There’s a simple moment, in the last stretch of empowering documentary Araatika! Rise Up, that means so much to First Nations filmmaker, lawyer, arts authority and inaugural chair of NITV Larissa Behrendt (After the Apology). The film follows NRL player turned Indigenous pathways manager for the code Dean Widders’ work towards having a traditional dance celebrated pre-game, in much the same way the Haka is hailed across the ditch.
The moment brings him together with two of the leading lights of the arts industry in this country: former Sydney Festival artistic director Wesley Enoch, and Bangarra Dance Theatre artistic director Stephen Page – two men Behrendt has shared enduring creative collaborations with. They meet at Barangaroo Reserve, the spot chosen by Enoch for dusk till dawn Sydney Festival piece The Vigil, a showcase of First Nations culture that occurred on 25 January 2021.
“When I looked back at that scene, I felt like I was seeing three men who I admire at the beginning of the journey of their Eldership,” Behrendt says. “And I think one of the things that’s really wonderful about leadership in this film is that Wesley and Stephen create a space for Dean to step into his own understanding of dance.”
It’s these moments that make Araatika!, which screened as part of 2021’s Sydney Film Festival, sing. That and the conversation it sparks about why this country has been such a laggard in embracing its enduring First Nations culture. “The impact of colonisation here was such that there were attempts to wipe our culture out,” Behrendt says. “So people couldn’t speak their language, and dance and song were two of the first things that were getting lost. Added to that the generations of child removal, so that the transmission of knowledge gets stopped.”
Larissa Behrendt. Source: NITV
It is a deeply personal journey for Widders, who keenly feels the weight of the task on his shoulders, especially when the pandemic disrupts plans for players to perform at the 2020 New Zealand–Australia Test. Undeterred, he enlists former players George Rose, Preston Campbell and Timana Tahu, plus current stars Latrell Mitchell and Cody Walker.
“Dean would say that in his day, you did have to kind of suck it up a bit,” Behrendt notes of the slowly improving situation. “Watching him talk to people like Latrell and Cody, you could see him almost energised by the way in which they are so fearless about asserting their identity, and how they stand up and call things out. He was almost a little bit wondrous because he could never have done that when he was playing, because the times were so different.”
Dean Widders. Source: Sean Izzard
Leading lights from other codes also appear, including former Sydney Swans teammates Adam Goodes and Michael O’Loughlin. The horrendous treatment of Goodes at the end of his career feeds into the national conversation, and how different codes handle these incidents.
“If you look at Adam, and then, going back further, Nicky Winmar, who I’ve just actually finished a film about, there is a sense that there have been those moments in the AFL where people have really made a comment about racism that has then been able to push the national conversation,” Behrendt says.
“During Nicky’s time, everyone on the field and off would yell out racist abuse, as though that was just part of the fun. And now, particularly since Adam Goodes stood up and called it out, you actually do find that members of the crowd will dob in people using racial vilification. So you can see a shift in terms of the community attitude, although obviously there’s a long way to go.”
Presenter, journalist and author Stan Grant, and actor Hunter Page-Lochard, son of Stephen Page, also appear. It’s truly beautiful to see them come together with Bangarra’s world-celebrated dancers for The Vigil, adorned in ochre and showing their pride in one another, especially given the conversation around the 26th.
The Indigenous All Stars Team at a practice dance session. Source: Jim Maloney
“If you do something on Australia Day, Invasion Day, Survival Day, whatever you want to call it, you do feel like you’re getting drawn into that exhausting debate in ways that you can’t control,” Behrendt suggests. “Whereas by doing it the night before, in that space Wesley created for them, you are actually allowing people to celebrate their resilience of culture in their own way, in a very poetic and lyrical way that speaks back to the day from that position of cultural empowerment.”
Some of the most affecting stuff occurs between Widders, his son, and his father and fellow rugby legend, Jake. “For me, that is the heart of the film,” Behrendt says. “There are so many negative stereotypes of Aboriginal men that have become part of popular culture, that relate to them being violent. And particularly since the Northern Territory intervention, where there have been huge narratives about the way in which Aboriginal parents aren’t caring for their children. To me, I feel it’s really important to show this side of First Nations maleness. There is not a single man in this film who is not an inspiring role model, even though they’re from very different backgrounds.”
While the film focuses predominantly on men, it also makes room for incredible women, including Widders’ mother and her concerns for him finding his path after footy. And there was matriarchal power behind the camera too. Writer/director Behrendt was joined by producer Sam Griffin, cinematographers Anna Howard and Justine Kerrigan, and editor Andrea Lang.
Dean Widders and dancers from the Bangarra Dance Theatre. Source: Sean Izzard
It really is about teamwork; something Widders inherently understands. He makes a poetic point of comparing NRL players working together on the pitch to the tradition of First Nations men hunting together. “That’s a very big part of our culture,” Behrendt notes. “It’s not one that reveres the individual or rewards selfishness… we’re brought up hearing our cultural stories that are all about sharing.”
Araatika! Rise Up, an NITV-commissioned original documentary, airs on NITV on Wednesday 25 January at 9.30pm. It is also streaming at SBS On Demand as part of the Always Was, Always Will Be collection, celebrating First Nations film and TV.
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