Sydney - Australians were daring to hope Thursday that the
13-year-old Aboriginal boy Brandon Walters could win an Oscar for his
critically acclaimed performance in local film director Baz
Luhrmann's epic Australia.
Papers in the United States have tipped an Academy Award
nomination for Brandon's portrayal of the orphaned Nullah in
Luhrmann's World War II melodrama.
Spotted by talent scouts in a public swimming pool in Broome,
Western Australia, Brandon beat out 1,000 other hopefuls for a role
that is likely to drag him into the limelight at home and abroad.
As well as stealing hearts and winning plaudits for his
performance as Nullah, Brandon also features in a multimillion-dollar
government-sponsored tourism-promotion campaign now showing in 22
countries.
Nullah personifies the friction between the indigenous settlers
and the colonizers of 1940s Australia. He's torn between remaining in
the Outback with his indigenous relatives and taking up with the
white man's world of cattle stations, commerce and consumerism.
Nullah is also a member of what has become known as the Stolen
Generations - Aborigines who were taken from their parents and put in
Christian missions to be brought up as white folk in what authorities
now concede was a misguided attempt at assimilation.
The practice only ended in the 1970s, and authorities said most
Aboriginal families have a memory of one of their number being taken
away.
Nicole Kidman, who starred alongside Hugh Jackman in the
165-minute film that goes into general release next week in
Australia, has promised to look after Brandon's interests if the film
turns out to be his passport into the glitzy world of Hollywood.
'I feel very protective of him,' she said at this week's Sydney
premiere. 'If the film does really well, he's going to need a lot of
protection.'
Kidman, who was an international star in her teens, knows
first-hand the pressures of celebrity. Her first marriage was to
Hollywood heart throb Tom Cruise and her second is to mega-rich
country singer Keith Urban.
Around 500,000 of Australia's 21 million people claim Aboriginal
heritage. There are indigenous sports stars - foremost among them
Olympic gold medal track star Kathy Freeman - but Brandon would be
the first to carve out an international career in the cinema.
Luhrmann's first feature film since 2001's Moulin Rouge was shown
this week in Sydney as well as Darwin and the other far-north
locations where is was shot.
Dorothy Berto was at the Darwin screening and told national
broadcaster ABC that Brandon's performance had brought back memories
of her own removal.
'I was crying, too,' she said. 'I was crying for the mission kids.
Yeah, I'm one like him. I'm one of them. I was taken away.'
Like Freeman, who famously lit the Olympic flame at the Sydney
Games in 2000, Brandon now carries a torch for his people and his
country.
USA
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