Where the Green Ants Dream
Where the Green Ants Dream | |
---|---|
Directed by | Werner Herzog |
Written by | Bob Ellis Werner Herzog |
Produced by | Lucki Stipetic |
Starring | Bruce Spence |
Cinematography | Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein |
Edited by | Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus |
Music by | Wandjuk Marika |
Release date | 1984 |
Running time | 100 minutes |
Country | West Germany |
Language | English |
Where the Green Ants Dream (German: Wo die grünen Ameisen träumen) is a 1984 film directed by Werner Herzog and filmed in Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia.
Based partly on the Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd ("Gove land rights") case and making use of professional actors as well as Aboriginal activists who were involved in the case, it was a mix of facts and fiction. The ant mythology was claimed as Herzog's own, but some First Nations peoples did consider the green ant as a totem animal that created the world and humans. Wandjuk Marika noted that the ant Dreaming belief existed in a clan that lived near Oenpelli in the Northern Territory.[1]
The film is set in the Australian outback and is about a land feud between a mining company called Ayers (based on Nabalco) and the Indigenous local Aboriginal people, the Yolngu. The Aboriginal people claim that an area the mining company wishes to work on is the place where green ants dream, and that disturbing them will destroy humanity. The film was entered in the 1984 Cannes Film Festival.[2]
Wandjuk Marika, recommended to Herzog by Phillip Adams, was a leader for the Rirratjingu clan of the Yolngu people, an artist and musician who was involved in activism for Aboriginal rights. His didgeridoo music is used in the movie, and several members of his family were cast in the film. The contract with Herzog allowed the Marikas to make enough money to move from Yirrkala to their ancestral region of Yalangbara (aka Port Bradshaw).[1]
Critics of the film found it uncomfortably placed between a documentary and a feature film. Phillip Adams was particularly incensed and claimed that the film implied that the Australian Government was against Aboriginal peoples, leading him to write an article titled "Dammit Herzog, you are a Liar!"[1][3]
Cast[]
- Bruce Spence as Lance Hackett
- Wandjuk Marika as Miliritbi
- Roy Marika as Dayipu
- Ray Barrett as Cole
- Norman Kaye as Baldwin Ferguson[4]
- as Fletcher
- as Arnold
- as Judge Blackburn
- as Solicitor General Coulthard
- as Watson
- Tony Llewellyn-Jones as Fitzsimmons
- as young attorney
- Bob Ellis as supermarket manager
- Paul Cox as photographer
- James Ricketson as Philip Adams,[5] mining leader
- Colleen Clifford as Miss Strehlow[6]
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Hurley, AW (2006) "Re-imagining Milirrpum v Nabalco in Werner Herzog's Where the Green Ants Dream. Passages: law, aesthetics, politics 2006, Australia.
- ^ "Festival de Cannes: Where the Green Ants Dream". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 23 June 2009.
- ^ Adams, P (1984), "Dammit Herzog, You Are a Liar!", The Weekend Australian Magazine, 2–3 June, p. 2.
- ^ cf. Walter Baldwin Spencer
- ^ "The wrath of Herzog" by Phillip Adams, The Australian (11 June 2011)
- ^ cf. Ted Strehlow
External links[]
- Where the Green Ants Dream at IMDb
- Where the Green Ants Dream at Rotten Tomatoes
- Where the Green Ants Dream at AllMovie
- English-language films
- 1984 films
- 1984 drama films
- Australian drama films
- German drama films
- Australian films
- West German films
- English-language German films
- Films directed by Werner Herzog
- Films set in Australia
- Films about Aboriginal Australians
- Films shot in South Australia