by Lachlan Colquhoun
With only two actors, neither of them professionals but both perfectly suited to their roles, Damage deals with pressing global themes of war, displacement, loss, trauma and surveillance technology.
A taxi driver who doesn’t know the city, is driving a passenger who can’t remember where she wants to go, and the result is a collision between two damaged individuals and their very different personal stories.
The taxi driver is traumatised by memories of his recent past as he escaped war torn Iraq, while the passenger is desperate to find her way to her daughter’s home and intervene in a family conflict.
Shot in Adelaide, although the city is never named, adding to the feeling of dislocation.
Blackwell combines drone shots of the city with Wikileaks footage from the carnage in the Middle East war to visualise the interior life of the lead character and lift the narrative from the confines of its two-handed script into a subtle exploration of more universal themes despite the film’s (rather) blunt title.
A car radio connects the story elements, themes and the characters. It brings them varied music but is also a reminder of the world outside and the ideology of war which caused Ali’s exile and trauma.
“I wanted to express the importance of humanity and hope in a world where war is becoming the norm and fear of the refugee a symptom. I researched the Iraq war and particularly the reconstruction of Iraq,” says Blackwell.
“It was so atrociously corrupt and sordid and made me more aware of the censorship and silence around the deeper story of Iraq – and of all the wars we are helping to wage in general.”
Ali Al Jenabi, an asylum seeker from Iraq who is also known as the ‘Oskar Schindler of Asia’ in Robin de Crespigny’s book The People Smuggler, plays the taxi driver, although he has no previous acting experience.
Blackwell saw him speak about his experiences at a community event in Sydney and was inspired to approach him for the film.
Blackwell, a NIDA graduate with a Masters’ Degree in Directing from AFTRS, also directs her late mother Imelda Bourke as the passenger, who struggles with her own amnesia as she attempts an urgent mission.
The shooting script remained flexible and while the plot is fictitious, there are factual documentary elements drawn from discussions and improvisation.
Despite his lack of experience, Ali’s performance is compelling, and he is an imposing presence who makes his voice heard.
The result is an immensely human story, an almost apocalyptic take on a road movie, which fills the screen with tension and energy from start to finish.
The very small independent sector occasionally throws up an important film that can take the risks a big budget number can’t take – this is one of them – but they are getting harder to make.
The actual completion of the film to this standard is a feat in itself, given the challenges and obstacles Blackwell faced.
After approaching more than twenty producers, all of whom passed, Blackwell’s belief in the project was unwavering and she produced it herself, as well as writing and directing.
She started with a fundraising campaign through Creative Partnerships Australia, and began shooting when she had raised $100,000 even though more was needed.
More funds were raised through ‘work in progress’ screenings to invited audiences.
This incremental fundraising process was broken up over a long period, and then interrupted by the Covid pandemic.
The film also involved over a year in travelling to the outer suburbs of Sydney to work with the Iraqi actor and the Iraqi musician community, particularly renowned composer and musicologist Mohammad Ameen Maardan who composed music specifically for the film.
Composer, musician and director of the Australian Art Orchestra, Peter Knight also contributed to the score.
“I needed the actors to be real people, to show themselves, not as actors but to exist in reality and in the same way be able to transform the spectator into a witness,” Blackwell says.
“Witnessing cruelty and dehumanization become normalised in the world around me. I needed to write something that would redeem a sense of hope and resistance.”
Damage screens nationally from 9 November 2023. Further screening information on the website https://www.damagethemovie.net/where-to-watch
