High Ground

Premiering in 2020 at Berlin International Film Festival, Brisbane International Film Festival and Adelaide Film Festival, High Ground stars Simon Baker, Jack Thompson & Aaron Pedersen, alongside newcomers Jacob Junior Nayinggul and Yothu Yindi co-founder, Witiyana Marika.

Set against the stunning landscapes of 1930s Arnhem Land, HIGH GROUND chronicles young Aboriginal man Gutjuk, who in a bid to save the last of his family teams up with ex-soldier Travis to track down Baywara - the most dangerous warrior in the Territory, who is also his uncle.

As Travis and Gutjuk journey through the outback they begin to earn each other's trust, but when the truths of Travis' past actions are suddenly revealed, it is he who becomes the hunted.

Official Trailer: High Ground

REVIEW: High Ground

For the most part, action speaks louder than any words uttered in this carefully crafted and rigidly focused Australian revenge drama set in the NT outback in the early 1930s.

However, one line of dialogue echoes across the movie: "When you've got the high ground, you control everything."

The bloke who drops this pearl of wisdom, Travis (Simon Baker), knows what he is talking about. He spent the bulk of World War 1 as a long-range sniper, picking off the enemy from hiding spots way overhead.

The young man taking Travis' advice on board, Tommy (Jacob Junior Nayinggul), will come to understand these words in ways that could ultimately save not just his own life, but those of his tribal people deep in the heart of Arnhem Land.

A near-biblical battle of wills is taken in from two distinctly differing perspectives in High Ground. Both were present at a tragic massacre which opens the movie.

Back then, Tommy was just a child, known by his tribal name, Gutjuk. He was one of the few of his people who survived the brutal attack by a police-led posse. Travis saw the horror unfold from nearby, and was powerless to prevent it.

Over a decade later, Travis is forced by his former commander (Jack Thompson) to join another search party that doesn't care how much blood it will ultimately have on its hands.

At the urgings of their openly racist leader (Callan Mulvey), the group's mission is to hunt down a local warrior who has been directing attacks on settlers in the region. Tommy will act as tracker for the assignment, as the man in question is his uncle.

Make no mistake: High Ground is tough, testing stuff throughout. However, it is not here to exploit nor excite its audience. The movie is grounded in a raw authenticity that slowly puts the unwitting viewer under a mesmerising spell.

Though a work of fiction, High Ground bristles with all the real tensions and hostilities of the time and the place it is depicting. Shrewd, insightful scripting shines a harsh light on the era's fractious relationship between Indigenous Australians living off the land, and colonialists who wanted to take over that land.

This review by LEIGH PAATSCH is from the January 28 issue of The Herald Sun Digital Edition. To subscribe, visit https://www.heraldsun.com.au/.

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