The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978)

Directors

Fred Schepisi

Cast

Tommy Lewis, Freddy Reynolds, Ray Barrett, Jack Thompson, Angela Punch McGregor, Steve Dodds, Peter Carroll, Ruth Cracknell, Don Crosby, Elizabeth Alexander, Peter Sumner, Tim Robertson, Ray Meagher, Brian Anderson, Jane Harders, Julie Dawson, Jack Charles, Arthur Dignam, Robyn Nevin, Gregory Apps, Jillian Archer, John Bowman, Bryan Brown, Michael Carman, Bill Charlton, Liddy Clark, Matthew Crosby, Ian Gilmour, Ken Grant, Alan Hardy, John Jarratt, Thomas Keneally, Marshall Crosby, Mervyn Drake, Peter Farmer, Kevin Miles, Karlene Rogerson, Rose Lilley, Lorraine Mafi-Williams, Ray Marshall, Terry McDermott, Justine Saunders, Alexandra Schepisi, Rob Steele, Barbara Wyndon

The story

Jimmie Blacksmith, child of an Aboriginal mother and a white father, is raised to adulthood by the Reverend Neville and his wife Martha, hoping their influence will civilize him and provide him with greater opportunities in early twentieth century Australia. With a letter of recommendation from his foster family, he goes out in search of work to establish himself, but is taken advantage of by multiple parties. His first employer, Healey, repeatedly shortchanges his pay by nitpicking about his fencebuilding work, and refuses to write a job recommendation to avoid having to admit his illiteracy.

Genres

Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.

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