by Pauline Adamek

Year:  2025

Director:  Yaara Bou Melhem

Rated:  PG

Release:  13 November 2025

Distributor: Bonsai

Running time: 79 minutes

Worth: $16.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth

Cast:
Maitland Parker

Intro:
This results in a rich and immersive film that challenges dominant historical narratives and restores voice to those who have long been silenced…

Set in the remote Pilbara region in Western Australia, the documentary Yurlu | Country opens with lovingly photographed sweeping visuals of the dramatic red‑rock landscapes. Dreamy drone footage glides us through the remote region of Banjima Country, from Karijin National Park to Mulga Downs Station.

Clad in a hazmat suit and mask, we meet an aboriginal elder who reminisces about his childhood, camping by the picturesque watering hole in a hidden gorge, now contaminated by a nearby asbestos mine. Beyond the red rocks and gum trees lies a parched grey hellscape of waste and toxic sludge. “This country is poisoned,” he bluntly states. “Poison country.” This is Maitland Parker, Elder of the Banjima People, and his homeland (his “Yurlu”).

This documentary feature from Australian director Yaara Bou Melhem, which was co-created with Banjima Elder Maitland Parker, reclaims the story of the Pilbara region in Western Australia through the voices of the traditional Custodians of the land.

Near to the abandoned asbestos mine lies Wittenoom Town. We learn it was “erased from maps in 2007” and considered to be one of Australia’s most contaminated sites. By the 1970s, the government began discouraging people from living in the area. In 2007, Wittenoom was officially removed from maps and road signs to deter visitors from entering the contaminated zone of nearly 47,000 hectares and remaining residents were asked to leave or forcibly evicted.

We see a woman foraging for leaves, which she steeps in a billy over a campfire, and treating her husband with remedies. Maitland Parker is seen undergoing an MRI. He was a ranger for the Karijini National Park since 1985, when it was known as the Hamersley Ranges, which is how he became exposed to the asbestos that caused his lung cancer. The family receives grim news regarding his cancer’s diminishing response to the treatments.

God’s-eye-view graphics illustrate the expanse and spread of the contamination across the territory. TV footage of mining magnate Lang Hancock casually expounding his beliefs that some aboriginals are expendable is truly chilling.

Melhem’s sensitive documentary deftly contrasts the human face of the disaster against Hancock’s absence of humanity. We see the younger generations learning how to cook braised kangaroo tail and damper, and getting painted to participate in traditional corroborees.

The film is a powerful reframing of Wittenoom’s history. Rather than a focus on industrial ambition and environmental catastrophe, Yurlu instead centres the narrative around Country, culture, and the enduring connection of the Banyjima people to the land, despite decades of exploitation, contamination, and displacement.

Using first-hand accounts and historical footage, Yurlu examines the devastating environmental legacy of the mine, showing how Country has been left poisoned by asbestos dust. The land may be scarred but it remains spiritually alive to the Banyjima people.

Documentarian Yaara Bou Melhem deftly blends oral storytelling, testimonies from Elders and community members, and archival footage, all illustrated by gorgeous aerial cinematography that captures both the beauty and the tragedy of the devastated landscape. This results in a rich and immersive film that challenges dominant historical narratives and restores voice to those who have long been silenced in the official record of Wittenoom’s dark past.

8Powerful
score
8
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