FILM REVIEW: "High Ground" has good intentions, but ultimately falls short
Australian Cinema is a shallow pit - brimming with minimal funding, few releases, and even less success'. The arts regularly comes to a grinding halt. It's not that there aren't stories to tell: Australia is home to an incredibly rich history, the eldest known human population, and endless creative talents. Filmmaking is a complex art form that relies on various elements coming together in order to succeed, and sometimes, when the chips fall into place, one might skitter under the floorboards. In the instance of High Ground, it is the screenplay. What could have been an important and timeless film, is undermined by its white saviour complex.
High Ground tells the tale of Indigenous orphan, Gutjuk, Jacob Junior Nayinggul, and English ex-soldier, Travis, Simon Baker (The Mentalist), as they track down a fierce Indigenous warrior, whilst being hunted by English officers. High Ground succeeds in it's appointment of Indigenous culture, a criminally under-represented community in film and television. Wityana Marrika, in his acting debut as Grandfather Dharrpa, gives a powerful performance during the films shining moment; a battle of wits between Marrika and an English police chief, each using their razor tongue to negotiate a treaty.
Jacob Junior Nayinggul gives a servicable performance as Gutjuk, but the screenplay does not give his character the attention he deserves. Simon Baker's Travis falls too heavily into the white saviour role, the film falls away from the trials and tribulations of Gutjuk, to focus on the English Settler who should've been a mentor figure, at the very most. It's incredibly unfortunate for a film that boasts such fantastic Indigenous talent.
High Ground is the second collaboration between director Stephen Johnson, and screenwriter Chris Anastassiades (Wog Boy, H2O: Just Add Water), who previously worked on Yolngu Boy, another Indigenous-focused film. Johnson's direction, paired with Andrew Commis’s (Babyteeth) cinematography makes for a pleasant viewing experience, albeit not incredibly impressive or creative. Chris Anastassiades screenplay, however, is where the film collapses in on itself. The white saviour complex in High Ground is high and mighty, and it is this disappointingly out-of-date trope that deals great disservice to a film that otherwise had fantastic intentions.
As the story ebbs and flows, the film undermines the majority of its talent with forgettable dialogue and aimless decisions. The trivial plot takes the characters as far as the outback, then back to their settlement - feeling like a rough first draft of a screenplay. The notorious “High Ground” mentioned in the film’s title, and repeatedly presented as the 'place of control', turned out to be thematic set-dressing that doesn’t quite pay off in the end. There is a key sequence at the beginning of the film that features scenes of pure brutality at the hands of English settlers, which was initially shocking, repulsive and effective. However, the film begins to marvel in this violence as it barrels on, taking any opportunity to indulge in violent outbursts, to disappointingly diminishing returns.
High Ground had many opportunities to be an important modern Australian film, in the likes of Sweet Country, 10 Canoes and The Nightingale. Instead, it squanders it's talent and relies on the White Savior complex, undermining its own admirable storytelling efforts. There is a good film hiding in the intentions of High Ground, but it will take some dire rewrites.
