My Name is Gulpilil (2021) Movie Script
(WIND HOWLS)
(THUNDER RUMBLES)
Oh... (SPEAKS YOLNGU MATHA)
(CHUCKLES)
(SPEAKS YOLNGU MATHA)
(CHUCKLES)
(SPEAKS YOLNGU MATHA)
You tell me why.
I'm filming now.
And I'm facing this camera.
This is my story, of my story.
It's about me.
I like it.
This, and the camera.
(RHYTHMIC MUSIC)
I like to make a film.
It's a history.
(MEN VOCALISE)
(MEN VOCALISE)
I like it because
it won't rub it out.
It's belonging to stay
and this film will remember
to generation to generation.
WOMAN: David?
Yeah?
I'm putting your cup of tea
on the table.
I'm putting your cup of tea
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I'll walk up the driveway
with Molly.
What are you doing?
Take your hat off.
I forgot.
This film is about me,
because I'm an actor...
..I'm a dancer...
..I'm a singer, and also a painter.
Mm-hm.
But I understand
all about filmmaking.
Yes.
Every little movement of the filming
is because
I understand and I'm not shy.
I understand the film
and I like to do the filming...
..because I like to show my face,
to remember.
PRESENTER 1:
And the award goes to...
PRESENTER 2: David Gulpilil -
Charlie's Country.
PRESENTER 2: David Gulpilil -
(APPLAUSE)
(APPLAUSE)
ANNOUNCER: This is David Gulpilil's
first AACTA award.
In 2002 he won an AFI
for Best Leading Actor,
for his role in the film
The Tracker.
In 2014, David won a Best Actor
award at the Cannes Film Festival
In 2014, David won a Best Actor
for his role as Charlie.
for his role as Charlie.
My father, he named me Gulpilil.
And I come from up the north
Australia, Northern Territory.
I'm a tribal man and I live there.
Full blood. I born there.
My family live there.
Where our forefathers lived,
many years.
(FAINT APPLAUSE)
(RHYTHMIC MUSIC)
Mary...! (VOICE ECHOES)
Mary!
You gone far away!
I'm short wind.
Yeah. There you go.
There's that cough medicine.
This is my cough medicine?
Yes.
One.
What's this for?
That's your stomach, for your ulcer.
This my stomach for ulcer.
And...
That's for pain.
And this is for pain.
This tiny one.
And...?
To keep you calmer.
To keep me what?
You know, stop you being agitated.
And this one here is to
calm me down, instead of...
..like that.
My minder is Mary.
Thank you.
She will be with me until I'm gone.
Maynmak. Good.
OK, you can take this one now.
We share the house here
in Murray Bridge, South Australia.
This is where I came in from Darwin,
to here, to find a place.
But...
..I was gonna have a good time.
And a lot of work, but...not now.
I'll get up now.
I'm not getting...
I'm not... What?
Get ready.
I gotta go.
I'm not shaky now.
It's like a hangover.
But...
..I'm controlling myself...
..alright.
(BREATHES UNSTEADILY)
You'll come now.
MARY: Do you want those puffers?
(WHEEZES)
Do you want...?
Here.
Here.
Quick - you're losing it.
(INHALES DEEPLY)
It's another trick doctor gave me.
Another one.
(INHALES DEEPLY)
Two puffs, but do it slowly.
Breathe slowly with it.
(PUFFER SPRAYS)
(INHALES)
(PUFFER SPRAYS)
OK, breathe normal.
OK, breathe normal.
One more.
(INHALES)
(INHALES)
Long way.
Alright.
No, short way.
No, long way.
(LAUGHS)
Well, you go there -
I'll make the bed.
Yeah. Alright.
I'll go short way anyway.
Or long way?
Go long way.
If I can go through it.
I feel good now.
VOICEOVER: When I was growing up,
I went to mission school.
They asked me what was my name
and I said, "My name is Gulpilil."
Because when I come from bush,
and suddenly they said,
"Alright, we'll give you a name.
"We was just looking for it
"Alright, we'll give you a name.
"We was just looking for it
the balanda way. Balanda name."
"We was just looking for it
"What you got for a balanda name?"
"What you got for a balanda name?"
I said, "I don't know."
They said, "Alright.
Well, you gotta have a name."
First, my name was Joe.
Said, "Nah, not Joe. Nah."
And there's a picture of David
in a Bible.
And there's a picture of David
I want to be David.
I want to be David.
Suddenly they said,
I want to be David.
Suddenly they said,
"Alright, we'll give you David."
Suddenly they said,
So they named me David.
So they named me David.
VOICEOVER: Oh, good.
And that was in Milingimbi Mission.
(CHILDREN LAUGH)
(LAUGHS)
So I ended up going to school
there, at Milingimbi.
And then I went back.
My father was there,
And then I went back.
My father was there,
my mother was there, my sisters.
We came, we stayed
for a couple of days
and we had to...
went back again, by canoe.
VOICEOVER: I went to both schools,
but I didn't like it.
See culture is, you got your culture,
I got my culture, anyone got culture.
I keep my own culture.
We have rule, and law,
and custom, and culture.
We have history.
Yeah. I remember.
Back in 1969, they came down
and find me in a welfare settlement
called Maningrida,
north-east of Darwin.
called Maningrida,
When I went to the mission school,
When I went to the mission school,
Nicolas Roeg, the director
from England and London,
he came to Arnhem Land
to look for Aboriginal boy
he came to Arnhem Land
who can throw a spear,
who can throw a spear,
who can hunt,
who can dance.
And everyone pointed at me
and they said,
"Him - David Gulpilil."
And so they picked me up.
The first time, full blood,
me, Aboriginal.
I went to work on that film.
It is Walkabout.
I can see it now.
That was a long time ago.
I was 14 years old.
I made that film.
Yeah.
I was a solid young boy, growing up.
Knowing things.
And I was strong, non-drinker.
Non-smoker, not even the sweet.
That was me.
I remember. Yes, I remember.
And then I danced.
And I'm crying, sad, for the lover.
But didn't work,
because she was a white woman.
I was a black boy.
And I knew about loving.
And then I have to teach and tell her
the message through dance.
Dancing of the spirit.
I made it true.
REPORTER: Young Aborigine actor,
17-year-old David Gulpilil,
accompanied by his friend,
didgeridoo player Dick Bandalil,
arrives in London by Qantas en route
to the Cannes Film Festival
in which his film Walkabout
is an official British entry.
The boys are on a world tour
on behalf of Walkabout,
which was made in Australia
last year.
We were young, good-looking boys.
There is no city we came from.
It was just the bush.
I followed the film Walkabout to
London, and my spear went there too.
I been walking the red carpet.
I walked with the Queen of England.
People there said,
"Is that an Aboriginal?"
And they said, "Yes."
"Is a tail? Has he got a tail?"
And they said, "No, no, no. That one
you thinking about kangaroo.
"This is a man."
And then the Queen said,
"This is a man."
And then the Queen said,
"Oh, don't be shy now, come here."
(POSH BRITISH ACCENT) "Come here, you
come, come here, come here." Yeah.
I met them and they met me.
The first time. Full blood.
Me. Aboriginal.
And then I been go and sit
at Her Majesty's table.
And there was a plate every way.
Food and everything.
Oh, yeah, I had tucker with 'em.
Fork, this a knife.
I been pick 'em up.
I had a look and Her Majesty said...
Ah, alright, I been
change 'em over.
(LAUGHTER)
Fork and knife.
Everybody was cutting
and eating and I been look,
"Ah, yeah, that's how you do it."
I was Djunga. I don't know.
I was a bushman.
And then I been start
cutting that meat.
I been cut, cut, cut real hard,
real hard and cutting -
that plate was moving
toward Her Majesty!
(LAUGHTER)
And she looked at me and she went...
Oh, yes, I put knife there
and I been cut back to me,
bring it back, back, back
real closer.
And then... Nah, I still didn't.
I still didn't get that meat
from the plate.
So I been take off and I'm putting
that knife and fork there.
I been pick it up with my own hands.
(LAUGHTER)
And I start eating. Mmm! Good one.
(LAUGHTER)
Yeah.
And the Royal Family join in, and
the Queen even pick 'em up and eat.
(LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE)
We go wash and everything
and all that, perfect.
"Right, come for a walk."
And we been walk.
The film Walkabout made me the star.
It introduced me to the whole world.
I would speak English by listening.
People talking to me.
I met the famous people
for that film Walkabout.
Yes.
Her Majesty Queen of England,
she introduced me to John Lennon
and many more others.
And I went to Hong Kong and London
and France film festival,
back to London, New York,
San Francisco all the way back.
MAN: What did you think
of the big cities?
Oh, I don't know.
It's very big, you know?
Good for visit
but I don't like to live there.
On the second floor...
Yeah.
..there used to be one old man,
he used to have a prostitute there
every Friday night.
Right.
(LAUGHS)
Prostitute.
He was in his...about 80.
80?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think you got to
give me puffer here.
I want puffer.
Hey... Yo.
I want puffer, puffer. Quick.
I've got cancer.
Nothing else that I can tell you.
I don't know how I'm coping with it.
I don't know.
I'm only waiting.
I'm like, I'm walking
like across the desert of country.
Long, long way,
until the time come for me.
Yes.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
I'll be walking around there,
my spirit.
(SINGS)
Well, I like Storm Boy
and I like that part I was playing.
I liked the, uh...where I meet
the boy and teach him, you know.
Just like living in the...
two people living in the one world
but in two different way, you know?
Coming, boy?
See if they hit something.
(MEN LAUGH AND CHAT)
I'm so proud. (LAUGHS)
Good hunter, that one.
Good hunter.
Got him by the river mouth.
Why don't you stay?
Help me eat it.
He cooks good, Dad.
Stormboy liked blackfella tucker.
Stormboy?
Is that you, is it?
You got a good brain, Stormboy.
You learned something.
I live in the two worlds,
the Western world and the tribal.
I cope so OK, and, uh...
..I mean, I'm there,
I'm there with the Western world.
MAN: A big shout out, a big
thank you to David Gulpilil.
(APPLAUSE, CHEERING)
David Gulpilil.
WOMAN: And your date of birth?
First, seven, '53.
I don't know how old I am.
I think it's 64.
How do I know I'm 64?
MAN: They're shrinking away,
which is what we wanted to do.
So the scan you had the other day
up at Murray Bridge does show
that the largest mass
has got smaller, which is good.
There's a tiny little spot which is
about the same, which is...
That's good.
We'd like it to shrink
but at least it's not
getting any bigger.
Yeah.
That's the plan.
Good one, yo.
And so generally
everything is looking quite good,
so they're quite happy with you.
If you're happy with you?
Oh, I'm happy. Thank you.
Alright.
(LAUGHS)
I'm working really hard.
I hope I'm getting better.
But I will soon.
If I behave myself, I'll get better.
And you keep your fingers crossed
for me.
For me. Wish me luck.
White fella's medicine...
is all different one.
And all different...they have
all different technology.
They want to be winner same time.
That's what they want. To win.
Chemo, making me wake,
making me hangover.
Hangover, like got a grog
I been drinking 42 hours
and I get up now
and been run out of alcohol.
Make me sleepy-eye, cancer.
I can't rub it out,
and I can't wash my...
..my body, inside, lungs.
Nah.
Too black, and too much tobacco
I been smoking, and ganja.
Yes, a lot.
That's only white fella's magic
can fix it for me.
(PEOPLE CHAT AND LAUGH)
MAN: Happy birthday, David!
You want a drink?
We need a drink, Mary.
Here.
What is it?
No.
No, there's a bit
of normal soft drink. Water.
Where's some water?
But I'm finished from party,
whiskey, caviar, champagne.
I'm finished from that.
Blow your candles out.
More puff. More puff!
Get it going. I'll help ya.
Right! How about that?
(PEOPLE LAUGH AND CHAT)
And I'm here too.
I'm here too.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
July now.
I'm 50 years old,
I visit again my homeland.
And so, the year 2003,
I return home again.
So, those are days
when the ten canoes arrive
and they leave and they gathered.
And that's how they live on,
close to the river mouth.
Oh, place like this, nearby Gulpilil,
but they travelled through.
That one is Djigirr.
Djigirr talk too much,
but maybe he heard something.
I remember being in the bush,
wandering around with my father,
hunting for kangaroo,
hunting for fish.
Me and my father.
Yes, and my family.
We could swim for snake and turtle.
And crocodile there, big mob.
We go hunting, fishing.
Happy song, relax.
Sometimes we go up the hills
and sit down.
And hunt, sort of, many kind.
I look down to the valley,
down to the swampy areas.
Sometimes we're in the river
and fishing and we sing a song.
I remember.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I bought this, ahh,
what is it, this one called?
MARY: Oxygen concentrator.
Oxygen...
Concentrator.
Concentrator.
Oxygen concentrator. I'll show you.
Oxygen concentrator. This one.
I can't pronounce it
because I'm a black fella.
Never heard about it. (LAUGHS)
I tell you what, this machine
Never heard about it. (LAUGHS)
I tell you what, this machine
can save me life, 100%.
One hundred percent.
This one here.
When chemo, I take chemo,
now this machine,
this machine will put over the chemo
and to give me, eh, the power back
to normal again.
And so I can able to sleep with it.
And if I don't taking it this,
and I won't, and I'll come funny.
I'll come funny.
Always, I'll funny. Hey, Mary?
Mmm. Always.
Always.
Always it make me, I always,
I'm saying to you, "Mary, Mary."
"Take me for a drive."
"Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary."
She said, "What?"
And you say...she says, "What?"
"I'm here." And you here now anyway.
Chemo, mate, it is true story, mate.
And I am sick, mate. It's cancer.
This one here, chemo cancer,
and this one here, compressor,
to help me to stay alive, stay alive.
(HEARTBEAT)
I made a lot of films
and I remember all the famous people.
I shake hands to Bruce Lee.
And I met Clint Eastwood.
Famous people, Jimi Hendrix.
Then I had a party
with Muhammad Ali.
And then I see this man,
got a dreadlock.
Hey, mate. Come here.
Come here, mate.
What's that one you smoking?
Smoke tobacco, here.
You wanna smoke? Yeah.
Smoking like that
but that was ganja.
And I got stoned now too.
And that was Bob Marley.
I was gonna have a good time,
and a lot of work.
I will learn a lot
from the white fellas.
I will learn a lot
from white fellas.
Burn it down, Billy. Burn it down.
Burn it down. Burn it down. Burn it.
You know Dennis Hopper?
Yeah. He's a mad bugger, that one,
I tell you, yeah.
Yeah. He came down here
and, "G'day, man. How you goin'?"
That was Dennis Hopper, mate, yeah.
He drink whiskey,
he kiss the camera.
Mwah. Mwah. Mwah.
Like that, yeah.
And he had guns, and shooting guns.
I was young, I was 20.
We was really mad.
(LAUGHS)
Me and Dennis Hopper, oh,
man we was stoned all along,
always, every day.
Every day we was smoking, stoned,
smoking, mixing with tobacco.
Cigarette with ganja, mate.
You can name it.
You can name it, I just smoke
and marijuana man...
Wow.
Blrrgh...
Fucking crazy, crazy.
(LAUGHTER)
Yeah, man. Yeah.
Cool, cool man. Go like that. Yeah.
He's a mad one, that one,
he's been getting trouble
with New South Wales police.
Every day, we was here for 24 days,
I tell you.
You know how many times
he been get trouble? 10 times.
You know how many times
him get locked up
in New South Wales police station?
10 times.
You know who was with him? Me.
That is great. That is great.
I really loved it all along,
Morgan film.
Best you go on back
to the camp, boy.
McLean going for the police.
If you're working with people
like Dennis Hopper and John Meillon,
well, you gonna learn
all about drinking and drugs.
You know, it was the 1970s.
Well, I thought,
well, I gotta join in.
You know, this is white fella
corroborree. I gotta join in.
You know, this is white fella
I gotta have a part of it. Yeah.
I gotta have a part of it. Yeah.
I tell you what, though,
I never seen nothing like this
before, I tell you.
Nice day today, beautiful day.
I didn't know, I didn't know
until I hurt myself,
why I got this pain,
pain in my shoulder,
on the right-hand side
of my shoulder.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
Oh, Mary, help me.
Help me. Balanda help me.
Balanda you, you white woman.
Take me to white fella's medicine,
white fella's doctor,
white fella's magic one.
Come here, boy, we take your blood.
They took the blood away.
They take away that blood
and put it in a machine and looked.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
Inside they saw,
by that blood will tell 'em,
and say,
"Ah, lung cancer, lung cancer.
"Here."
Oh, wow. What's that mean?
"That mean there's a sickness
you got," doctor tell me.
What sickness?
"The cancer can kill you."
Well, this cancer will kill me,
I tell you.
Mary. Mary.
Sorry, Mary.
Mary come, for question answer come.
We were just talking about the bowel
motions, if they were regular
'cause some of the drugs
can cause the constipation.
Yeah. He's alright.
He's got Movicol.
Oh, excellent.
He asked for it.
And did you get any sores
in the mouth at all?
No.
No not this time.
That's good.
And the skin looks OK.
It's nice and intact.
And the only other one,
do you get the numbness and tingles
in the fingertips?
Nah, perfect.
You can answer these,
you know these.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE) Good.
Beautiful. And are you on
any pain at the moment?
No, not at the moment. Nah.
Are you on any painkillers at all?
Ah, Mary? Mary?
Sorry, Mary.
I'm changing my name.
You gotta be here.
Is he on any painkillers
at the moment?
Oh, yes, big mob.
Is he on just the twice a day?
No, he's on a Norspan 40 patch,
Oxycontin, 20mg, twice a day.
OK.
And Endone top-up.
I guess,
as long as that's doing its job?
That's doing its job at this stage.
That's all I need to know.
Beautiful.
Yeah, name David Gulpilil,
G-U-L-P-I-L-I-L.
That cleverman, bushman, cleverman,
doctor, witch doctor,
there, in Arnhem land.
He couldn't do it.
Oh, you just take those tablets.
Because it's different.
This sickness makes lots of holes.
Sore.
In the lungs.
Nothing can heal down,
nothing can heal back.
But right now I'm coping with it,
with this sickness.
Now...
..tired.
I feel...
..tired.
I feel nothing to do.
I feel right now
and I can see it in my memory.
Like in a camera.
If you look through my brains,
what I'm thinking, my homeland.
Still longer?
Yeah.
Long wait for.
Half past three, about another
hour and a half to wait.
Yeah. Half past three.
I'm tired. We should go for a drive.
What do you reckon?
I don't know. It's up to you.
I've had it.
I've got enough medicine?
Yeah, you got heaps.
Terrific.
I am here on my own,
and right now, I miss my country
and I miss my children.
I will be away,
in a wrong time and a wrong place...
..because of the cancer.
And my brother and my sisters,
when I gone, no-one knows.
Nobody, just me.
It'll go just like that.
Bang, finish, gone.
How are you, son?
My people, they will have
to build my shelter for me
at Gulpilil, where I born.
Where my old house is.
I want my own ceremony Junguan
to be there.
And a platform built,
across like that,
two finger like that.
Platform.
And I'll be laying down in the
middle, middle of the shelter...
..and I will remain there.
When my father passed away,
they waited for the flesh to go away.
And then his little brother,
his little brother, he cut
all the bones of my father.
And my mother made a dilly bag.
They took my father's body
and they put it on the platform
until it dried.
And, my father-stepfather,
my (SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE),
he been go and get all the bones
and put in dilly bag.
Put in ochre, red ochre, let 'em dry.
And after initiation,
there was... (INDIGENOUS WORD).
It mean the totem pole.
The totem pole they been cut 'em
and put the bones in the log,
hollow log.
And they would dance and sing.
And they said to me,
"This is your father's bones."
And I was about 10, 11.
12 years old, about 12 years old,
yeah.
And uh, I saw it, and my father.
I never forget, but that
memory, I still remember.
I'm gonna go there
and see it, before I go.
Before I go.
I remember.
I remember this place.
I like making films. I like it.
As natural, and that's the way I am.
Mr Neal tells me that your probation
period is up,
and that you wish
to return to the Kimberleys?
Is that right?
My acting is normal.
Of course your daughter
is here, isn't she?
I don't pretend.
There would be no question
of her going.
She would have to stay here
and continue her training.
I don't have to go and act.
I just jump in and stand there
and the camera sees me.
Like this you looking at me now.
(SINGS)
My acting experience is just natural.
The same like going hunting
and fishing, you know,
just natural things.
(SINGS)
Acting is just like dancing.
I mean, it's dancing and acting
is the relationship, you know.
I mean to me, it's easy.
To me, it's not very hard to do it.
And that's the part I like, that.
Acting and dancing and singing
and communicating.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
In the middle of the movie now
you're talking to me.
Away from Adelaide, yo.
Away from Adelaide I'm here.
Picture, a life about me.
Oh.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
Family.
They just called me, from long way.
From long, long way, from the
north-east of northern territory.
Arnhem land.
And they worrying for me
and I'm worrying for them too.
And a song began.
I remember.
Faraway, in another life...
(HUMS TUNE)
I walked my land proud and free
That's incredible.
Far away from my other life
Searching, I roam...
The first lead role I had
was The Tracker.
That was me, Tracker.
Perfect.
Faraway
in those distant lands...
Make me sad.
Life's hard
but living is good...
It was true, to me.
And I remember, my brother...
..we done it together,
for our own good.
(GUNSHOT)
I said move!
He's not going to.
And without him
we can't catch the other one.
I'll go back and get him,
see if I can't hurry him up a bit.
You'll stand trial when we get back.
Disobeying orders
in a field of conflict.
Yes, boss.
You'll probably hang.
Yes, boss.
Poor black fella,
been born for that noose, eh?
Too right.
(LAUGHTER)
That's a beauty.
(SONG IN INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
'Cause they're people
My people
My people.
In the beginning they came here
and live here, black fellas.
Black fella live here,
in the country.
This land can keep their spirit
and remembering.
Ancestors.
People been here.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
And that was a true story that
happened, right around Australia.
What a beauty of land.
The land, it stays there forever.
Forever and ever.
You sit down here really quiet,
the land will be talking to you.
This land is telling me,
here I am.
Australia is a big country,
richest country.
White men came here and said,
"Bang," like that, right?
And they dig the earth,
they made a big mining,
they made a lot of money, diamonds
and precious and tin and silver.
they made a lot of money, diamonds
They made fortunes from our land.
They made fortunes from our land.
What did the Aboriginal people get?
Nothing.
They told me,
what did they say, Mary?
They stopped the chemotherapy.
Because it stopped working.
Because it stopped working.
It's not working properly.
Now they're going to do
some radiation, and...
..immune therapy.
New therapy and radiation,
new one they putting it.
AUTOMATED VOICE: Breathe in
and hold your breath.
New therapy, like that.
I supposed to die
pretty long time ago.
But I'm still alive here.
Happy birthday to you...
David.
Yeah.
Blow your candles out.
No. A bit more.
(BEEP!)
AUTOMATED VOICE: Breathe.
(CLAPPING AND CHEERING)
Love you, brother.
Thank you.
David, beforehand, are you happy
up here with this vein today?
Yeah.
I'll put the needle in first.
No, put... OK.
Does that feel OK, David?
Yeah.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
David, I'll come back
in a minute, OK? Just get that off.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
(WHISPERS) Your hands are cold.
There is...the spirit of the galaxy
waiting for me there.
And the wind. I'll fly.
Take me to the waterhole.
Right there in the waterhole
where I born, yes.
Mungulgarry, in Gulparil.
Yeah.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
Yeah.
Sometimes we get sad.
Like when I was 12, 13.
I remember that.
(SOBS)
When our parents or relations
or relative die, in the tribe,
we must say goodbye and sing to them
to remember them...
..and sort of like to pray.
And during the ceremony
we paint ourselves body,
And during the ceremony
and also the dead man.
and also the dead man.
And we dance.
We wear so many things,
like headdress, armbands,
and all other decorations to
represent the culture for the dead.
Ahhh, ooh!
(DIDGERIDOO PLAYS)
(SINGS)
It makes stronger.
This thing.
Yeah, it's made real strong.
Hair belt.
Made in...David Gulpilil.
(LAUGHS)
Yeah, this one, it's a good one.
I like it.
(SINGS IN INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
I'm not scared.
But I'm sorry.
There's nothing I can
make myself stronger.
I can pray, you can pray for me,
it won't work.
Doesn't work.
I've been living in the bush.
And I've been living
in the long grass.
I can't sleep in the street.
But sometimes we just walk away
from the city at night-time.
Sneak up now and sleep
somewhere in the bush.
MAN: And the award goes to...
..David Gulpilil!
(APPLAUSE, CHEERING)
Long grass is free,
that's all we go.
We sit down, we sleep,
we get up in the morning.
Early morning 10 o'clock,
open everything.
Do shopping and go out again.
To bush and sit down under the tree.
Nothing but the smoke -
cigarette, ganja -
and drinking alcohol every day,
getting drunk
and smoke, smoke, smoke.
getting drunk
All the time.
All the time.
I'm smoking marijuana
just like everyone else is smoking
in the world.
I drink beer just like
everyone else drink beer.
And I drink whiskey. Uh...
I buy cigarette.
The balanda brought it
into our world so we still using it.
Even I'm wearing their clothes.
But before balanda came to this
country, it was nothing like this.
It was nothing like this.
(EXHALES)
MAN: (ON RADIO) He registered
an alcohol blood level
of 0.24 and 0.22.
Gulpilil pleaded
guilty on all counts.
REPORTER: Mr Gulpilil claims to be
a bush Aborigine
and says he finds himself
in trouble in the cities.
REPORTER: ..stopped by police
whilst driving his car in Darwin.
REPORTER: He was charged with
driving an unregistered,
uninsured vehicle
with a blood alcohol limit of 0.240.
REPORTER: According to Gulpilil's
defence, his drinking results from
a number of pressures -
his rise to stardom,
friends in town wanting to celebrate
his Order of Australia award,
bad publicity from the current
court case, and...
REPORTER: Gulpilil will be assessed
for rehabilitation
or stress therapy.
MAN: My apologies for calling cut.
I didn't realise.
Fuck!
What you been doing?
I break so many fucking times!
You look great!
You look great in front of the
camera, David, and you know that.
REPORTER: Gulpilil pleaded
guilty on all counts.
Gulpilil was fined a total of $475
and will enter a good behaviour bond
of $500 for two years
when released from Berrimah Jail
in one month.
Drinking all this grog,
smoking all this tobacco,
smoking all them ganja.
I ended up getting prisoned
every day in Darwin.
Every day, because I was, uh...
I was drunk and all that. All that.
Bad words to saying.
And drinking in public places.
REPORTER: Prominent Indigenous actor
David Gulpilil has been sentenced
to a year's jail after pleading
guilty to assaulting his wife.
The Darwin Magistrates Court said
Gulpilil will have
the sentence suspended
after serving five months in prison.
His wife, Miriam Ashley,
suffered a fractured arm
when Gulpilil hit her with a broom
last year,
but she says she doesn't
want him to go to jail.
'Cause I was drunk.
Nah, nah. More than that.
I forgot about it.
'Cause I was a drunken,
drunken man, growing up.
I'm a drug and alcoholic.
I'm an alcoholic.
Drug and alcoholic, me.
And I been smoking all my life.
I been locked up
in Darwin many times.
Many times.
Old man, you a bit tired today?
Yeah.
And I'm sick.
And I don't like it.
Finally, Mary, I've finished.
Yeah?
I've finished.
So what do you think?
Well, it's up to you.
Do you want to come down
to the letterbox with me
to get Libby's mail?
I'll go and have a look.
You want to come?
Yeah, I'll come down and have a look.
You did well today.
I had a dance group,
travelling around Australia.
And I met my friends
and girlfriends.
Ready?
One, two, three, four.
One, two, three, two.
One, two, three, four.
One, two, three...
It just comes and goes.
ALL: Ahhh.
(ALL CHANT)
I had relationships with women.
Just hello and goodbye.
And didn't have really...
stay forever.
Didn't work.
Because I was moving around a lot.
(JAUNTY COUNTRY MUSIC)
Yes!
Whoo-hoo!
Whoo!
When the highway sweeps beneath
my restless wheels...
(THUNDER RUMBLES)
(SHOUTS)
(GUNFIRE)
OK, five minutes.
Travelling.
MAN: One minute!
(LAUGHS, SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
Do you think I look like Aboriginal?
Look like Aborigine?
Real bushman?
Yeah? You want to see dancing?
Who want to see a dance?
OK, who's gonna play didgeridoo?
MAN: Everyone looking straight
at the camera.
And deadpan. No expression at all.
Just...
If anything, serious.
Ah, Mick.
You frightened shit out of me.
So I oughta, mate.
Sneaking up on a man when he's
rendering first aid to a lady.
Oh, is that what you were doing?
What are you doing wandering
around out here in the scrub, Nev?
I'm on my way to corroboree
over at the Gabba.
It's a bloody drag, but still...
My dad get angry if I don't show up.
See, Nev's a real city boy
but his dad's a tribal elder.
Oh, no, you can't
take my photograph.
Oh, I'm sorry. You believe
it'll take your spirit away?
No, you got lens cap on.
(LAUGHS)
Crikey, Mick, I better get going.
(TV PLAYS IN BACKGROUND)
They seen white men.
White men catches them.
Jesus Christ, get me the police.
This man, this man.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
Fella in the picture,
he live in a cave.
Dog man. Big fella.
He's a dog man, never sleep.
He sit there all day,
sit down in the cave, way up.
He live with small fella,
and black fella.
Cannot catch him, cannot kill him.
He is dog.
What? He eats dog?
No, captain, sir, he IS dog.
He's changed to dog.
He grows hair.
He grow teeth, sharp.
And he grows a tail, this way, long.
(OTHER MEN VOCALISE LIKE DOGS)
And he stands with two leg,
like this.
And he goes... (HOWLS)
(MEN HOWL)
My life is getting weaker.
My life is getting miserable.
My life is getting very complicated.
And when I say complicated, I mean...
..I can't catch up with my own life.
Where I used to be.
It is...different.
This side you go in.
Come in here next to me.
That's it, yeah.
(CHUCKLES) You have to grow up.
What am I doing tonight?
Nothing. Staying home as usual.
Nothing. I'm staying home tonight.
If this camera is rolling,
I'm staying at home tonight.
Oh, we gotta get Terry to come
and cut your fingernails
and toenails too.
I'm here, and I'm far
long way from you.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
My country is Gulpilil Marwuyu.
My spirit will return
back to my country.
I will lay down there in my soil.
He will come and visit me.
I will miss my children.
Jida.
And Milan.
And Makaya.
And Phoebe.
Jaimie.
Malakai.
And Andrew.
And that's all.
These are my children.
And I think of them.
And I love them.
My funeral will be there,
at Gulpilil.
Next to my ceremony ground.
Lying down next to
the blue tongue lizard.
Where the blue tongue lizard
gotta be.
And that'll be where my funeral is.
You'll eat food and fish
and tucker and everything
there in my funeral site.
Yes.
It's only short. Five or seven days
is fine for me.
Until they're satisfied.
When everyone's satisfied.
I'm still in this movie.
And this story, it's about me.
And no-one else can do
the life story of me,
it's only me.
I can do the life about me. Yeah.
Hello. Hello, Ernie Dingo?
David Gulpilil.
Gulpilil, yes, brother.
G-U-L-P-I-L-I-L.
Yes.
Hey, brother. I'm doing
one-man show here.
Here, here, of my life. Yes,
here in Sydney, yes, yes.
The only thing is
I can't see my show, see?
Because I'm in it.
(LAUGHTER)
Maybe you can play me.
Guplilil. Yes.
G-U-L-P-I-L-I-L, yo.
Yeah, maynmak, yeah, brother,
all you gotta do is...
Yeah, dance around, jump around
and all that thing.
Make yourself a poor blackfella,
yeah, that's right.
(LAUGHTER)
Too busy?!
Doing what?
Reading a script.
Crocodile Dundee part 4.
(LAUGHTER)
No worries, brother.
We all gotta eat anyway, brother.
I'll go and get Russell Crowe
or Mel Gibson.
Yes, maybe Jack Thompson.
See you later. Bye.
(APPLAUSE)
Yesterday you got really breathless
when we got home, didn't you?
Yeah. Breathless? What's breathless?
You know, short wind, short wind.
Oh, mate.
(DIDGERIDOO MUSIC)
(MUSIC CONTINUES)
Me, I came famous.
Myself, with the...my own culture.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
This is a deep ceremony, culture.
I been get famous.
Because I was born as thoroughbred.
For movements
and dance of my culture.
(DIDGERIDOO PLAYS, STICKS CLAP)
And my father taught me how to dance.
And how to sing, and how to...
..relate to the communication
with didgeridoo and the clapstick.
And to listen to it.
(MEN SING)
(DIDGERIDOO PLAYS, STICKS CLAP)
The rhythm of the song of culture,
song of the ceremony.
I have to listen of the chorum from
the song man and didgeridoo player.
I have to listen of the chorum from
(DIDGERIDOO PLAYS, STICKS CLAP)
(DIDGERIDOO PLAYS, STICKS CLAP)
And that's how I became
the famous dancer, yes.
I'm the greatest dancer in the world.
Just for me, though.
I'm the best dancer.
My name is Gulpilil.
My skin group name, Balang.
My language is Mandhalpingu.
My moiety is dhuwa.
My mother is same
and my father side is same.
My name is Gulpilil.
You know what that means?
Kingfisher.
That's my name, that's my totem,
that's what I sing,
that's what I believe.
My name's in the tree,
in the fish, in the sky,
in the star, in the earth,
in the storm, day and night.
If I forget, if I give up,
in other words if I stop,
what will I have?
Nothing else.
Yeah, that was me.
Thank you.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
Captions by Red Bee Media
Copyright
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
(THUNDER RUMBLES)
Oh... (SPEAKS YOLNGU MATHA)
(CHUCKLES)
(SPEAKS YOLNGU MATHA)
(CHUCKLES)
(SPEAKS YOLNGU MATHA)
You tell me why.
I'm filming now.
And I'm facing this camera.
This is my story, of my story.
It's about me.
I like it.
This, and the camera.
(RHYTHMIC MUSIC)
I like to make a film.
It's a history.
(MEN VOCALISE)
(MEN VOCALISE)
I like it because
it won't rub it out.
It's belonging to stay
and this film will remember
to generation to generation.
WOMAN: David?
Yeah?
I'm putting your cup of tea
on the table.
I'm putting your cup of tea
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I'll walk up the driveway
with Molly.
What are you doing?
Take your hat off.
I forgot.
This film is about me,
because I'm an actor...
..I'm a dancer...
..I'm a singer, and also a painter.
Mm-hm.
But I understand
all about filmmaking.
Yes.
Every little movement of the filming
is because
I understand and I'm not shy.
I understand the film
and I like to do the filming...
..because I like to show my face,
to remember.
PRESENTER 1:
And the award goes to...
PRESENTER 2: David Gulpilil -
Charlie's Country.
PRESENTER 2: David Gulpilil -
(APPLAUSE)
(APPLAUSE)
ANNOUNCER: This is David Gulpilil's
first AACTA award.
In 2002 he won an AFI
for Best Leading Actor,
for his role in the film
The Tracker.
In 2014, David won a Best Actor
award at the Cannes Film Festival
In 2014, David won a Best Actor
for his role as Charlie.
for his role as Charlie.
My father, he named me Gulpilil.
And I come from up the north
Australia, Northern Territory.
I'm a tribal man and I live there.
Full blood. I born there.
My family live there.
Where our forefathers lived,
many years.
(FAINT APPLAUSE)
(RHYTHMIC MUSIC)
Mary...! (VOICE ECHOES)
Mary!
You gone far away!
I'm short wind.
Yeah. There you go.
There's that cough medicine.
This is my cough medicine?
Yes.
One.
What's this for?
That's your stomach, for your ulcer.
This my stomach for ulcer.
And...
That's for pain.
And this is for pain.
This tiny one.
And...?
To keep you calmer.
To keep me what?
You know, stop you being agitated.
And this one here is to
calm me down, instead of...
..like that.
My minder is Mary.
Thank you.
She will be with me until I'm gone.
Maynmak. Good.
OK, you can take this one now.
We share the house here
in Murray Bridge, South Australia.
This is where I came in from Darwin,
to here, to find a place.
But...
..I was gonna have a good time.
And a lot of work, but...not now.
I'll get up now.
I'm not getting...
I'm not... What?
Get ready.
I gotta go.
I'm not shaky now.
It's like a hangover.
But...
..I'm controlling myself...
..alright.
(BREATHES UNSTEADILY)
You'll come now.
MARY: Do you want those puffers?
(WHEEZES)
Do you want...?
Here.
Here.
Quick - you're losing it.
(INHALES DEEPLY)
It's another trick doctor gave me.
Another one.
(INHALES DEEPLY)
Two puffs, but do it slowly.
Breathe slowly with it.
(PUFFER SPRAYS)
(INHALES)
(PUFFER SPRAYS)
OK, breathe normal.
OK, breathe normal.
One more.
(INHALES)
(INHALES)
Long way.
Alright.
No, short way.
No, long way.
(LAUGHS)
Well, you go there -
I'll make the bed.
Yeah. Alright.
I'll go short way anyway.
Or long way?
Go long way.
If I can go through it.
I feel good now.
VOICEOVER: When I was growing up,
I went to mission school.
They asked me what was my name
and I said, "My name is Gulpilil."
Because when I come from bush,
and suddenly they said,
"Alright, we'll give you a name.
"We was just looking for it
"Alright, we'll give you a name.
"We was just looking for it
the balanda way. Balanda name."
"We was just looking for it
"What you got for a balanda name?"
"What you got for a balanda name?"
I said, "I don't know."
They said, "Alright.
Well, you gotta have a name."
First, my name was Joe.
Said, "Nah, not Joe. Nah."
And there's a picture of David
in a Bible.
And there's a picture of David
I want to be David.
I want to be David.
Suddenly they said,
I want to be David.
Suddenly they said,
"Alright, we'll give you David."
Suddenly they said,
So they named me David.
So they named me David.
VOICEOVER: Oh, good.
And that was in Milingimbi Mission.
(CHILDREN LAUGH)
(LAUGHS)
So I ended up going to school
there, at Milingimbi.
And then I went back.
My father was there,
And then I went back.
My father was there,
my mother was there, my sisters.
We came, we stayed
for a couple of days
and we had to...
went back again, by canoe.
VOICEOVER: I went to both schools,
but I didn't like it.
See culture is, you got your culture,
I got my culture, anyone got culture.
I keep my own culture.
We have rule, and law,
and custom, and culture.
We have history.
Yeah. I remember.
Back in 1969, they came down
and find me in a welfare settlement
called Maningrida,
north-east of Darwin.
called Maningrida,
When I went to the mission school,
When I went to the mission school,
Nicolas Roeg, the director
from England and London,
he came to Arnhem Land
to look for Aboriginal boy
he came to Arnhem Land
who can throw a spear,
who can throw a spear,
who can hunt,
who can dance.
And everyone pointed at me
and they said,
"Him - David Gulpilil."
And so they picked me up.
The first time, full blood,
me, Aboriginal.
I went to work on that film.
It is Walkabout.
I can see it now.
That was a long time ago.
I was 14 years old.
I made that film.
Yeah.
I was a solid young boy, growing up.
Knowing things.
And I was strong, non-drinker.
Non-smoker, not even the sweet.
That was me.
I remember. Yes, I remember.
And then I danced.
And I'm crying, sad, for the lover.
But didn't work,
because she was a white woman.
I was a black boy.
And I knew about loving.
And then I have to teach and tell her
the message through dance.
Dancing of the spirit.
I made it true.
REPORTER: Young Aborigine actor,
17-year-old David Gulpilil,
accompanied by his friend,
didgeridoo player Dick Bandalil,
arrives in London by Qantas en route
to the Cannes Film Festival
in which his film Walkabout
is an official British entry.
The boys are on a world tour
on behalf of Walkabout,
which was made in Australia
last year.
We were young, good-looking boys.
There is no city we came from.
It was just the bush.
I followed the film Walkabout to
London, and my spear went there too.
I been walking the red carpet.
I walked with the Queen of England.
People there said,
"Is that an Aboriginal?"
And they said, "Yes."
"Is a tail? Has he got a tail?"
And they said, "No, no, no. That one
you thinking about kangaroo.
"This is a man."
And then the Queen said,
"This is a man."
And then the Queen said,
"Oh, don't be shy now, come here."
(POSH BRITISH ACCENT) "Come here, you
come, come here, come here." Yeah.
I met them and they met me.
The first time. Full blood.
Me. Aboriginal.
And then I been go and sit
at Her Majesty's table.
And there was a plate every way.
Food and everything.
Oh, yeah, I had tucker with 'em.
Fork, this a knife.
I been pick 'em up.
I had a look and Her Majesty said...
Ah, alright, I been
change 'em over.
(LAUGHTER)
Fork and knife.
Everybody was cutting
and eating and I been look,
"Ah, yeah, that's how you do it."
I was Djunga. I don't know.
I was a bushman.
And then I been start
cutting that meat.
I been cut, cut, cut real hard,
real hard and cutting -
that plate was moving
toward Her Majesty!
(LAUGHTER)
And she looked at me and she went...
Oh, yes, I put knife there
and I been cut back to me,
bring it back, back, back
real closer.
And then... Nah, I still didn't.
I still didn't get that meat
from the plate.
So I been take off and I'm putting
that knife and fork there.
I been pick it up with my own hands.
(LAUGHTER)
And I start eating. Mmm! Good one.
(LAUGHTER)
Yeah.
And the Royal Family join in, and
the Queen even pick 'em up and eat.
(LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE)
We go wash and everything
and all that, perfect.
"Right, come for a walk."
And we been walk.
The film Walkabout made me the star.
It introduced me to the whole world.
I would speak English by listening.
People talking to me.
I met the famous people
for that film Walkabout.
Yes.
Her Majesty Queen of England,
she introduced me to John Lennon
and many more others.
And I went to Hong Kong and London
and France film festival,
back to London, New York,
San Francisco all the way back.
MAN: What did you think
of the big cities?
Oh, I don't know.
It's very big, you know?
Good for visit
but I don't like to live there.
On the second floor...
Yeah.
..there used to be one old man,
he used to have a prostitute there
every Friday night.
Right.
(LAUGHS)
Prostitute.
He was in his...about 80.
80?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think you got to
give me puffer here.
I want puffer.
Hey... Yo.
I want puffer, puffer. Quick.
I've got cancer.
Nothing else that I can tell you.
I don't know how I'm coping with it.
I don't know.
I'm only waiting.
I'm like, I'm walking
like across the desert of country.
Long, long way,
until the time come for me.
Yes.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
I'll be walking around there,
my spirit.
(SINGS)
Well, I like Storm Boy
and I like that part I was playing.
I liked the, uh...where I meet
the boy and teach him, you know.
Just like living in the...
two people living in the one world
but in two different way, you know?
Coming, boy?
See if they hit something.
(MEN LAUGH AND CHAT)
I'm so proud. (LAUGHS)
Good hunter, that one.
Good hunter.
Got him by the river mouth.
Why don't you stay?
Help me eat it.
He cooks good, Dad.
Stormboy liked blackfella tucker.
Stormboy?
Is that you, is it?
You got a good brain, Stormboy.
You learned something.
I live in the two worlds,
the Western world and the tribal.
I cope so OK, and, uh...
..I mean, I'm there,
I'm there with the Western world.
MAN: A big shout out, a big
thank you to David Gulpilil.
(APPLAUSE, CHEERING)
David Gulpilil.
WOMAN: And your date of birth?
First, seven, '53.
I don't know how old I am.
I think it's 64.
How do I know I'm 64?
MAN: They're shrinking away,
which is what we wanted to do.
So the scan you had the other day
up at Murray Bridge does show
that the largest mass
has got smaller, which is good.
There's a tiny little spot which is
about the same, which is...
That's good.
We'd like it to shrink
but at least it's not
getting any bigger.
Yeah.
That's the plan.
Good one, yo.
And so generally
everything is looking quite good,
so they're quite happy with you.
If you're happy with you?
Oh, I'm happy. Thank you.
Alright.
(LAUGHS)
I'm working really hard.
I hope I'm getting better.
But I will soon.
If I behave myself, I'll get better.
And you keep your fingers crossed
for me.
For me. Wish me luck.
White fella's medicine...
is all different one.
And all different...they have
all different technology.
They want to be winner same time.
That's what they want. To win.
Chemo, making me wake,
making me hangover.
Hangover, like got a grog
I been drinking 42 hours
and I get up now
and been run out of alcohol.
Make me sleepy-eye, cancer.
I can't rub it out,
and I can't wash my...
..my body, inside, lungs.
Nah.
Too black, and too much tobacco
I been smoking, and ganja.
Yes, a lot.
That's only white fella's magic
can fix it for me.
(PEOPLE CHAT AND LAUGH)
MAN: Happy birthday, David!
You want a drink?
We need a drink, Mary.
Here.
What is it?
No.
No, there's a bit
of normal soft drink. Water.
Where's some water?
But I'm finished from party,
whiskey, caviar, champagne.
I'm finished from that.
Blow your candles out.
More puff. More puff!
Get it going. I'll help ya.
Right! How about that?
(PEOPLE LAUGH AND CHAT)
And I'm here too.
I'm here too.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
July now.
I'm 50 years old,
I visit again my homeland.
And so, the year 2003,
I return home again.
So, those are days
when the ten canoes arrive
and they leave and they gathered.
And that's how they live on,
close to the river mouth.
Oh, place like this, nearby Gulpilil,
but they travelled through.
That one is Djigirr.
Djigirr talk too much,
but maybe he heard something.
I remember being in the bush,
wandering around with my father,
hunting for kangaroo,
hunting for fish.
Me and my father.
Yes, and my family.
We could swim for snake and turtle.
And crocodile there, big mob.
We go hunting, fishing.
Happy song, relax.
Sometimes we go up the hills
and sit down.
And hunt, sort of, many kind.
I look down to the valley,
down to the swampy areas.
Sometimes we're in the river
and fishing and we sing a song.
I remember.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I bought this, ahh,
what is it, this one called?
MARY: Oxygen concentrator.
Oxygen...
Concentrator.
Concentrator.
Oxygen concentrator. I'll show you.
Oxygen concentrator. This one.
I can't pronounce it
because I'm a black fella.
Never heard about it. (LAUGHS)
I tell you what, this machine
Never heard about it. (LAUGHS)
I tell you what, this machine
can save me life, 100%.
One hundred percent.
This one here.
When chemo, I take chemo,
now this machine,
this machine will put over the chemo
and to give me, eh, the power back
to normal again.
And so I can able to sleep with it.
And if I don't taking it this,
and I won't, and I'll come funny.
I'll come funny.
Always, I'll funny. Hey, Mary?
Mmm. Always.
Always.
Always it make me, I always,
I'm saying to you, "Mary, Mary."
"Take me for a drive."
"Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary."
She said, "What?"
And you say...she says, "What?"
"I'm here." And you here now anyway.
Chemo, mate, it is true story, mate.
And I am sick, mate. It's cancer.
This one here, chemo cancer,
and this one here, compressor,
to help me to stay alive, stay alive.
(HEARTBEAT)
I made a lot of films
and I remember all the famous people.
I shake hands to Bruce Lee.
And I met Clint Eastwood.
Famous people, Jimi Hendrix.
Then I had a party
with Muhammad Ali.
And then I see this man,
got a dreadlock.
Hey, mate. Come here.
Come here, mate.
What's that one you smoking?
Smoke tobacco, here.
You wanna smoke? Yeah.
Smoking like that
but that was ganja.
And I got stoned now too.
And that was Bob Marley.
I was gonna have a good time,
and a lot of work.
I will learn a lot
from the white fellas.
I will learn a lot
from white fellas.
Burn it down, Billy. Burn it down.
Burn it down. Burn it down. Burn it.
You know Dennis Hopper?
Yeah. He's a mad bugger, that one,
I tell you, yeah.
Yeah. He came down here
and, "G'day, man. How you goin'?"
That was Dennis Hopper, mate, yeah.
He drink whiskey,
he kiss the camera.
Mwah. Mwah. Mwah.
Like that, yeah.
And he had guns, and shooting guns.
I was young, I was 20.
We was really mad.
(LAUGHS)
Me and Dennis Hopper, oh,
man we was stoned all along,
always, every day.
Every day we was smoking, stoned,
smoking, mixing with tobacco.
Cigarette with ganja, mate.
You can name it.
You can name it, I just smoke
and marijuana man...
Wow.
Blrrgh...
Fucking crazy, crazy.
(LAUGHTER)
Yeah, man. Yeah.
Cool, cool man. Go like that. Yeah.
He's a mad one, that one,
he's been getting trouble
with New South Wales police.
Every day, we was here for 24 days,
I tell you.
You know how many times
he been get trouble? 10 times.
You know how many times
him get locked up
in New South Wales police station?
10 times.
You know who was with him? Me.
That is great. That is great.
I really loved it all along,
Morgan film.
Best you go on back
to the camp, boy.
McLean going for the police.
If you're working with people
like Dennis Hopper and John Meillon,
well, you gonna learn
all about drinking and drugs.
You know, it was the 1970s.
Well, I thought,
well, I gotta join in.
You know, this is white fella
corroborree. I gotta join in.
You know, this is white fella
I gotta have a part of it. Yeah.
I gotta have a part of it. Yeah.
I tell you what, though,
I never seen nothing like this
before, I tell you.
Nice day today, beautiful day.
I didn't know, I didn't know
until I hurt myself,
why I got this pain,
pain in my shoulder,
on the right-hand side
of my shoulder.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
Oh, Mary, help me.
Help me. Balanda help me.
Balanda you, you white woman.
Take me to white fella's medicine,
white fella's doctor,
white fella's magic one.
Come here, boy, we take your blood.
They took the blood away.
They take away that blood
and put it in a machine and looked.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
Inside they saw,
by that blood will tell 'em,
and say,
"Ah, lung cancer, lung cancer.
"Here."
Oh, wow. What's that mean?
"That mean there's a sickness
you got," doctor tell me.
What sickness?
"The cancer can kill you."
Well, this cancer will kill me,
I tell you.
Mary. Mary.
Sorry, Mary.
Mary come, for question answer come.
We were just talking about the bowel
motions, if they were regular
'cause some of the drugs
can cause the constipation.
Yeah. He's alright.
He's got Movicol.
Oh, excellent.
He asked for it.
And did you get any sores
in the mouth at all?
No.
No not this time.
That's good.
And the skin looks OK.
It's nice and intact.
And the only other one,
do you get the numbness and tingles
in the fingertips?
Nah, perfect.
You can answer these,
you know these.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE) Good.
Beautiful. And are you on
any pain at the moment?
No, not at the moment. Nah.
Are you on any painkillers at all?
Ah, Mary? Mary?
Sorry, Mary.
I'm changing my name.
You gotta be here.
Is he on any painkillers
at the moment?
Oh, yes, big mob.
Is he on just the twice a day?
No, he's on a Norspan 40 patch,
Oxycontin, 20mg, twice a day.
OK.
And Endone top-up.
I guess,
as long as that's doing its job?
That's doing its job at this stage.
That's all I need to know.
Beautiful.
Yeah, name David Gulpilil,
G-U-L-P-I-L-I-L.
That cleverman, bushman, cleverman,
doctor, witch doctor,
there, in Arnhem land.
He couldn't do it.
Oh, you just take those tablets.
Because it's different.
This sickness makes lots of holes.
Sore.
In the lungs.
Nothing can heal down,
nothing can heal back.
But right now I'm coping with it,
with this sickness.
Now...
..tired.
I feel...
..tired.
I feel nothing to do.
I feel right now
and I can see it in my memory.
Like in a camera.
If you look through my brains,
what I'm thinking, my homeland.
Still longer?
Yeah.
Long wait for.
Half past three, about another
hour and a half to wait.
Yeah. Half past three.
I'm tired. We should go for a drive.
What do you reckon?
I don't know. It's up to you.
I've had it.
I've got enough medicine?
Yeah, you got heaps.
Terrific.
I am here on my own,
and right now, I miss my country
and I miss my children.
I will be away,
in a wrong time and a wrong place...
..because of the cancer.
And my brother and my sisters,
when I gone, no-one knows.
Nobody, just me.
It'll go just like that.
Bang, finish, gone.
How are you, son?
My people, they will have
to build my shelter for me
at Gulpilil, where I born.
Where my old house is.
I want my own ceremony Junguan
to be there.
And a platform built,
across like that,
two finger like that.
Platform.
And I'll be laying down in the
middle, middle of the shelter...
..and I will remain there.
When my father passed away,
they waited for the flesh to go away.
And then his little brother,
his little brother, he cut
all the bones of my father.
And my mother made a dilly bag.
They took my father's body
and they put it on the platform
until it dried.
And, my father-stepfather,
my (SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE),
he been go and get all the bones
and put in dilly bag.
Put in ochre, red ochre, let 'em dry.
And after initiation,
there was... (INDIGENOUS WORD).
It mean the totem pole.
The totem pole they been cut 'em
and put the bones in the log,
hollow log.
And they would dance and sing.
And they said to me,
"This is your father's bones."
And I was about 10, 11.
12 years old, about 12 years old,
yeah.
And uh, I saw it, and my father.
I never forget, but that
memory, I still remember.
I'm gonna go there
and see it, before I go.
Before I go.
I remember.
I remember this place.
I like making films. I like it.
As natural, and that's the way I am.
Mr Neal tells me that your probation
period is up,
and that you wish
to return to the Kimberleys?
Is that right?
My acting is normal.
Of course your daughter
is here, isn't she?
I don't pretend.
There would be no question
of her going.
She would have to stay here
and continue her training.
I don't have to go and act.
I just jump in and stand there
and the camera sees me.
Like this you looking at me now.
(SINGS)
My acting experience is just natural.
The same like going hunting
and fishing, you know,
just natural things.
(SINGS)
Acting is just like dancing.
I mean, it's dancing and acting
is the relationship, you know.
I mean to me, it's easy.
To me, it's not very hard to do it.
And that's the part I like, that.
Acting and dancing and singing
and communicating.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
In the middle of the movie now
you're talking to me.
Away from Adelaide, yo.
Away from Adelaide I'm here.
Picture, a life about me.
Oh.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
Family.
They just called me, from long way.
From long, long way, from the
north-east of northern territory.
Arnhem land.
And they worrying for me
and I'm worrying for them too.
And a song began.
I remember.
Faraway, in another life...
(HUMS TUNE)
I walked my land proud and free
That's incredible.
Far away from my other life
Searching, I roam...
The first lead role I had
was The Tracker.
That was me, Tracker.
Perfect.
Faraway
in those distant lands...
Make me sad.
Life's hard
but living is good...
It was true, to me.
And I remember, my brother...
..we done it together,
for our own good.
(GUNSHOT)
I said move!
He's not going to.
And without him
we can't catch the other one.
I'll go back and get him,
see if I can't hurry him up a bit.
You'll stand trial when we get back.
Disobeying orders
in a field of conflict.
Yes, boss.
You'll probably hang.
Yes, boss.
Poor black fella,
been born for that noose, eh?
Too right.
(LAUGHTER)
That's a beauty.
(SONG IN INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
'Cause they're people
My people
My people.
In the beginning they came here
and live here, black fellas.
Black fella live here,
in the country.
This land can keep their spirit
and remembering.
Ancestors.
People been here.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
And that was a true story that
happened, right around Australia.
What a beauty of land.
The land, it stays there forever.
Forever and ever.
You sit down here really quiet,
the land will be talking to you.
This land is telling me,
here I am.
Australia is a big country,
richest country.
White men came here and said,
"Bang," like that, right?
And they dig the earth,
they made a big mining,
they made a lot of money, diamonds
and precious and tin and silver.
they made a lot of money, diamonds
They made fortunes from our land.
They made fortunes from our land.
What did the Aboriginal people get?
Nothing.
They told me,
what did they say, Mary?
They stopped the chemotherapy.
Because it stopped working.
Because it stopped working.
It's not working properly.
Now they're going to do
some radiation, and...
..immune therapy.
New therapy and radiation,
new one they putting it.
AUTOMATED VOICE: Breathe in
and hold your breath.
New therapy, like that.
I supposed to die
pretty long time ago.
But I'm still alive here.
Happy birthday to you...
David.
Yeah.
Blow your candles out.
No. A bit more.
(BEEP!)
AUTOMATED VOICE: Breathe.
(CLAPPING AND CHEERING)
Love you, brother.
Thank you.
David, beforehand, are you happy
up here with this vein today?
Yeah.
I'll put the needle in first.
No, put... OK.
Does that feel OK, David?
Yeah.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
David, I'll come back
in a minute, OK? Just get that off.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
(WHISPERS) Your hands are cold.
There is...the spirit of the galaxy
waiting for me there.
And the wind. I'll fly.
Take me to the waterhole.
Right there in the waterhole
where I born, yes.
Mungulgarry, in Gulparil.
Yeah.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
Yeah.
Sometimes we get sad.
Like when I was 12, 13.
I remember that.
(SOBS)
When our parents or relations
or relative die, in the tribe,
we must say goodbye and sing to them
to remember them...
..and sort of like to pray.
And during the ceremony
we paint ourselves body,
And during the ceremony
and also the dead man.
and also the dead man.
And we dance.
We wear so many things,
like headdress, armbands,
and all other decorations to
represent the culture for the dead.
Ahhh, ooh!
(DIDGERIDOO PLAYS)
(SINGS)
It makes stronger.
This thing.
Yeah, it's made real strong.
Hair belt.
Made in...David Gulpilil.
(LAUGHS)
Yeah, this one, it's a good one.
I like it.
(SINGS IN INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
I'm not scared.
But I'm sorry.
There's nothing I can
make myself stronger.
I can pray, you can pray for me,
it won't work.
Doesn't work.
I've been living in the bush.
And I've been living
in the long grass.
I can't sleep in the street.
But sometimes we just walk away
from the city at night-time.
Sneak up now and sleep
somewhere in the bush.
MAN: And the award goes to...
..David Gulpilil!
(APPLAUSE, CHEERING)
Long grass is free,
that's all we go.
We sit down, we sleep,
we get up in the morning.
Early morning 10 o'clock,
open everything.
Do shopping and go out again.
To bush and sit down under the tree.
Nothing but the smoke -
cigarette, ganja -
and drinking alcohol every day,
getting drunk
and smoke, smoke, smoke.
getting drunk
All the time.
All the time.
I'm smoking marijuana
just like everyone else is smoking
in the world.
I drink beer just like
everyone else drink beer.
And I drink whiskey. Uh...
I buy cigarette.
The balanda brought it
into our world so we still using it.
Even I'm wearing their clothes.
But before balanda came to this
country, it was nothing like this.
It was nothing like this.
(EXHALES)
MAN: (ON RADIO) He registered
an alcohol blood level
of 0.24 and 0.22.
Gulpilil pleaded
guilty on all counts.
REPORTER: Mr Gulpilil claims to be
a bush Aborigine
and says he finds himself
in trouble in the cities.
REPORTER: ..stopped by police
whilst driving his car in Darwin.
REPORTER: He was charged with
driving an unregistered,
uninsured vehicle
with a blood alcohol limit of 0.240.
REPORTER: According to Gulpilil's
defence, his drinking results from
a number of pressures -
his rise to stardom,
friends in town wanting to celebrate
his Order of Australia award,
bad publicity from the current
court case, and...
REPORTER: Gulpilil will be assessed
for rehabilitation
or stress therapy.
MAN: My apologies for calling cut.
I didn't realise.
Fuck!
What you been doing?
I break so many fucking times!
You look great!
You look great in front of the
camera, David, and you know that.
REPORTER: Gulpilil pleaded
guilty on all counts.
Gulpilil was fined a total of $475
and will enter a good behaviour bond
of $500 for two years
when released from Berrimah Jail
in one month.
Drinking all this grog,
smoking all this tobacco,
smoking all them ganja.
I ended up getting prisoned
every day in Darwin.
Every day, because I was, uh...
I was drunk and all that. All that.
Bad words to saying.
And drinking in public places.
REPORTER: Prominent Indigenous actor
David Gulpilil has been sentenced
to a year's jail after pleading
guilty to assaulting his wife.
The Darwin Magistrates Court said
Gulpilil will have
the sentence suspended
after serving five months in prison.
His wife, Miriam Ashley,
suffered a fractured arm
when Gulpilil hit her with a broom
last year,
but she says she doesn't
want him to go to jail.
'Cause I was drunk.
Nah, nah. More than that.
I forgot about it.
'Cause I was a drunken,
drunken man, growing up.
I'm a drug and alcoholic.
I'm an alcoholic.
Drug and alcoholic, me.
And I been smoking all my life.
I been locked up
in Darwin many times.
Many times.
Old man, you a bit tired today?
Yeah.
And I'm sick.
And I don't like it.
Finally, Mary, I've finished.
Yeah?
I've finished.
So what do you think?
Well, it's up to you.
Do you want to come down
to the letterbox with me
to get Libby's mail?
I'll go and have a look.
You want to come?
Yeah, I'll come down and have a look.
You did well today.
I had a dance group,
travelling around Australia.
And I met my friends
and girlfriends.
Ready?
One, two, three, four.
One, two, three, two.
One, two, three, four.
One, two, three...
It just comes and goes.
ALL: Ahhh.
(ALL CHANT)
I had relationships with women.
Just hello and goodbye.
And didn't have really...
stay forever.
Didn't work.
Because I was moving around a lot.
(JAUNTY COUNTRY MUSIC)
Yes!
Whoo-hoo!
Whoo!
When the highway sweeps beneath
my restless wheels...
(THUNDER RUMBLES)
(SHOUTS)
(GUNFIRE)
OK, five minutes.
Travelling.
MAN: One minute!
(LAUGHS, SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
Do you think I look like Aboriginal?
Look like Aborigine?
Real bushman?
Yeah? You want to see dancing?
Who want to see a dance?
OK, who's gonna play didgeridoo?
MAN: Everyone looking straight
at the camera.
And deadpan. No expression at all.
Just...
If anything, serious.
Ah, Mick.
You frightened shit out of me.
So I oughta, mate.
Sneaking up on a man when he's
rendering first aid to a lady.
Oh, is that what you were doing?
What are you doing wandering
around out here in the scrub, Nev?
I'm on my way to corroboree
over at the Gabba.
It's a bloody drag, but still...
My dad get angry if I don't show up.
See, Nev's a real city boy
but his dad's a tribal elder.
Oh, no, you can't
take my photograph.
Oh, I'm sorry. You believe
it'll take your spirit away?
No, you got lens cap on.
(LAUGHS)
Crikey, Mick, I better get going.
(TV PLAYS IN BACKGROUND)
They seen white men.
White men catches them.
Jesus Christ, get me the police.
This man, this man.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
Fella in the picture,
he live in a cave.
Dog man. Big fella.
He's a dog man, never sleep.
He sit there all day,
sit down in the cave, way up.
He live with small fella,
and black fella.
Cannot catch him, cannot kill him.
He is dog.
What? He eats dog?
No, captain, sir, he IS dog.
He's changed to dog.
He grows hair.
He grow teeth, sharp.
And he grows a tail, this way, long.
(OTHER MEN VOCALISE LIKE DOGS)
And he stands with two leg,
like this.
And he goes... (HOWLS)
(MEN HOWL)
My life is getting weaker.
My life is getting miserable.
My life is getting very complicated.
And when I say complicated, I mean...
..I can't catch up with my own life.
Where I used to be.
It is...different.
This side you go in.
Come in here next to me.
That's it, yeah.
(CHUCKLES) You have to grow up.
What am I doing tonight?
Nothing. Staying home as usual.
Nothing. I'm staying home tonight.
If this camera is rolling,
I'm staying at home tonight.
Oh, we gotta get Terry to come
and cut your fingernails
and toenails too.
I'm here, and I'm far
long way from you.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
My country is Gulpilil Marwuyu.
My spirit will return
back to my country.
I will lay down there in my soil.
He will come and visit me.
I will miss my children.
Jida.
And Milan.
And Makaya.
And Phoebe.
Jaimie.
Malakai.
And Andrew.
And that's all.
These are my children.
And I think of them.
And I love them.
My funeral will be there,
at Gulpilil.
Next to my ceremony ground.
Lying down next to
the blue tongue lizard.
Where the blue tongue lizard
gotta be.
And that'll be where my funeral is.
You'll eat food and fish
and tucker and everything
there in my funeral site.
Yes.
It's only short. Five or seven days
is fine for me.
Until they're satisfied.
When everyone's satisfied.
I'm still in this movie.
And this story, it's about me.
And no-one else can do
the life story of me,
it's only me.
I can do the life about me. Yeah.
Hello. Hello, Ernie Dingo?
David Gulpilil.
Gulpilil, yes, brother.
G-U-L-P-I-L-I-L.
Yes.
Hey, brother. I'm doing
one-man show here.
Here, here, of my life. Yes,
here in Sydney, yes, yes.
The only thing is
I can't see my show, see?
Because I'm in it.
(LAUGHTER)
Maybe you can play me.
Guplilil. Yes.
G-U-L-P-I-L-I-L, yo.
Yeah, maynmak, yeah, brother,
all you gotta do is...
Yeah, dance around, jump around
and all that thing.
Make yourself a poor blackfella,
yeah, that's right.
(LAUGHTER)
Too busy?!
Doing what?
Reading a script.
Crocodile Dundee part 4.
(LAUGHTER)
No worries, brother.
We all gotta eat anyway, brother.
I'll go and get Russell Crowe
or Mel Gibson.
Yes, maybe Jack Thompson.
See you later. Bye.
(APPLAUSE)
Yesterday you got really breathless
when we got home, didn't you?
Yeah. Breathless? What's breathless?
You know, short wind, short wind.
Oh, mate.
(DIDGERIDOO MUSIC)
(MUSIC CONTINUES)
Me, I came famous.
Myself, with the...my own culture.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
This is a deep ceremony, culture.
I been get famous.
Because I was born as thoroughbred.
For movements
and dance of my culture.
(DIDGERIDOO PLAYS, STICKS CLAP)
And my father taught me how to dance.
And how to sing, and how to...
..relate to the communication
with didgeridoo and the clapstick.
And to listen to it.
(MEN SING)
(DIDGERIDOO PLAYS, STICKS CLAP)
The rhythm of the song of culture,
song of the ceremony.
I have to listen of the chorum from
the song man and didgeridoo player.
I have to listen of the chorum from
(DIDGERIDOO PLAYS, STICKS CLAP)
(DIDGERIDOO PLAYS, STICKS CLAP)
And that's how I became
the famous dancer, yes.
I'm the greatest dancer in the world.
Just for me, though.
I'm the best dancer.
My name is Gulpilil.
My skin group name, Balang.
My language is Mandhalpingu.
My moiety is dhuwa.
My mother is same
and my father side is same.
My name is Gulpilil.
You know what that means?
Kingfisher.
That's my name, that's my totem,
that's what I sing,
that's what I believe.
My name's in the tree,
in the fish, in the sky,
in the star, in the earth,
in the storm, day and night.
If I forget, if I give up,
in other words if I stop,
what will I have?
Nothing else.
Yeah, that was me.
Thank you.
(SPEAKS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)
Captions by Red Bee Media
Copyright
Australian Broadcasting Corporation