Beneath Clouds (2002) – Ivan Sen
Having little to no expectations approaching Beneath Clouds, I was pleasantly astounded at the quality of the film itself, and at the extent to which I enjoyed it. There were many aspects of the film I enjoyed, including the innumerable amount of juxtapositions within the film (both in terms of cinematic techniques and in narrative structure), the surprising and somewhat uncanny references to Ireland, but most prominently the characterisation of and relationship between Lena and Vaughn. I think the dialogue between the two was the most effective technique for me personally as a viewer, and whilst I can see why some audiences may have found it drawn out and tedious, I thrived in it (surprisingly) and appreciated the role it played within the larger context of the film. This is probably an affectionate interpretation for me, because I have always been relatively fond of the unofficial dialect and slang used by Aboriginal Australians, that they have the kind of peculiar accent and the way they speak so fast, and I thought it was a clear manifestation of the attitudes of the characters as well.
The only part of Beneath Clouds that frustrated me was the ending, because I personally prefer at least some level of closure at the completion of a film, but here we are left with a massive gap in the narrative in terms of Lena’s continued journey through to Sydney to see her father. And I also would have rather that Vaughn got on the train with her, and this left me asking many question as the credits rolled. Why didn’t he get on the train? Why didn’t Lena ask him to? What happened to Vaughn’s mother? Surely he would be caught and be sent back to jail, but wouldn’t he have a better chance of escape by leaving his home town and heading into the city where no one knows him? How is Lena going to survive in the big city, alone? Even with her hard attitude, she still has a small-town outlook.
I feel that Beneath Clouds didn’t necessarily play up to stereotypes exactly, but somewhat consolidated the view some non-indigenous Australians would already hold of them, mostly within the scenes where the Aboriginal men are in the car talking about drug use, that they are instantaneously aligned with any other aboriginal because they are deeply entrenched with anti-white ideals and that they are one with the land (this is a given but is still represented through Vaughn, the teenage, urbanised, Indigenous criminal), this aspect here particularly in the scene where he steals the corn and starts the fire, whilst Lena merely watches. But the difference I perceived here was that it was somewhat justified, because we can see Vaughn as a character similar to that of the ‘Aussie Battler’ who has had a hard life and his actions within the film are all motivated, not just off his whim or at his own accord.
The other main aspect of the film that I appreciated was that every scenario had a two-fold reaction, meaning that consequences were enacted and different emotions were felt on the varying sides of the coin within the film (mostly representing the differences between black and white). For example that there were some ‘whitefellas’ who treated Vaughn with disdain and rejected him (the lady who stopped for Lena but not for Vaughn, the police brutality and the men in the bar), but others were relatively civil and even lent him a hand (the elderly man who gave them a lift). And then again this goes in the other direction in terms of the treatment of Lena as well, when we see the first Aboriginal group in the car to pick them up, the driver termed her as Vaughn’s “lady” and “woman” implying ownership, and this was juxtaposed with the two white males who offer Lena a lift, and when she refuses, they attempt to still her bag and abduct her, as well as her attempt to get them a ride by making conversation with the young white male in the bar. This vulnerability they experienced at the side of the road can also be tied into the way the landscape is represented in many Australian films, as a severe place of isolation. As hitch-hikers, they were virtually prey to whatever and whoever stopped for them or drove past, black, white, male, female, police officer, citizen or friend. They needed to be selective in who they trusted, and here it could be argued that they could only trust each other.
The only part of Beneath Clouds that frustrated me was the ending, because I personally prefer at least some level of closure at the completion of a film, but here we are left with a massive gap in the narrative in terms of Lena’s continued journey through to Sydney to see her father. And I also would have rather that Vaughn got on the train with her, and this left me asking many question as the credits rolled. Why didn’t he get on the train? Why didn’t Lena ask him to? What happened to Vaughn’s mother? Surely he would be caught and be sent back to jail, but wouldn’t he have a better chance of escape by leaving his home town and heading into the city where no one knows him? How is Lena going to survive in the big city, alone? Even with her hard attitude, she still has a small-town outlook.
I feel that Beneath Clouds didn’t necessarily play up to stereotypes exactly, but somewhat consolidated the view some non-indigenous Australians would already hold of them, mostly within the scenes where the Aboriginal men are in the car talking about drug use, that they are instantaneously aligned with any other aboriginal because they are deeply entrenched with anti-white ideals and that they are one with the land (this is a given but is still represented through Vaughn, the teenage, urbanised, Indigenous criminal), this aspect here particularly in the scene where he steals the corn and starts the fire, whilst Lena merely watches. But the difference I perceived here was that it was somewhat justified, because we can see Vaughn as a character similar to that of the ‘Aussie Battler’ who has had a hard life and his actions within the film are all motivated, not just off his whim or at his own accord.
The other main aspect of the film that I appreciated was that every scenario had a two-fold reaction, meaning that consequences were enacted and different emotions were felt on the varying sides of the coin within the film (mostly representing the differences between black and white). For example that there were some ‘whitefellas’ who treated Vaughn with disdain and rejected him (the lady who stopped for Lena but not for Vaughn, the police brutality and the men in the bar), but others were relatively civil and even lent him a hand (the elderly man who gave them a lift). And then again this goes in the other direction in terms of the treatment of Lena as well, when we see the first Aboriginal group in the car to pick them up, the driver termed her as Vaughn’s “lady” and “woman” implying ownership, and this was juxtaposed with the two white males who offer Lena a lift, and when she refuses, they attempt to still her bag and abduct her, as well as her attempt to get them a ride by making conversation with the young white male in the bar. This vulnerability they experienced at the side of the road can also be tied into the way the landscape is represented in many Australian films, as a severe place of isolation. As hitch-hikers, they were virtually prey to whatever and whoever stopped for them or drove past, black, white, male, female, police officer, citizen or friend. They needed to be selective in who they trusted, and here it could be argued that they could only trust each other.
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