‘Samson and Delilah’ by Warwick Thornton is a survival love story about two young Indigenous Australian’s Samson (Rowan McNamara) and Delilah (Marissa Gibson) battle, facing difficulties around them and on a journey of finding a better life. To get away from a small and poor community, Samson and Delilah move to the closest town, Alice Springs. The film, also shows lifestyle of indigenous people and issues that they face in the communities in the central Australian desert.
Samson lives with his older brother and has an inclination for sniffing petrol, he just talks once throughout the entire movie. Delilah goes through her days caring for her grandma, the most important person in her life. Wheeling her and taking care of her wellbeing and spending most of the time painting with her. Then suddenly Samson gets his destination sets on Delilah and moves into her yard. Samson is a teen boy, who loves music, his shy yet he seems to appear sweet on Delilah. All of a sudden, her grandma passes away in her sleep, the two youthful teenagers hit the street in a progression of genuinely discouraging misfortunes. This essay will analyze ‘Samson and Delilah’ film, how the director uses mise-en-scene to convey themes throughout the film and the use of techniques.
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Love
Love is one of the main themes that appeared in the film, and the director uses that to indicate how the characters build up a special connection and care for each other. This scene is presented in a scene when Samson chases a kangaroo and brings it Delilah and her grandmother as consideration and thoughtfulness. It is also shown at the end of the film when Delilah also hunts a kangaroo to share with Samson.
Lifestyle in Aboriginal Communities
During the film ‘Samson and Delilah’, the themes of boredom and the reality of life in indigenous communities are highlighted with scenes such as the small band playing the same song almost every day continually showing the lack of things to do and lack of opportunities for young people. Warwick Thornton has kept everything the same, this includes costumes, setting and day to day activities. In order to highlight the boredom in Samson’s life including other characters, that life was the same as the day before.
Petro Sniffing and Poverty
The representation of Petro sniffing and the impact of petrol sniffing in the film ‘Samson and Delilah’ is an important theme and it is shown throughout the whole movies. With petrol sniffing being shown through the film, which then leads to scenes portraying Samson in bad health, completely dependent on Delilah, warning the viewers, the harm caused by petrol sniffing. In the film the character has an addition of sniffing petrol as a way of seeking an escape from poverty. Sniffing decreases the hunger sensation and in most indigenous communities it implies that there is insufficient food in young adult.
Poverty is a very predominant theme in the film in the aboriginal community, and it is conveyed in many ways. Effectively, the film technique demonstrates poverty in Aboriginal society. Samson's costume suggests that he lives in poverty, he has not taken pride in his appearance.
Poverty also makes it necessary for many individuals to steal for their food. In the community, they’re compelled to steal food to survive because of no money to make a living. In the film, Samsons is wearing dark clothes to show that he is doing bad thing and seems to be happy about it while Delilah, who wears a bright jumper to demonstrate that she’s innocent and also frowning that she’s disapproves of Samsons shoplifting. In this scene some camera techniques are used. Samson is placed in the middle shot of the camera, so that the views can pay attention to what he has done including the items he stole. The scene is set in the shop’s car park and nobody can see what he has accomplished.
Violence and Symbolism
In indigenous culture and networks trimming hair it symbolizes regard and ready others of the passing and that their in-grieving procedure. Samson is troubled that Delilah has disappeared and expect she is dead, so he trims is hair. At the point when Delilah's grandmother passed on, she trims her hair as culture rehearses.
The director Warwick Thornton used techniques of costumes and props to represent the theme of violence in Aboriginal communities. In the film, Delilah was beaten badly by her Aunties using who were wearing black outfits using primitive weapons after grandmother dies.
Visual Element
The director utilizes props throughout the film to let the views have a negative view on Samson. After wakening up in every morning, we see him sniffing petrol for him to be more awake and part of his routine, besides it indicates that his addicted to petrol. In the film Samson watches Delilah beaten and raped throughout the film and does nothing to assist her. His petrol bottle appears to be the only significant item. Also, Effect technique was used, we see dark mode effect being used in the film every time petrol is being used signifying sadness.
Spacing
There is a relationship between the camera and the characters in ‘Samson and Delilah’, the camera moves form inside space the community they lived into the journey of the reality. When Samson realizes that he's lost Delilah, he's framed in the concrete structures that hold the highway, he doesn’t was to leave the spot that Delilah and he were staying. So, the camera captures him close to reduce the surrounding in the setting.
Sound
Through a sound bridge, the views are taken into this sequence, this sound bridge is used several times throughout the movie. Gonzo’s that they met on the bridge used only speech in the campfire scene that distinguishes him from the silent of Samson and Delilah. He's got a loud and deep voice. The voice of power as he advises Samson not to sit so close to the fire. He then proceeds to tell his story while singing at the same time. The lack of music, sound and dialogue, in this scene, play a significant part in drawing attention to gestures and facial expressions.
Conclusion
In the film, the director Robert Thornton uses mise-en-scene to portray and aware the views about the different themes and issues that indigenous people face in their communities. The essay has also summarized Delilah and Samson and shows how the setting, film, editing and sound work together to tell the story line. Thornton appears to be hesitant to play up the clear political setting of the story. It's about uniting even though racism and discrimination still exist. ‘Samson and Delilah’ is about Indigenous Australians living outside of Alice Springs and the film accounts difficult moment.
References
- Warwick, Thornton. ‘Samson and Delilah’. 2009.
- Isaacs, Bruce. ‘Screening Australia: Samson and Delilah’. Screen Education, No.54,2009: 12-17.
- Neale, M. Learning to Be Proppa: Aboriginal Artists Collective ProppaNOW. Artlink. 2010.
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