The Fringe Dwellers (1986)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Bruce Beresford

Writers:

Bruce Beresford (writer)
Rhoisin Beresford (writer)

Release Date:

October 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

You'll remember it for a long, long time . . . [Australia Theatrical]

Plot:

Story of an aboriginal family who tries to move out of the fringe into the main white community. |

Plot Keywords:

1970s | Australia | Australian Aboriginal | Based On Novel | Independent Film

Awards:

1 win & 7 nominations

Cast

Justine Saunders	...	Mollie Comeaway
Kristina Nehm	...	Trilby Comeaway
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kylie Belling	...	Noonah Comeaway
Marlene Bell	...	Hannah
Wilf Campagnoni	...	Bert
David Clendenning	...	Headmaster
Wilkie Collins	...	Dr. Lymons
Alan Dargin	...	Bruce
Ernie Dingo	...	Phil
Dianne Eden	...	Matron
Laurie Foel	...	Waitress (as Laurence Foel)
Gabrielle Lanbrose	...	Mrs. Henwood (as Gabrielle Lambrose)
Sandra Lehane	...	Nurse Creswell
Bob Maza	...	Joe Comeaway
Michele Miles	...	Blanchie
Bill Sandy	...	Skippy
Anne Saward	...	May
Malcolm Silva	...	Charlie
Theresa Stafford	...	Schoolgirl
Lisa-Jane Stockwell	...	Nurse McCarthy
Terry Thompson	...	Horrie
Michelle Torres	...	Audrena
Robert Ugle	...	Tim
Denis Walker	...	Bartie Comeaway
Kath Walker	...	Eva
Maureen Watson	...	Rene
Leo Wockner	...	Stockman
Noanie Wood	...	Miss Simmons

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Cherbourg, Queensland, Australia

Company:

Fringe Dwellers Productions

Trivia:

The book being studied by Bartie is Storm Boy (1976) by Colin Thiele. It is an Australian novel and tells the story of a young boy who raises an orphaned pelican chick.

Soundtrack:

Man Overboard

Beresford almost got it right...

Landmark film which was among the first to portray Aborigines in contemporary settings - see also later films including BLACKFELLAS, RADIANCE, TUDAWALI, VACANT POSSESSION and YOLNGU BOY. Beresford nearly got it right here – without suggesting for a moment that there is an easy answer to the problems faced by modern-day Aboriginal communities such as the one portrayed in this film, he does describe some of the effects on a generation which has had to deal with being brought up during the period of the White Australia policies, which included Assimilation. There's a deceptive depth to the film: while the local white people are very stereotyped (and let's face it, many still are, particularly in outback Queensland), here is a genuine, compassionate storyteller at work, giving white, middle-class Australia a glimpse into a completely different, yet not totally foreign, world. An important film, it has come under much criticism for its seemingly sentimental climax; depending on how you view it, however, the sentimentality may not appear overtly excessive at all. Good performances all round are led in particular by Nehm, who would, two years later, feature as an angry ghost in the psychological horror film The Dreaming. 7/10.