Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

MatthewInSydney Interesting story, with one great performance by Gulpilil, let down a bit by Gary Sweet's character. He's such a thorough bastard, that ordinary racism can't explain it - why is he such a monster, is he racist or simply a psychopath, and how did a fellow like that end up in the position of heading this little troupe in the first place? The movie doesn't seem to care about these issues in the slightest, and I think that's a pretty big failing for a film dealing with the big issues it seems to be wanting to grapple. Or maybe the problem is that Sweet appears to be play-acting at being evil, rather than really embodying it. And the dialogue & accents aren't always convincing if this is meant to be 1922. Not sure whether to blame the script, the direction, or the actors (excluding Gulpilil). But I liked where the story went in the end, and David Gulpilil, as usual, was wonderful - he makes everyone else look like amateurs. Worth seeing for his character alone. He's the centre of the film, complex and completely compelling and believable. So the film works as a portrait of his experience, and for that alone I'd recommend seeing it. It's just a pity that the white characters, who are secondary but none the less are there throughout the whole film, don't come across as equally believable people.

spj-4 This is an excellent movie that has much empathy & convictions with the plight of indigenous peoples. It justly portrays the struggles of such victims of popular opinion & authority, without merit or broader justice, in remote locations. Skin colour different! Customs different! But how similar in truer circumstance of imprisonment to some kind of authority, however unjust. But mostly, unquestioned! To me, it brings to mind the less well-known abstract mystery of underlying "Dreamtime" world in "The Last Wave" & the more violent but more critically acclaimed "The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith". They were both fine Australian movies of the 1970s, in my opinion. Likewise, the American cinematic masterpieces "Eagle's Wings" & "A Man Named Horse" which I also was very much impressed by.The voices of victims virtually cry & echo out from the desolate landscapes mostly impressively presented in each of these classic movies! But the messages here in this movie "The Tracker", that I have now viewed twice, are especially moving, as yet another native in his land of inheritance is abused & abused & abused, under authorities far from just or caring, or familiar or comfortable to himself & his kindred spirits! But still, this is a sensitive & sympathetic film!When 'The Tracker' was shackled in a vast outback, it was an ironic portrayal we are viewing, & indicative of the prison inflicted on his peoples across time & place, after 40,000 years in Australia! Vastness was no comfort in this massive prison. The victims merely did not put up barbed wire or electified fences to promote themselves, as whitemen duly did so many times, in reality! When 'The Tracker' is whipped time & again by his "boss", he reminds me personally of Jesus, "King of Kings" & "The Greatest Story Ever Told"! And these people have their kingdoms DUE respect as surely as what was being presented in "King of Kings" or "Ben Hur" or countless other portrayals of outstanding individuals expressing JUST defiance from "Gandhi" to "Cry Freedom"!Our prayer should always be for such victims!!!

mossy1 This is a powerful film by the way the terrible beauty of the Australian outback is captured. Also by the haunting soundtrack. The story is very basic, the evil white man is chasing an Aboriginal charged with murdering a white woman. The tracker is helping the policeman to track the fugitive through the outback. The policeman also has a young gullible constable with him and also an older man. The trouble is that the plot is far too simplistic. The aboriginals are painted as noble intelligent savages while the whites are evil or at best stupid and naive. The tracker (David Gulpilil) is portrayed as far smarter and cunning than his white boss. The really strange plot is why the tracker, who knows exactly where the fugitive is but won't tell his boss and keeps leading them further and further into the bush, why the tracker keeps leading the boss to groups of "innocent" aboriginals who the boss massacres. After another massacre the tracker decides to hang the boss and leads the follower to a group of Aboriginal elders who punish the fugitive for raping a black woman by spearing him through the leg(Aboriginal law). Again the noble savage myth because in Australia, aboriginal women are subject to domestic violence and are not protected by aboriginal law. In summary, go and see it for the incredible scenery and soundtrack but don't believe the plot in any way.

Amnes Poor and lazy attempt at getting some aboriginal actors and history on to the cinema screens. Sadly (although there's plenty of funding for this sort of thing) though, it fails on many many levels. One wonders if the funding was just too easy to get.All the white actors are terrible, the attempt to create 'atmosphere' through use of silence and absence of dialogue is just boring, cinematography is ordinary, and uh it just seems like a lazy filmmakers idea of a quick buck and a bit of PC egotism.Much as I'd like to see some good oz films featuring aboriginals or stories about them, this isn't one. It's just embarrassingly bad and you'll find yourself fast-forwarding.zzzzzzzzzzz