First. Missy Higgins can't act but she gets away with it here because it's a kooky hippie chick she plays - and it's fun which is in keeping with the whole spirit of this film.
Thank goodness they didn't make Geoffrey Rush sing though! (( Meryl Streep just-just gets away with this veteran actor turned singer business in Mama Mia ))
This film is good because it has an exuberant mix of youth and experience - at every level of production, by the looks of the credits at the end.
Some reviewers ask what kind of film is it: adventure, comedy, road trip ... it's a musical comedy!
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Youngsters Jessica Mauboy and Phillip Rocky McKenzie are great as the love-struck teenagers and they are surrounded by a strong cast led including Rush, Ernie Dingo ( who's an amazing singer by the way ), and Deborah Mailman.
The amazing David Bridie produces the soundtrack ( http://davidbridie.com/wordpress/ ) but the original songs by Knuckles and Jimmy Chi such as I'd Rather Be An Aborigine and Bran Nu Dae are the life blood. The musical theatre world has been scrambling for decades to find "the GREAT" Australian musical - well this is about as close as it gets folks.
Soundtrack on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/au/album/bran-nue-dae-music-from-movie/id347998297
Broome playwright Jimmy Chi's Bran Nue Dae was first staged in 1990 at the Festival of Perth and he's now one of Western Australia's living treasures. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Chi
The choreography is by Bangarra's Stephen Page. Leading writers such as Ray Lawrence and Tony Ayres were script consultants.
Not to mention the cinematographer is Oscar-winner Andrew Lesnie (Lord of the Rings) who did Babe, King Kong, I Am Legend, The Lovely Bones and the upcoming Last Airbender.
This is the second Australian play that director-writer Rachel Perkins ( http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0674034/ ) has adapted for the screen. The first was Louis Nowra's Radiance.
Radiance is a tough social drama dealing with family and racism - and adapting plays to the screen is tough.
Which makes Bran Nu Dae surprising. Not only is it a play adapted for the screen - it's a musical!
There's not a lot of dialog at all. It's a joyous celebration of the human spirit - the Aboriginal spirit.
And that may be it's greatest asset.
And then there's the Chooky Dancers:
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