Director: Maya Newell
Starring: Dujuan Turner, Carol Turner, Megan Turner
Distributor: Bonsai Films
Runtime: 84 mins. Reviewed in Jun 2020

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Rating notes: Mild themes

The first question to ask is who is the “my” of the title. In fact, it is a nine-year-old boy, turning 10, Dujuan Turner. He is an aboriginal boy, living in Alice Springs, desiring to return to his homeland, beyond Alice Springs.

And he makes quite an impact on the audience. The camera likes him. He is quite a screen presence, something of a young screen hero. He also seems wise beyond his years as we listen to his well-articulated opinions and principles, to be a good man, not drinking, not hurting anyone, his good knowledge of English, and his desire and efforts to speak his own language, Arrernte. The audience learns a great deal listening to him, watching him with his grandmothers (and, it is often said, anyone brought up by a grandmother cannot be all bad!), at a white school being taught about Captain Cook, at an indigenous school, learning about traditions (and an alternate perspective on Captain Cook).

And what is it that runs in Dujuan’s blood? It is indigenous life, thousands of years old, passed on from generation to generation for so many generations, a consciousness of stories, a consciousness of what we might call creative myths, interpretations of the world. But, in Dujuan’s blood, he recognises something of a life force that he has inherited. He is a healer. And that also is his tradition. And we see him at work with his grandmothers and elderly relatives, drawing the pain from them and thrusting it away.

This film takes its place with so many other contemporary films about indigenous people. In 2019, audiences were challenged by the experiences of football player and Australian of the Year, Adam Goodes. But, this time it is the very young generation that audiences are asked to consider. They have been born into a different world – and we see Dujuan and his grandmother lining up at the supermarkets for checkout, with their mobile phones, 21st-century almost-universal style of living.

However, there is the innate desire to be one with the land, to know one’s place, the pain of leaving it, the desire to return, for Dujuan to leave Alice Springs and the house there (contrasting with the majority of local neat comfortable homes), a life that is only temporary.

There are scenes where Dujuan returns to his homeland, to his relations, to a freedom from Alice Springs constrictions, to a different way of learning. Later, when the audience realises that there has been a singular absence of male figures so far in the film, father-figures in his story, he goes to Borroloola to meet his father, bond with him, live with him. His father is quite a sympathetic figure, conscious of his own failures, but earnest in his care for his son.

There have been many documentaries on aboriginal issues, on indigenous culture – but this one is extraordinarily winning, Dujuan and his wonderfully winning personality communicating his hopes.

Peter Malone MSC is an Associate of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting.