September
Clip 1: ‘Just the way it is’
3 min 0 sec
Taken from the feature September (2007)
Original title classification M – this clip chosen to be PG
Availability of the complete title
Please be aware that this clip may contain the names, images and voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who may now be deceased.
Curator’s clip description
The Anderson and Parker families go into the town for the day, for much-needed supplies. Ed Anderson (Xavier Samuel) and his friend Paddy Parker (Clarence John Ryan) go to the pictures, where a newsreel tells the latest news of Lionel Rose’s boxing victory. In the general store, the shopkeeper (Bob Baines) tells Rick of the new laws – Aboriginal labourers are to be paid wages. Back on the property, Rick tells Eve (Alice McConnell) that they can’t afford wages.
Curator’s notes
One of the film’s clever tactics is to show how ‘normal’ the segregation and discrimination have become in this community. Paddy accepts the segregation of blacks and whites in the cinema without protest; it’s just the way it is. Even though neither Rick nor Eve agrees with the racist sentiments of the shopkeeper, neither shows the slightest inclination to disagree, although Rick knows how hard Michael works on the farm. Much is left unsaid in the final scene between Rick and Eve, but both actors give a great deal of information with their eyes.
Paul Byrnes, curator
