Bastardy is a feature documentary from director Amiel Courtin-Wilson. The film focuses on pioneering Australian Aboriginal actor, Jack Charles, a troubled character who lives out his post-thespian glory days as a cat burglar and junkie in Melbourne.
Filmed over a number of years, Bastardy is a film that suggests a close relationship between the director and his subject. We see Charles shooting up heroin in the film’s opening moments and as similar scenes repeat throughout the documentary, a sort of symbiosis between the filmmaker / character is implied. As a director, Courtin-Wilson has obvious respect for the aging actor and reciprocation from Charles, who candidly exposes himself (criminality and all) is what gives the film its legs.
In one irksome scene, the director confronts Charles from behind his lens about a robbery, which the actor-cum-thief admits to. Without fishing for audience sympathy, the two then embark upon returning the stolen goods in an effort to redeem Charles.
This is less your typical fall from grace story and more a chronicle of fallibility. Moments of tribulation are interspersed with elements from the poetic mode of documentary representation; pickups are captured with the aesthetic beauty afforded by 16mm film stock and rendered with subtle filmic effects.
The sum of these parts is a sincere and beautiful film which, despite the foibles of its central character, shows him in an endearing, humanist light. It is no wonder the film has taken out so many festival awards.
I’ve really been taking it easy on the documentary front recently. As mentioned in the last post, I’ve even stooped so low as to watch documentaries online. While that isn’t bad in and of itself, it’s certainly a far cry from the 3 documentaries a day that I’d been watching before working full time. Yes, you read that right… full time work… it’s a massive thorn in the side of watching films and blogging.
Anyway, in my online travels, I’ve scoped some gems from a fairly well-known Australian director, David Caesar.
His films, Body Work, Car Crash and Fences are fine examples of the participatory documentary form, with more than a hint of Errol Morris stylings, circa 1980s. All films above are crafted with masterly direction and are well worth checking out if you’re into the sort of documentaries that seek to inform the human condition. I mean that too.
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