After fighting in World War I as a sniper, Travis, now a policeman in northern Australia, loses control of an operation that results in the massacre of a group of Yolngu people in Arnhem Land in 1919. After his superiors insist on burying the truth, Travis leaves in disgust, only to be forced back twelve years later to hunt down Baywara, an Aboriginal warrior whose attacks on new settlers are causing havoc. When Travis recruits mission-raised Gutjuk, the only known massacre survivor, as his tracker, the truth of the past is revealed and Travis becomes the hunted.
The film includes the depiction of a fictionalised version of a real historical massacre known as the Gan Gan massacre that occurred in 1911, when over 30 men, women and children were killed by police and settlers.[1][2]
Although described as a Western, revisionist Western[3] or "meat pie western" in many sources,[4][5] Johnson prefers the term "Northern", because it is a fictionalised retelling of a true story, and the film respectfully and meticulously documents Aboriginal culture, in close consultation with the Yolngu people, upon whose history it is based.[3] Johnson said "We really feel it's a film that immerses the audience in a time and place and that perhaps hasn't happened in this way before", and producer Witiyana Marika called it a "northern action thriller".[6][7] Johnson also said "There's a thriller aspect to it. It's not a Western, it's a Northern".[8]
The story is based on a multitude of real-life past events, most of which are still in the living memory of people who were consulted in the making of the film. Johnson and his team strove to make it a balanced film – he uses the Yolngu language word makarrata[a] – in order to convey the story as a missed opportunity, where mistakes were made by both settler and Indigenous people, who were all flawed human beings. He describes it as a "deeply human story".[9]
At the heart of High Ground is the tragic story of Frontier encounters and the missed opportunity between two cultures, black and white... Faced with the myth of terra nullius, the aim with the film is to create a new mythology and present a different perspective on how this country was made. It explores the themes of identity and culture and the attempts that were made to preserve and progress culture in the face of an overwhelming threat. High Ground is a story with mythic proportions with complexity and no easy answers... But above all it is a story about the finding of one's roots. My aim has been to entertain and immerse an audience in an environment teeming with unexpected threats, and to take them on a ride through an aspect of our history that is under-represented and hopefully encourage them to rethink the Australian story.[9]
Director Stephen Johnson's friend Witiyana Marika served as co-producer and senior cultural adviser, and also played the part of Grandfather Dharrpa,[1] while another good friend, Chris Anastassiades, who had also collaborated on Yolngu Boy, wrote the screenplay. Although the story was set in Bininj country in West Arnhem Land, while the 26 clans of Yolngu people live in East Arnhem Land, the film was cast from across Arnhem Land and includes people drawn from the many peoples of the land.[9]
Release
The film premiered at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival on 23 February 2020 with a gala screening, and was selected for the Berlinale Special section.[11][12][13][14] The film was originally slated for release in Australia on 9 July 2020;[15] this was later changed to early 2021,[16] until a further announcement on 1 October 2020 revealed the Brisbane International Film Festival would host the Australian premiere.[17] It was also shown in the Adelaide Film Festival from 17 October, with several extra sessions added to the original schedule.[18]
The film was released theatrically in Australia on 28 January 2021 by Madman Films.[5][19]
Reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, High Ground holds an approval rating of 89% based on 38 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A gripping action story as well as sobering commentary on colonialism, High Ground is a vividly engrossing attempt to grapple with Australian history."[20]
