Two Peoples, Two Worlds

By the time of the arrival of Europeans in the continent during the second half of the 18th century, the aboriginal tribes that inhabited Australia were under the primeval communal system. Their settlements became an easy conquering for the first aliens. Aborigines of Australia met the invaders quite friendly, providing virtually no resistance and the letters benefited immediately. There appeared a clash of two cultures, two worldviews. On the one hand, the absolute merging with nature, harmonious existence, which for centuries hadn’t undergone any changes, and hence a complete tolerance to everything that didn’t disturb the established order of the world; on the other hand - consumerist attitude to the land, the desire to get rich, tough competition. Naturally, such polar positions to combine turned out to be impossible, and without a desire to understand the natives who were moved out of their lands, the invaders hastened to announce the aborigines the second-class citizens. Of course, the national cinema couldn’t avoid the most urgent problem of the Australian society. But if the first works of filmmakers of the past were focused more on the exotics, mystical rites, dances, daily life of aborigines, in recent years increasingly serious movies are on, and the authors call for a change in attitude to the natives, respect their culture, recognize their equal rights. Analysis of the best movies devoted to these problems, such as Jeddah, Manganese, Fence from rabbits, Charlie’s land and some others has become the focus of the article. Mainly under the influence of these movies the situation in the country has begun to change for better. Today in the film industry the aborigines have been working, and the movie Samson and Delilah, directed by aborigine Warwick Thornton/ has been a sensation at the Cannes film festival of 2009.