by FilmInk Staff
Our Warrior, The Story of Robbie Thorpe, is a story of resistance across generations, the power of family and the unrelenting struggle for justice in a country that remains in denial.
This new, 53 minute, Melbourne-made documentary has just had its world premiere as part of the Birrarangga Film Festival in Naarm, Melbourne to sell-out crowds. In fact, the festival hosted an unprecedented four sell-out screenings due to the demand!
The independently produced documentary, which took over eight years to complete, looks at Robbie’s childhood, his family and explores the emergence of his radical politics in the formative years of Black Power in Australia, his apprenticeship in the 1970s under Dr Bruce McGuiness, and his emergence as one of the most controversial and uncompromising activists in Australia today. But the film is much more than a biopic.
This film examines his political impact as an activist and in doing so the film uncovers the story of how resistance and resilience is transmitted across generations and the power of family. The documentary is able to highlight the inter-generational impact of movements. It tracks the resurgence of a powerful Black, Indigenous, anti-colonial movement that is currently reshaping the country, and looks at the origins of the modern Treaty movement in Victoria.
With a non-Indigenous director, the documentary, like Robbie’s activism, is an outlier. “The model is somewhat similar to Bastardy (2008) which told the story of Uncle Jack Charles and was the collaboration between director and subject over many years,” said Our Warrior director Anthony Kelly. “The model relies on trust, ethics and a strong collaborative relationship. But this model is at the tail end of filmmaking history in Australia which is in the midst of a renaissance of Indigenous screen storytelling.”
Robbie Thorpe is continuing to prosecute a case of Genocide to the international community, using the lens of International Customary Law, to get justice at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Our Warrior has been submitted to numerous Australian and international film festivals and is available for community screenings in Victoria, Australia.
Our warrior website – https://www.ourwarriordoco.com/
Our Warrior Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ourwarriordoco/
