Night Cries: A Rural Tragedy (1990)

Night Cries: A Rural Tragedy

1990

Drama

Synopsis

A short film about the relationship between an Aboriginal daughter and her white mother. The daughter, now the sole carer of her dying mother, dreams of far away places, the haunted look in her eyes loaded with a sense of what could have been. Famous Aboriginal singer, Jimmy Little, sings 'Royal Telephone', evoking the presence of Christianity and its role in the assimilation of Aboriginal people. The final scene sees the daughter lying in a foetal position next to her mother, crying. Assimilation, then, can be understood as a pain experienced by both the Aboriginal daughter as well as the white mother.

Credits

Director

Tracey Moffatt

Cast

Agnes Hardwick as Old Mother

Alkira Fitzgerald as Young Daughter

Elizabeth Gentle as Young Mother

Jimmy Little as Singer

Liam Wridgeway as Boy

Marcia Langton as Daughter

Shaun Saunders as Boy

Crew