The Sound Of One Hand ClappingIt should go without saying that the Australian migrant experience should be profoundly dealt with in Australian film. Sadly these themes hasn't been given much of go as yet but this film certainly gives the subject a sound treatment.Richard Flanagan's The Sound Of One Hand Clapping investigates the trauma refugees from war zones can bring with them to their new country. Bojan Buloh (Kristof Kacmarek) and his wife Maria (Melita Jurisic) came to our land, to settle in Tasmania, soon after the Second World War. They are refugees from the latter day Slovenia which was under the rule of the tyrant Tito. Maria a few years later suddenly abandons her daughter and her husband. Their now grown daughter, played by New Zealand's Kerry Fox, returns to see her estranged father, facing the devils within her. She's trying to cope with, understand, the loss of her mother. The Sound Of One Hand Clapping is a superb, contemplative film; one that offers strong visceral images; a tale of dark secrets: A three year old smashes her favourite tea set: That same child teeters through the snow in her socks, looking for her father who's at the local pub. There's a lecherous guardian, three Godly harridans, a father, himself tottering, caring for his daughter. The Sound Of One Hand Clapping is full of poetic triumphs. The sins of generations past offer strong fare for writers. The harbouring of hate and despair can expose the strongest of characters to wayward actions. Alcoholism and self hate are a danger. The abandonment of a three year old child by her loving mother and the damage this can do to those remaining must be resolved in some way. The Sound Of One Hand Clapping is a contemplative, sombre, beautifully shot film well worth enjoying. 4 Lost Mum Flys |