MovieChat Forums > Jedda (1957) Discussion > Jedda and her relationships

Jedda and her relationships

posted 16 years ago by swami73
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I just finished watching "Jedda". I saw it on cable television here in Australia.The chanel I saw it on is a new Indigenous chanel they have.However be that as it may, I caught only the last forty-five minutes of it and I was forced to watch it with the sound down as to not wake the people sleeping in the room next door. But from what I can rightly gather it is an important cineamatic timepiece. We don't have that many films or rather motion pictures with Aboriginal Australians be it abroad or even here in Australia; something which is a shame; so subsequently the ones that have been made become somewhat of a rarity.The film technique of "Jedda" is very complimentary to Australian culture aswell, as not that many Gevacolour (not Technicolor) films were made in or about Australia when the technique was being utilised. The outback compliments the photographic technique giving the red rocks and the desert glowing youth and the wisdon of age.

If anyone is familiar with the film, I have a question.

The determined white man whom is tracking the Aboriginal man and Jedda throughout the outback towards the second part of the film; is he related to the people who adopted Jedda or was he employed by them to find Jedda? Also what was preventing Jedda from being reunited with her original family and was that where the Aboriginal man was taking her?

Of course the difference in laws between the Aboriginals and the White settlers were far more complex than a simple case of civilized or not, however all things being considered equal, the film seems to touch on the matter of Jedda's right as an Aboriginal woman, without the story giving in to the temptation of complexities. It was fairly straight forward to me that she was disillusioned about her origins and her heart was set on a resolution.

The tag-line that went with the film when it was released simply states,"To look upon her face meant his Death." I'm not to sure what that is supposed to mean. i think it is refering to the Aboriginal man whom either kidnapped her or was to be her guide in her quest. Not too sure.

[–] stLuebbi 16 years ago

Hi swami73,

I think I can help you with some of your questions. Maybe it's a good idea to give you a summary account of what happened before you tuned in: Jedda comes to the McManns who are living on an outback station after her mother died in childbirth. Accidently, Sarah McMann has also just lost her own baby and takes in Jedda instead of giving her to one of her Aboriginal staff.

When Jedda grows up, she is more and more unsure about her identity. Then Marbuk enters, the one she dies with, who is a "tribal" Aboriginal man and somehow mesmerizes and later kidnaps her. Her would-be husband Joe (a white actor painted black so as to pass for a "half-caste" - but you didn't mean him when asking for the white guy, did you?) pursues the two of them as well as a white police officer who is in search for an escaped murderer - Marbuk... Marbuk brings Jedda to his tribe who sentences him for bringing a girl of the wrong skin group. He then becomes increasingly insane and finally jumps/falls off the cliff with Jedda, leaving Joe the last moments of the movie.

There are quite a lot of papers and essays out there on Jedda dealing with its attitude towards Aboriginal people and the policy of assimilation. If you're interested in that, I suggest to have a look at Tracey Moffatt's Night Cries as well, which is commonly said to be some kind of sequel to Jedda. But beware: it's quite an experimental art film, not entertainment as such!

Hope to have answered a few of your questions, though!

[–] swami73 14 years ago

Thanks stLuebbi