Yolngu Boy Film Analysis

Yolngu Boy – Film Reflection
Write a reflection on the film ‘Yolngu Boy’ which demonstrates an understanding of the characters and their experiences as members of an Australian Indigenous community.
Three best friends; Botj, Lorrpu and Milika decide to flee to Darwin to accomplish some of many aspirations. They all once shared a childhood dream of one day becoming great hunters together. As they grew older, they were led on different paths, where Botj constantly was getting into trouble and soon enough landed himself into jail. Whilst, Milika was interested in becoming a successful football player and Lorrpu on the other hand was the closest to Aboriginal traditions. One night Botj causes another rebellious occurrence where he is sniffing petrol and leads to him burning one of the community centres down. The three
Botj is despised upon in his aboriginal community, even by his own mother who wants to have no sort of personal connection with him as she is afraid he will turn out to be like his father. His corrupt personality influences both Lorrpu and Milika as he urges them to rob a convenience store, for his own benefit of not having to pay for cigarettes; this incidence results in an unsteady friendship between the boys. Botj has a heavy burden on his shoulders as he is always at a constant worry that he will never be good enough in his indigenous community and that he will always be looked upon as ‘bad’ in the eyes of the white Australian law; in result of this he uses petrol sniffing to avoid and escape his problems. He struggles to connect with aboriginal spiritually and is constantly trying to compete with Lorrpu for how things should be done ‘correctly’. The last straw that pushes Botj of the edge is when his own father doesn’t recognise him, leading Botj to his own