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Immigration Nation: The Secret History Of Us. (DVD)
Year: 2011
Rating: PG
Director: Jacob Hickey, Ben Shackleford
Cast: Deborah Kennedy
Release Date: March 02, 2011
Distributor: SBS/Madman
The Film: 4.5
FILMINK rates DVDs and Blu-rays out of 5“...as close as one can get to a three hour comprehensive history of this country.”
This fascinating three part SBS doco pulls no punches in unpicking Australia's idiosyncratic and often schizophrenic immigration policy. A paragon of linear history, Immigration Nation's names, dates and events mark a metronomic march - from Chinese coolie labour to Federation, from White Australia to Arthur Caldwell, from Robert Menzies to SIEV X - with each sequence amplified by never before seen personal histories and found photos and footage.
There is ample fodder for the history wars here. Between the horrific "blackbirding" of Islander men in Queensland in the mid-1800s and Children Overboard there were plenty of shameful episodes and policies - the 75 percent rule and the dictation test come to mind - but there has also been a steady, upward trek toward compassionate cosmopolitanism that is cause for legitimate pride.
Australia has evolved enormously from its purely Anglo-Saxon workingman's paradise roots, and while this documentary never blinks in illustrating its growing pains, the destination - multiculturalism, international connectivity and human rights protections - is every bit as relevant as the journey. For directors Jacob Hickey and Ben Shackleford, immigration is the single defining element of Australianism, and as such, this film is as close as one can get to a three hour comprehensive history of this country.
