Themes In The Sapphires

A sense of belonging, family and traditions are all important aspects of life. The importance of these themes, particularly to Aboriginal Australians, is emphasised through Wayne Blair’s The Sapphires. The film provides an opportunity for the viewers to connect with these themes in a true and entertaining story of how four young Australian Aboriginal women and an Irish expatriate that bond together through culture and adversity in their journey from country NSW to war torn Vietnam. Belonging is explored through Julie and Kay’s experiences throughout the film. The extended family, as well as Dave’s lack of family, emphasises the importance of family throughout the film. The different Aboriginal cultures explored throughout the film, highlight
The Sapphires shows a number of traditions. For example, Elders have a very important role in Aboriginal families and they often make the key decisions. Elders pass on knowledge, share stories and teach aboriginal customs. Aboriginal people have great respect for their Elders. Nanny Theresa was an Elder in the film and we see her doing a smoking ceremony at the end of the film. This is an ancient custom of Aboriginal people and symbolises Kay’s return to her Indigenous family. We also see Nanny Theresa’s role as Elder when she played her part in the plan to keep the sisters together. Although their mother disagreed she accepted Nanny Theresa’s decision because she was an elder. The Sapphires also highlights the Aboriginal tradition centering on oral traditions. As aboriginal people have no written language, they use storytelling to tell important aspects of life and culture and this is often through song. This is emphasised early in the film, particularly through the use of “Ngarra Burra Ferra”, a song based off the traditional aboriginal hymn “Bura Fera”. Often in the film the sapphires and their family are seen speaking in their native language, usually in song. In about the middle of the film, The Sapphires are faced with a Vietnamese soldier. In order to prove their good intentions to the soldier Kay performs a traditional request to pass through their country. This is an important tradition among Aboriginals. Whenever strangers come to pass through someone else’s country, it is tradition to perform an acknowledgement of country. By performing this, you let the other people know of your good intentions and that they can trust you to take care of the land. The use of this in the film highlights the importance of connection to land for all indigenous people either in Australian or in this case, Vietnam. This also showed Kay her own