Black and White

2002

Action / Drama

4
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 63% · 6 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 63% · 50 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.7/10 10 980 980

australia child murder illiteracy based on true story australian aboriginal 1950s

Plot summary

Australia, 1958. When a nine year old white girl is found murdered, police are quick to arrest illiterate Aborigine, Max Stuart. Under interrogation Max admits to the killing. With a legal system compromised by intimidation tactics, the skills of his two gifted but naïve defense lawyers are put to the test.

Director

Craig Lahiff Photo
Craig Lahiff

Top cast

Penne Hackforth-Jones Photo
Penne Hackforth-Jones as Mrs. Aston
Charles Dance Photo
Charles Dance as Roderic Chamberlain
Robert Carlyle Photo
Robert Carlyle as David O'Sullivan
Roy Billing Photo
Roy Billing as Det Sgt Turner
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
932.24 MB
1280*682
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 41 min
Seeds ...
1.87 GB
1920*1024
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 41 min
Seeds 1

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by kinnordavid 7 / 10

A Provocative Australian Period Piece

South Australian lawyers still argue passionately about the guilt or innocence or Rupert Maxwell Stuart.A young white girl was brutally raped and murdered.A part-Aboriginal man was accused. He was drunk (and, by admission, lust filled) at the time the offence occurred.At the time, the commission of such an offence would have seen Stuart swinging at the end of a rope.Enter Robert Carlile (playing David O'Sullivan) and Kery Fox (Helen Devaney) his impoverished lawyers, passionate, and alcoholic respectively.This is the story of how this unlikely (and tragic, for O'Sullivan and Fox, in real life, self-destructed soon afterwards) worked day and night to save Stuart from the gallows.Instrumental in this was the young Rupert Murdoch (Ben Mendelson) and the Priest Father Tom Dixon.The point of all this is not Stuart's guilt or innocence. It is about O'Sullivan and Fox, and their 15 minutes of fame. It is about Murdoch, and the ways in which the press influences criminal justice (there were two South Australian hangings after the Stuart case), reported, by Murdoch's "The News" in sober and pro-government terms.For those reasons, as an examination of long ago attitudes, and of issues of press influence, this is an important film.A great movie? Probably not? Consider the following. When Murdoch sits down with the defence team to discuss his proposed press campaign for a reprieve, and is told that if the public will not warm to Stuart's case and Murdoch will not personally intervene, "a man will die".Murdoch replies, "then a man will die!".This not a movie about Stuart and Chamberlain; it's about O'Sullivan, Cox, Murdoch and the media. It's about hard-working lawyers and cynical Newspapermen. And on that level, it succeeds.
Reviewed by gemstones 8 / 10

Evocative recreation of 1960's Australian cultural confusion

Black and White captures the essence of South Australia in the 1960's. Parochial, racially insensitive, a stuffy English "aristocracy" and the overtones of the hidden menace in Adelaide, are all revealed in this movie. It is hard not to watch this film and not feel anger at the injustice of it all. The camera work was great and attention to detail, costumes and cars, was noticeable because it wasn't noticeable. Having a "big name" (Carlyle) to play the lead didn't add anything to the film. It was hard to feel any compassion for the lead character which, given the sacrifices and stress he endured, was disappointing. He felt detached and uninvolved. Outstanding performances by Nagoombujarra, Charles Dance and Colin Friels lifted this film where it might easily have lapsed into caricature and stereotype. The arrival of Rupert Murdoch into the scene was nicely underplayed and added an element of reality. Enjoyable, provocative and a slice of history. Well worth a watch.
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