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Ten Canoes combines adventure, comedy, and anthropology to explore an Aborigine folk tale both fallibly human and legendary. Helmer Rolf de Heer depicts a barely represented oral tradition with a clean style.
All Critics (65) | Top Critics (28) | Fresh (64) | Rotten (1) | DVD (4)
Both ethnographic document and high-spirited flight of whimsy: a curious mixture of entertainment and anthropology. Jan 2, 2016 | Full Review…
Both ethnographic document and high-spirited flight of whimsy: a curious mixture of entertainment and anthropology.
Luke Buckmaster
Sometimes all it takes to bridge the chasm of eons is a little humor. Oct 27, 2007 | Full Review…
Sometimes all it takes to bridge the chasm of eons is a little humor.
Desson Thomson
Gulpilil is the canny, subtle and funny narrator of 10 Canoes, a film of unutterable beauty, hypnotic fascination and universal humanity. Aug 2, 2007 | Rating: 4.5/5
Gulpilil is the canny, subtle and funny narrator of 10 Canoes, a film of unutterable beauty, hypnotic fascination and universal humanity.
Richard Nilsen
Parts of that narrative are surprisingly frank and irreverent. Jul 27, 2007 | Rating: 3.5/4
Parts of that narrative are surprisingly frank and irreverent.
John Hartl
Audacious and impressive, but challenging work, requiring steadfast concentration. Jul 19, 2007 | Rating: 3.5/5 | Full Review…
Audacious and impressive, but challenging work, requiring steadfast concentration.
Kevin Thomas
Ten Canoes is a celebration of the art of storytelling, and of the power of stories to transcend all barriers of space, time and language. This is a movie with sheer magic in it. Jul 19, 2007 | Full Review…
Ten Canoes is a celebration of the art of storytelling, and of the power of stories to transcend all barriers of space, time and language. This is a movie with sheer magic in it.
Scott Foundas
A beautifully told story, which captures indigenous Australia with warmth and humour. Sep 15, 2017 | Full Review…
A beautifully told story, which captures indigenous Australia with warmth and humour.
Keeva Stratton
A unique and entertaining blend of anthropology and cinema. Jul 24, 2009 | Rating: 3/4
A unique and entertaining blend of anthropology and cinema.
Mike Scott
The fable is a fascinating ethnographic document that satisfies just like any well told story. Jun 22, 2009 | Rating: A- | Full Review…
The fable is a fascinating ethnographic document that satisfies just like any well told story.
Dennis Schwartz
Really a fairly amazing achievement: an engrossing, witty cultural document that doesn't feel staid in the least. All this, plus spear fights. Oct 31, 2007 | Full Review…
Really a fairly amazing achievement: an engrossing, witty cultural document that doesn't feel staid in the least. All this, plus spear fights.
Andrew Wright
A study of community and ritual, Ten Canoes celebrates as it contemplates, emphasizing the fact that this collection of stories, Gulpilil's story in its many layers, is seen. Sep 15, 2007 | Full Review…
A study of community and ritual, Ten Canoes celebrates as it contemplates, emphasizing the fact that this collection of stories, Gulpilil's story in its many layers, is seen.
Cynthia Fuchs
As much an anthropology exercise as a cinematic experience, the Australian Ten Canoes goes back nearly a millennium to immerse us in the lives of the Aborigines who survived on the land centuries before the arrival of Europeans. Sep 7, 2007 | Rating: 3/4
As much an anthropology exercise as a cinematic experience, the Australian Ten Canoes goes back nearly a millennium to immerse us in the lives of the Aborigines who survived on the land centuries before the arrival of Europeans.
Robert W. Butler
Surprisingly frank and irreverent.
Super Reviewer
Philosophy of the wise and of the Methuselah.Now really,the ancient language fashion is withering,yes?Unless you bring a true auteur with the name of Rolf de Heer and condemn Mr. Gibson to eternal damnation.Pure and locomotive direction and the b/w interaction with the vibrant antique era is engaging to the folktale narration.
Simple aboriginal tales of their ancestors' tribes, with typical humour.
[font=Century Gothic]"Ten Canoes" starts with a narrator(David Gulpilil) telling a story about his ancestors. Minygululu(Peter Minygululu), husband to three wives, is taking his younger brother, Dayindi(Jamie Gulpilil), to the swamps for a goose hunt for the first time. Minygululu knows that his brother has an eye on his youngest wife, so he tells him about two of his ancestors, Ridjimiraril(Crusoe Kurddal) and Yeeralparil(Jamie Gulpilil), who were in a similar situation.[/font] [font=Century Gothic]"Two Canoes" is a beautiful exploration of the oral tradition of storytelling in Aboriginal culture.(The film is alternately shot in bleached out colors.) This is how information is related from one generation to the next. For example, Minygululu is not only teaching his younger brother about how to hunt in the swamps but also to be patient and never to do anything rash. In other words, all he has to do is wait and he will get what he wants. Remember in this society, everything is as it has been for thousands of years and will be the same for years to come. Nothing is going anywhere. And if all of that sounds very dry, do not worry. There is enough irreverence to go around for everyone.[/font]
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