I liked the portrayal of petrol sniffing but as an "optimistic love story" that it is presented as, I see no optimism in the film just hopelessness (which I personally don't feel reflects reality) and I did not believe it as a love story either.

I think it might have worked as a short film but as a feature film it is very underdeveloped and really does not allow people to connect with the characters or the story. I have no problem with people liking art type films, but when it is presented as being real and as a reflection of Aboriginal life in remote communities but it really is not real because it is trying to be artsy, I have a problem.

Rare Beauty

[maveric1974 · 9/10 · 8 June 2009]

Saw this at Cinema Nova in Carlton this afternoon..There was a lineup of 100 deep to get into the cinema, something I have never experienced before at Cinema Nova..The movie started and there was silence..around us and in the movie! Words weren't needed..Things we have read, things we have been told about, we watch unfold in front our eyes..Unflinching in in it's portrayal of a culture and people abandoned and victimized by us Australians..The movie itself is brilliant, but what message will we take away from it? Go to work tomorrow and discuss with people how brilliant it is? Have lunch/dinner with friends and rave on about it's searing truth? We were ready to help the people affected by "Black Saturday" so generously, but what about these people who need such a huge helping hand and who have been truly abandoned by us even though they are the original bearers of this great land of ours? Such fantastic pictures we paint of Australia, mate! Sunny, beaches, seafood, Opera House, the Harbour bridge etc..but for these people the reality is painfully far from all that..

Deeply affecting for me, I hope that everyone at the cinema today felt the same..As a nation, we need to galvanize ourselves so that we may save this important heritage from becoming completely extinct..But I fear many of us will shy away at the magnitude of the task ahead..It's a race of people we have hardly ever understood and so different that we steer clear..Yes, I have been one of those people who have looked at them with suspicion in stores, in super-markets, in restaurants and cafés etc..I have learned a few things today and hope I can help in some way..

Watch this please, it's an important movie with huge social implications for our society and for us as Australians..Too beautiful for words, Samson and Delilah will take your breath away

Much-needed insight into an oft-ignored reality.

[s_meerman · 6/10 · 1 July 2015]

This movie is not a romance. That needs to be made perfectly clear right from the start.

What this story is about, is knowledge, power & choice - and the lack of it in Australian Aboriginal communities.

SPOILERS BELOW.

Delilah is a teen in a tiny world of stagnant heat and no future outside it. She cooks for herself and her grandmother, cares for her like an infant, wheels her grandmother along sandy roads to the doctor's and church and helps her make paintings which they sell to a white middle-man for a living. In her minimal free time, she sneaks away to listen to French music.

Samson is a teen with a speech disability (possibly more) who wanders aimlessly, sniffs petrol and is sweet on Delilah. His liking is not reciprocated, but like a child he persists - and like water wearing down a rock, the audience can see that he'll get what he wants eventually, if only for Delilah's lack of power to have her choices respected.

Then her grandmother dies and, bizarrely to a cultural outsider, Delilah is blamed for it. Physically and verbally beaten and accused by three women with sticks, (the movie makes no effort to actually educate its viewers about why this might happen) she is without support or care or compassion.

Samson packs her unconscious body in the communal truck and drives away. Thus begins their 'journey of survival' - with kidnapping and theft.

The resulting difficulties - a near-complete inability to function within white society, no awareness of aid establishments, shoplifting, homelessness, hunger and (for Delilah) abduction, violence, implied rape & hospitalisation - do *not* equate to a romantic story of a woman who suffers for love. She suffers because she has *no other choice*, because she doesn't know what else to do, because she has no-one to help her and the only person who cares - Samson - is equally ignorant and without options, but plus an addition.

This is a story about a girl who has had everything stripped from her except for a boy who doesn't really exist outside his petrol sniffing. There is no background of love, no childhood of friendship, no deep connection to offset his utter uselessness - there is just a girl who is drowning and will hold on to any line she is thrown - and Samson, to his credit, does seem to want to care for her - even though he never really does.

The ending is intended to be happy but is in reality quite depressing - assuming it all isn't just a petrol delusion. Delilah has swapped her infirm grandmother for a brain-damaged Samson and appears to have resumed the exploitative relationship with the white middleman her grandmother sold her paintings to. About the only net positive is that both teens have escaped their community.

Watch this movie to get a glimpse into an alien culture inside Australia and then go read a more educated breakdown of it - but do not delude yourself that this is anything other than a story of dis-empowered suffering.

I Hate Films That Exist to Be Endured

[evanston_dad · 2/10 · 17 March 2011]

"Samson and Delilah" isn't a badly made movie by any stretch of the imagination, but I nonetheless mostly hated it.

It tells the story of two lonely teenagers in aboriginal Australia, pretty much discarded on the trash heap of Australian society (as is the entire aboriginal community if this movie is any indication) who go off together to eke out an existence of sorts in an unnamed Australian city. It chronicles in grisly detail their descent into drug use and homelessness, heaping one horribly depressing indignity on another until it becomes nearly unwatchable. It's not that I don't feel bad for people whose lives are like this. On the contrary, I feel terrible, which is why a movie that exists for no other reason than to make me feel as bad as possible feels like a sermon delivered by some righteous do-gooder full of lessons I've already learned.

The last 20 minutes of the film do turn around and offer the hint of a happy ending, but it had already lost me by then and whatever even slightly positive conclusions the movie came to felt false.

Grade: D

An Original and Honest Depiction of Aboriginal Life in Outback Australia

[AtomicAce · 8/10 · 17 June 2009]

Those of us who have travelled the Australian Outback will recognise the backdrop to "Samson and Delilah" – aboriginals living in squalid housing amidst household garbage, derelict cars and ubiquitous dust. Warwick Thornton sets himself the difficult task of depicting the monotony, hopelessness and despair of this existence without boring and depressing the audience. To a large measure he succeeds, although this film will not appeal to those you go to the cinema to escape the real world. Thornton's great skill is to convey the developing relationship between the star-crossed lovers via body language rather than dialogue. The performances by untrained actors, especially Marissa Gibson (Delilah), are exceptional. Your view of this film is likely to be determined by whether you can empathise with the main characters and their inevitable misadventures. I certainly did, although I concede Samson's character was underdeveloped and very hard to like. Appropriately, the movie ends with a glimmer of hope based on the resilience and determination of aboriginal women.

two pour souls go with their lot

[mmunier · 20 May 2009]

Samson and Delilah! Hmm. Just recovering from "Tulpan" and the dose of boredom I endured watching it. I was not too keen with the prospect S&D would be. I did not read anything about it but knew it was about Aborigines people, and it also had very high review from well-known Australian film reviewers. But if this little, I learned that often you have to find out for yourself. It certainly was slow and I had to make an effort to stay with it as I was also nursing a "cold". Although by then in a fairly negative mood, I had to give in the cinematography so well executed and pleasing to the eye. As for the story, I found it difficult to enjoy, yet one can appreciate which is quite a different thing and could well have been the motivation to make this film. I read some previous comments here, and yes there were a lot of unrealistic events and handling, not mentioned previously, both kangaroo "hunting" seemed rather simplistic but I also felt, perhaps too much elaboration might distract the viewer from the intended theme. Some did not like the lack of dialogue, to me it made the story more powerful, often these days we rave on about communication or the lack of it, but I'm not quite convince this is entirely or necessarily done through a lot of verbal expression. So this worked for me. Recently I taught myself to make some noise blowing through what we call a "didgeridoo" and in some small ways thought that at least I would be treated with a little of its playing. Thank you for not giving it to me as I concluded it was much better suited without it or without other "clichés" often attached to Aboriginal representation; and thank you also for not going to the other extreme towards more depressing facts about Aboriginal reality. Possibly the impact is so stronger. I'm glad I attended this session and perhaps got more out of it than I did out of "Australia"

Not the life for me, sorry...

[natashabowiepinky · 6/10 · 24 September 2013]

Ssooo... let me get this straight. When someone you love dies in the Aboriginal culture, you cut all your hair off? And your home tends to be a small community of derelict buildings, where the only thing to do all day is weave carpets, play the same monotonous tune on a guitar or mess about in a rusty wheelchair? Damn, that sucks. And to top it all off, both of our main characters get beaten to within an inch of their lives by their so-called 'friends'. No wonder they both leave together in a stolen van for pastures new. What's most shocking is they decide to return later.

Despite the title, this isn't really a romance. Samson's infatuation with Delilah seems to be like a moth flying round a light... he's fascinated by something he can't comprehend. Here we have a guy who sniffs petrol, speaks once in the entire film and is completely unpredictable in his behaviour. He probably would be committed, if he didn't live so far from civilisation. So it's no big surprise the minute he sees the comparably normal and straight-laced Delilah, he wants to know what makes her tick. Alas, under his influence, she starts acting oddly too, especially when they meet the tramp under the bridge...

But I don't want to give too much away. Sufficed to say though, that major events that occur here, which would dominate any other film, are just brushed under the carpet five minutes later. The laid-back Aussie way, I guess. The performances do what was intended... Delilah is a nice girl we'd like to serve us in the chip shop, and Samson is a crazy (though with moments of tenderness) we'd cross the county line to avoid. It has a very loose story structure and will never be heralded as a shining example of cohesive writing but for what it is, it works. No more, no less. 6/10

Subtle, beautiful, flawed.

[Equivoco · 9/10 · 14 June 2009]

This is a movie of great subtlety and depth for most of it's length. The wordless exchanges between Samson and Delilah are sweet and touching, and Delilah's love and care for her grandmother are equally affecting. The cinematography is superb making the most of the desolate environment (both in the township and the city.) The title characters' descent into substance abuse is portrayed in a non-sensationalist way and the the undercurrent of racism is understated, and more powerful for that. (The cardboard cut-out villains in "Australia" lacked any sense of realism and hence any resonance.)

Where this movie fails to convince is when dialogue intrudes, particularly in the second half, Two words can speak volumes (the gallery owner's "Not interested" when Delilah offer him a painting) but whole sentences from the alcoholic aborigine under the bridge strike me as false. The upbeat ending is implausibly optimistic, but it at least allows some respite after the relentlessly grim preceding events. A very good movie despite its imperfections

Love in a vast and distant land

[raymond-106 · 7/10 · 12 June 2010]

With a biblical title like this one might come to expect a film of action and excitement. On the contrary it goes at a rather slow pace with very little dialogue and it's set in the middle of Australia where the land is empty and seems to spread out in all directions forever. Every day is the same ending with a sunset all red and gold. Then the black curtain of night descends and the stars come out.

The characters in this story are Samson an aboriginal teenager and Delilah an aboriginal girl of similar age living with her aged Granny. The two young characters are well cast. They are inexperienced actors but under good direction they deliver well. The best actor is Granny an old aboriginal woman with the most infectious chuckle. She teaches Delilah the ancient art of dot painting in the hope of selling them to tourists in Alice Springs.The film makers create a Samson who is a part of the land in which he somehow survives. Wirh no job, few friends, he leads an empty life with little hope for the future. His escape is petrol sniffing and listening to western music and admiring Delilah at a distance..

When Granny dies, Samson and Delilah go walkabout to Alice Springs camping under a railway bridge. In a typical aboriginal custom they share what little tinned food they have with a stranger. He rebukes them for their petrol sniffing saying it will damage their f***ing brains. This scene does not ring true.

The couple wander about in a dazed manner trying to sell paintings. Delilah is knocked down by a car and Samson staggers on back to the campsite unaware of the accident.

I thought that Delilah was killed. This was not made clear. The next scene shows her dot painting and care free and looking up into Samson's eyes. A very sudden change in mood I thought from their earlier behaviour. I really felt that eventually they would both die like Romeo and Juliet. But no,the film makers decided to finish with a ray of hope, however slim. Yhe film has a certain magic about it which lingers after the credits roll.

Excellent Film - watch it if you get the chance

[TrevorHickman · 8/10 · 22 November 2009]

A really good film showing the grim realities of Aboriginal life through the 'love-story' of Samson and Delilah.

What really impressed me with the film was the fact that both lead roles were played by amateurs. Both played their characters incredibly and (hopefully) have long and successful acting careers ahead of them.

Sure, there was little dialogue between them (Samson only says one word in the whole film) but to be honest as the film went on I grew to like this. Yes, you could argue that more dialogue would have developed their characters more, but by the end I had become comfortable with it and was glad that the director had taken this approach.

The cinematography is superb and the topic both harrowing and sad.

I scored the film an 8 because the last 10 minutes is basically romantic nonsense. Really the film should have finished at the car accident, but after a film that had so little light and positiveness then I can understand that it needed the solace that the 'romantic' ending gave it.

Overrated and half-baked

[josh-bassett · 5/10 · 10 May 2009]

Samson and Delilah was screened to a full house at Cinema Nova in Carlton, Melbourne last night. Knowing little about the film other than it being a hard-hitting insight into the lives of two Aboriginal kids growing up in a remote community in central Australia. Also, hearing that it had received glowing reviews from well-known film critics, I was prepared to be treated to a 5-star piece of Australian cinema.

Unfortunately, I found S&D a real disappointment. I want to make it clear that I'm not trying to shoot this film down. Indeed, it is a laudable attempt at tackling some of the issues faced by many Aboriginal youths in Australia. The cinematography was excellent, though I think this suggests Warwick Thornton is more comfortable as a cinematographer than a writer/director.

My gripe is with the film critics (David Stratton, Margaret Pomeranz, et al.) who unanimously appraise this film as a 5-star crown jewel of Australian cinema. Quite simply, this movie is NOT the pinnacle of Australian film making and to advertise it as such is a disservice to the Australian film industry. In my opinion, the highest level of appraisal should be reserved for the absolute cream of cinema. This is not cream, people! Is it somehow un-PC to call it like it is because of the politically sensitive content in this film? These critics need to put down the champagne and caviar, pull their heads out and start being honest and accountable.

I'm not going to reiterate the synopsis here, I only want to point out a few of the main issues, which in my view, let this film down: * The lack of dialogue gave us little insight into the main characters. Although we felt a great deal of sympathy for their situation, they were painted very 1-dimensionally and thus the viewer had a hard time empathising with their actions. Why didn't Thornton expand the relationship between Delilah and Kitty? They only managed to exchange a handful of lines before she died early in the film.

Samson and Delilah don't speak to each other during the entire film. If this was supposed to be for cultural reasons then Thornton completely failed to convey that important detail to the non-indigenous members of the audience. Lack of dialogue aside, there were too few other devices used to develop their relationship. Their interaction was minimal –even contemptuous– and most of the time they just followed one another around in silence.

Finally, to turn around at the end and suggest that Delilah actually really cares for Samson and they both live happily ever after in a little shack in the outback is quite a stretch given how little Thornton developed their relationship. To market this as a "love story" is an absolute joke.

* When Delilah was abducted it was unrealistic that she didn't break her silence. In real life someone being abducted by two hooded men would be screaming for their life. But no, Delilah just silently taps them on the head with her rolled up piece of canvas as they muscle her into the car.

* The car accident involving Delilah was dramatic and unexpected. Indeed, most of the audience in the cinema audibly gasped during the shock of the scene. Surely if Delilah was hit by a car with such force she would have been either killed (as Thornton lead us to believe) or severely injured and placed in hospital for a considerable period of time (weeks to months). However, when she shows up to rescue Samson she's hobbling on one crutch, her leg in a brace, and nary a scratch to be seen.

Logic provides the viewer with two options here: either she was in hospital for such a long time that she had recovered from more serious injuries, in which case Samson would not be sitting under the bridge in the same spot. The other option is that the car miraculously hit only one of her legs and that she sustained no other injuries whatsoever.

* The fact that Samson didn't hear the car accident (only metres behind him) and turn around is laughable. He was walking along, out of it, but not unconscious. It would be a reflex reaction to turn and look. He was in a similar state when Delilah was abducted, but there he heard the car screech away and ran after it.

* Delilah cuts her hair with a knife after Kitty dies. For the rest of the film, her hair looks professionally cut. Unless she's supposed to be an expert in knife-blade hair dressing this is a major oversight in the continuity of the film.

* Similarly, Samson cuts his hair with a knife after he thinks Delilah was killed in the car accident. However, for the remainder of the film his hair cut is unchanged.

* It's unrealistic that the priest would ignore a young woman (of any race) who wondered into a church looking like she'd just been severely assaulted.

* It's unrealistic that in their small community there were no other children around. There would at least be some (if not many) young kids running around.

All in all, there are some memorable moments in this film, but overall it's grossly overrated. If it wasn't for the cinematography I'd feel like I was watching a half-baked student film. Definitely not a 5-star experience.

Great and accurate film

[daddypg · 10/10 · 16 December 2009]

Great film based on what can only be described as insider knowledge. Loved the non verbal communication. Dialog isn't necessary to make this film work.

Yep people do take their ill relatives around to shop, nurses clinics, etc gee just like in our society, This shows the level of dedication of people in these communities. Remember these people live in their country not necessarily where there is employment and opportunity. I know of one teenager in a remote community who carries his grandmother up and down the stairs of their raised house at least 4 times a day. A bit more respect for the elderly and each other than in our white society! Yep retribution is a part of life and takes many forms, including bashings. The film showed the life of a group of people living in desperate circumstances from a vastly different culture. Don't disbelieve what the film is trying to convey, embrace it as a point of difference and learn from it.

Sorry bit of a rant but the film was great and managed to suck my wife in for the duration despite her white disbelief of the lives of the people and the living conditions.

A well filmed amateurish short that goes for 97 minutes

[atimmermanis · 2/10 · 23 November 2009]

Well what can I say? I love Australian Cinema and sat down to watch this film with great anticipation. 5/5 stars from multiple reviewers, the descriptive hyperbole meter off the scale and the French throwing more palm leaves before it than an pre-easter procession. Couldn't lose.

So what went wrong? Well to start with not much....the stock and the glass used, soaked up the outback light and colour as well as I've seen, so Warwich Thornton knows how to shoot (Though it must be said, when doing panoramic shots of country-side do not and I mean, DO NOT hand hold the camera).

The pace and quiet of the film is something I enjoy a lot and I was initially intrigued by the characters. It was not long though before it became apparent that the two leads were not very good actors. This hurts a film that has little dialogue because it's only through the acting you can elucidate what's going on....and in this film there isn't much happening so that's kind of important. None of the cast were much chop.

It's impossible to do a spoiler for this film because so little happens and what does happen is so disconnected from what happens before and after that it doesn't matter anyway. Actually there may have been stuff happening it's just you are so disengaged from the characters by then that you don't care.

This film may be an attempt at realistic observation of it's setting and to this end it succeeds but any Australian current affairs programme over the last 30 years has done the same thing (with better narrative)so why bother? I am glad I saw this on television for free because I can honestly say....do not under any circumstances spend money seeing this film. Aside from the imagery every other aspect of this film is amateurish, turgid and at least 77 minutes too long for the half interesting idea at it's core.

Few words, but a powerful picture

[Philby-3 · 8/10 · 2 June 2009]

Maybe our veteran local critics Margaret and David went overboard giving this movie five stars, but it does have a punch to it. We see the world of aboriginal fringe-dwellers from the inside, and it is not a comfortable sight. Yet Warwick Thornton does not shove the story in his audience's faces; neither does he romanticize it, even though it is at heart a love story.

At 14, Sampson (Rowan McNamara) is a pretty hopeless character. A petrol-sniffing orphan who lives with his older brother and some other young men in a Central Australian bush hovel, he spends his days sniffing petrol and hanging around the camp. He develops an interest in Delilah (Marissa Gibson), an attractive 16 year old who looks after her ancient grandmother Nana (Mitjili Napanangka Gibson). Nana, despite age and infirmity, is still churning out for a pittance traditional dot paintings which reach fantastic prices in an Alice Springs art gallery. But Nana passes away in her sleep and Delilah is beaten by her aunts for letting the camp's cash cow die. Although not over-enamoured with Sampson she allows him to take her to Alice Springs, where they take up residence under the Todd River bridge, with other homeless people, including the alcoholic Gonzo (Scott Thornton). Life may have been hard and boring in the bush, but town is a noxious environment and things become much worse. Yet their relationship flowers and we are treated to a hopeful if not happy ending. Far from betraying Sampson, Delilah nurtures him.

Sampson is not the talkative sort – in fact he utters but one word in the entire film – but he gets by on body language and an expressive face. Delilah is a more resourceful character and Sampson fills the gap left in her life by Nana's passing. Both Rowan and Marissa inhabit their parts rater than act, which suits Thornton's understated approach. The whites in the film are without exception unsympathetic, even the priest in whose church Delilah seeks refuge who cannot even bring himself to speak with her, despite her obvious distress. The upsetting thing for me is that the portrayal of the white characters is deadly accurate. The only charitable person in the whole film is Gonzo the alcoholic.

Like the Cannes judges I found this a remarkable first film, particularly as it was obviously made very cheaply. Thornton does the scenery justice as well as his characters, but I'm not sure it was necessary to get by with so little dialogue. The inner life of Sampson in particular remains a mystery.

Stylistic, beautiful, tragic realism coupled with an amazing soundtrack and a happy ending

[elchileverde · 10/10 · 15 March 2010]

I'm amazed that across the board, Aussie IMDb reviewers are hating this film. The complaint: not realistic, boring. Not a love story.

OK I will agree with the last statement. I saw the preview and it's being marketed as a love story...which in a sense is kinda true, one of the most offbeat love stories I've ever seen, though tagging Samson and Delilah as a love story is misleading. This film is much more a work of art, a successful creation of experimental storytelling on film, a harsh portrayal of Aborigine life, and ultimately a dual character piece. The movie is not about making a wholly realistic story of teenage Aborigines. If you have a problem with films with no dialog, this will be boring and please head to the next Hollywood blockbuster. And be warned, this is a very sad story of poverty, drug abuse, and disconnection.

I applaud the director, Warwick Thornton, who seems to be very well grounded in cinematography and documentary work in delivering us his first full-length fictional feature. Pacing was suburb, amazing shots of the Australian outback as well as executing brilliant close-ups of characters with the urban backgrounds towards the second part of the film. Very impressed by the actors as well, and how it was really their facial expressions and actions throughout the film that carried the narrative, and how we have two extremely introverted character studies and how in each characters' hardship, even though "Delilah" was much more the introvert and extremely stubborn, both their lives mirror each other and they do fall back on each other for support, even if Samson ultimately was the most dependent as he continually turns to "huffing" as his main help with his struggles.

And I should also return to the point of lack of dialog and the narrative being carried on through action. There was something very primal, very human about the way the film unfolds...reminding me a lot of physical anthropologists studying the social behavior of primates...of which all of us humans are also primates. And I mean no disrespect to anyone in their beliefs or as an insult at Aborigines. I believe the director was playing on one of the most ancient human societies on Earth, as the best tool to convey a "world" where human speech is almost nonexistent at the dawn of human evolution, as if going back in time to tell an ancient and minimalist story of heartbreak juxtaposed into the familiar modern Australian backdrop. Pure brilliance...something that rarely a filmmaker can be bold enough to try, let along make work as a film!

So as if this all wasn't part of the quirky charm of the movie, we have an excellent and oddball soundtrack, from Mexican mariachi, to reggae, to alt-country/folk music (this music by the director himself!) that brought this work to further heights.

While Samson and Delilah might be the most tragic stories I've ever seen within film-making's "hash realism", it's also a story of love...of how one person genuinely cares for someone else as their life goes down the toilet, and in the end come a sense of blossoming and hope. Excellent work, you can see how this was very much a labor of love by Thornton. Not the most brilliant work in the world (but I do give it 10 stars), but certainly something really worthy of praise and reception by open minds!