The Tracker

The Tracker

Ralph De Heer

 

The Tracker is a beautiful story of irony in the pursuit of “justice” in the early years of the 20^th century in Australia.

 

In true De Heer style the film is a little cryptic in style as it follows four men through the Australian landscape in 1922 to find a run away Aboriginal man who may or may not have committed a crime. The film has a kind of Brechtian style as we spend a lot of time on the road searching with the four men. None of the characters have proper names; instead it is the Tracker and the Fanatic although these are hardly used.

 

Part of the appeal of this film for me is simply watching David Gulpilil on screen. His presence, subtly of facial expression and especially his movement on screen is amazing to watch and allowing the other actors to bring the story to life. He seems to be a very generous actor who brings a cheeky acting skill and personality to the screen.

 

Wether this was intentional or by chance in contrast to Gulpilil, all the other actors look so uncomfortably out of place in the bush. Ultimately this adds to the story because soon into their search, “the tracker” realises that the group are nothing without him and he is able to start playing games and leading the group astray form the other Aboriginal man they are chasing. The one scene, which shows this is when The tracker (Gulpilil) pulls The Fanatic off the cliff and into the dam. After trying to drown him he gets out and starts apologising saying it is an accident.

 

Its setting within Australian film brings into play the beauty of the Aboriginal population and the importance of the rugged landscape of Australia. De Heer breaks the sections of our journey with the men up into sections by allowing shots to drift off into the Australian landscape, perhaps this is to notify the audience that the party are getting further from the “civilised” or that the land is a beauty in contrast to the story.

 

This is my favourite De Heer film. I love its us of the medium in different ways to bring emotion to the screen like cut always to paintings and visual meanders through the bush. In a way it captures a nice humour within quite a tragic story.