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This gentle comedy quickly established itself with many Australians as a film talking in their language about their day-to-day lives. It is a far removed from impressive Australian hi-tech or big production movies such as The Matrix and Moulin Rouge but has struck a chord with many Australians living in the suburbs (and elsewhere) as telling one of our stories in our own voice. It tells the story of an ordinary family trying to save its home (its 'castle') from compulsory acquisition for airport expansion. Along the way it manages to subtly draw a quiet parallel with European settlement of Aboriginal territory. The understatement and humour allows people to re-examine their thinking on this issue, while in-your-face demonstrations have usually only succeeded in polarising and hardening existing attitudes into a simplistic binary choice. (For more on this issue see our entry on Eddie Mabo.) The film was made on a small budget using production techniques developed by the Working Dog team from their television productions such as Frontline which cut out many of the inefficiencies, over-engineering and restrictive work practices involved in film and television productions. Some of the 'name' actors (at least in oz) are Judy Davis and, of course, Bud Tingwell. Related links
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