Sean Amos Bran Nue Dae experience is nothing but hunky-dory and It indeed presents a memorable experience. The delivery is pleasant, tight and often hilarious with a toe-tapping soundtrack. A story of self-discovery and exploration yet, it clearly hints the importance of freedom and human experiences. While being salubrious with spontaneous dance-acts, it also delivers some clever Broadway or Fred Astaire style footwork and fancy vocals. The nut-shelled coming of age story of fifteen-year old Willie also interjects a message about the hardships of Australian Aboriginal lives, their involvement with religious beliefs as well as their social problems as alcoholism and poverty. However, the success of Bran Nue Dae lies in the fact that it can be viewed both as a pleasant story of love, dance and music as well as a sociological journey into Australia, her history and the elements of her society. Either way, the audience is bound to love the light-hearted pace of this 85 minute production.Bran Nue Dae was screened at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, with kind courtesy of the Australian High Commission on 12th June 2012.~ Sean Amos

Imdbidia Bran Nue Dae is an Australian musical comedy based on a stage work of the 1990s. Set in 1869, it tells the story of Willie, a teen Aborigine from Broome whom his mum wants to become a priest, who runs out of his boarding school in Perth after a rebellious act against the priest-director of the school.This is a very light-hearted movie, with a cheeky and somewhat absurd plot, very charming and unpretentious, with a bit of road movie and coming of age story. The characters are very real and warm, the Outback landscapes are fantastic, and the music is terrific, with catchy songs that, however, have lyrics that are relevant for Australian culture and indigenous Australians.What is wonderful about the story is that Aborigines are the main actors, but they are not marginal people, they are normal characters, proud to be Australian and Aborigines, and that nothing is taken seriously or dramatically.The acting by all the newcomers (singer Lisa Maubay, singer Missy Higgins, singer Dan Sultan, and HS student Rocky McKenzy) is decent enough to carry the story on, while Geofrey Rush, Deborah Mailman and Magda Subanski are terrific in their humorous small roles. Tom Budge is delightful as a German young man searching for his father. Ernie Dingo is also good in his role of uncle Tadpole, as well as Ningaly Lawford-Wolf as Willy's mother, Theresa.The scene with the Aboriginal elders is truly terrific and magical and somewhat gets the spirit of the Australian Outback.Lots of fun and a great vibe.

hylinski With all the hype in the Aussie media about this, I expected an Australian equivalent to Cabaret, but this is closer to a "Road to..." movie with a black Crosby and Hope. This is farce with a touch of social comment, and when seen in that light could be funny and enjoyable. Personally I could not because of the gushy reviews I'd heard. One day I hope to not rush along, lemming-like, to see a movie because of a Julie Rigg exultation! Like many musicals, Bran Nue Dae has a barely believable plot, one dimensional characters, a resolution which makes a deus ex machina look believable and moderately interesting music.Within these parameters director Rachel Perkins does a good job, but the star turn of the piece for me was Ernie Dingo as Uncle Tadpole. He's worth the ticket price on his own.

Pawn12 Bran Nue Dae is an honest attempt at providing us with a light-hearted Indigenous-fueled musical comedy, that instead of dwelling on the wrongs and injustice that have been bestowed upon their culture and past by white society, decides to celebrate everything Aboriginal. This is an enormous shift in tone from previous films such as Samson & Delilah, in which the protagonist sniffs copious amounts of petrol, and at one point is living homeless under a bridge in Alice Springs (though it does feature one of the most beautifully minimalist relationships I have seen – Samson only speaks a single word during the film). It is also a far cry from Rabbit Proof Fence, which deals with the whole "Stolen Generation" debacle (probably not an appropriate word choice). So it is nice to see a more joyful film coming out of the Aboriginal community. But, even despite its best intentions, Bran Nue Dae is in no way a great film, and in fact actually teeters on the edge of being a bad film.Bran Nue Dae tells the story of a boy named Willie (Rocky McKenzie – cinematic virgin), who lives in Broome, and is destined for priesthood. Despite his supposed destiny, Willie feels a lustful urge towards a young girl named Rosie (Jessica Mauboy). Before he is given a chance to fully explore his feelings, Willie is sent back to a Christian boarding school, ruled over by Father Benedictus (Geoffrey Rush – Shine, Pirates Of The Caribbean). After an incident involving a few Cherry Ripes and a paddle, Willie runs away, attempting to make his way back up to Broome with the help of a drunkard named Uncle Tadpole (Ernie Dingo), a hippie named Annie (Missy Higgins), and German man named Slippery (Tom Budge – Round The Twist) who is looking for his father. So they travel, they endure conflict, and it all gets resolved, etc etc.BND is essentially a feel-good movie, but being so leads it to take route down a never-ending display of cliché avenues. Most of the characters are built entirely on stereotypes – the hippie, the bad-boy, etc. And so little character development takes place that the characters are merely shadows with names. The acting, however, is decent. McKenzie gives an overall solid performance, and though his speech does often falter, he is steady enough to be warranted watchable. Mauboy just mostly stands there and looks pretty with hardly anything to do – can she act? After this, I sure as hell don't know. Then the Rushinator comes in to spice things up, and you can almost see the rest of the cast looking over at him and taking notes. Not much can be said about Missy's performance other then that she tries her best, and though I didn't find her particularly appealing as an actor, I was thankful that she wasn't particularly painful either. And then there was Mr Dingo – the film's savior. He has a comedic air and sense of timing that is not prevalent for most of the other actors in the cast. He is charming whether he be getting drunk, singing along to Rolf Harris, or just smacking a snake against a tree.Magda Szubanski shows up for a cameo, which can only be said to be rather pointless, other then giving Dingo something more to work with, or if you like her jiggling her breasts around. Actually, that was the problem with a lot of the film – most of it just seemed far too pointless.It's a musical, so I guess something has to be said about the music. The music was okay I guess, despite the fact that every single song seemed to be launched into rather awkwardly. Most added very little to the plot, but their was a particularly appealing song about wanting to be nothing but an Aborigine. Other then that I wasn't particularly impressed with the music the film had to offer. The vocals were fine, Ernie Dingo once again being an obvious standout, but that is really just a mater of personal preference.I guess, cutting it to the core, what I didn't like about the film was just how corny it was. Everything was smothered in cheese, resulting in it playing out much like a Bollywood film. I do have to applaud it for that though. It never attempts to be anything more then a big hunk of happiness, and occasionally the happiness can be really quite infectious. It's incredibly cheesy, but often the lyrics of the songs are actually incredibly smart. It' s a mixed bag really, because despite being a bad film, you can't really exit the theater feeling anything but happy. So it succeeds in its goals, though it aims lower then it should have. The ending though? Brilliant. Terrible, but brilliant. It is just one big "stuff you" to rationality, and believability. They want you to feel good, so why not just tie everything together in the most ridiculous way possible? Bran Nue Dae is based on the stage production of the same name, and is Rachel Perkins 3rd movie. I will neither recommend it, nor suggest you don't watch it.