THE TRACKER
Directed & Written by: Rolf de Heer.
Produced by: Rolf de Heer & Julie Ryan.
Director of Photography: Ian Jones.
Edited by: Tania Nehme.
Songs & Music by: Graham Tardif.
Released by: ArtMattan.
Country of Origin: Australia. 95 min. Not Rated.
With: David Gulpilil, Gary Sweet, Damon Gameau & Grant Page.

With characters simply called the Tracker, the Fanatic, the Follower, and the Veteran, this action-oriented morality tale is gripping, even if it is more than a tad pedantic. Set in 1922, the film follows the Aboriginal Tracker (Gulpilil, who played a similar character in Rabbit-Proof Fence), as he leads three white men through the mountainous Australian outback on a hunt for an Aborigine accused of murdering a white woman. Having vowed not "to let the black bastard get away from me," the Fanatic senses that the Tracker may be intentionally allowing the accused to run free. He threatens the Tracker, "If I don't catch him, it will be your ears I take back with me." Repeatedly, the Tracker obsequiously answers, "Yes, Boss. Okay Boss." Yet, in a close-up, he is amused as the men fruitlessly fire away at unseen assailants. Eventually, to ensure that the Tracker doesn't flee in the night before the men can catch their quarry, the Fanatic chains him with a collar.

Gary Sweet's subtle performance (the Fanatic) shows how the terror of a man who is out of his element fuels his pomposity and anger. The entire cast is equally strong. And in a departure from period films, a middle-of-the road rock soundtrack, with such lyrics as "Now we are no longer free, we're dispossessed," is sung by Archie Roach, an Aboriginal singer with a voice like Elvis Costello's. Although the characters are clichéd and largely symbolic, their path takes surprising turns. Interspersed with moments of great suspense, the tragic cat-and-mouse survival adventure overshadows the heavy-handed didacticism. Kent Turner
January 16, 2004