Damage

Damage dir. Madeleine Blackwell (tv actor and sister of the late Paul Blackwell, beloved theatre actor)

Out from her aged-care home on a mission, Esther enlists the aid of a cab driver, Ali. He has a history of escape from the Middle East which haunts him as he tries to overcome the frustration of a fare who doesn't have an address to guide him. They are on the road together at night. She can't remember, and he can't forget.

These are wonderful characters, brilliantly evoked by the two low-key stars (Imelda Bourke & Ali Al Jenabi) to tell a sad, fascinating and lovely story. A good mood is created in this tender and original film exploring themes of aging, connection, seeking asylum and freedom.

Damage is a deeply humane, geriatric road movie and buddy flick with a cascade of arresting images from in and around Adelaide. The opening scene of a submerged jetty is very arresting and is actually from nearby Port Parham. For we locals, it is very 'Adelaide' (location of many fine films; Look Both Ways, Snowtown, Travelling Light, A Month of Sundays, Return Home, Wrong Side of the Road etc) but as never seen before, thanks to cinematographer Hugh Freytag.

But Damage also features harsh surveillance-quality footage from the WikiLeaks released Collateral Murder, a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people including two Reuters news staff in Iraq in 2007.

The deliberate pace stylishly tells a wise story.

This is a nice film with a nice idea about an Arab taxi driver refugee who picks up a woman who's lost or doesn't know where she's going. Basically 1 location film inside the car the whole time apart from a few scenes.

The film is engaging, and the non-actors are very good especially the old lady.

The music was good and some locations, but the photography looked amateur, and the color grade was off.

It has annoying glitch drone footage and other cut away stock footage which is distracting and takes away focus from the core story.

I felt the characters were good but not great, the Arab man was portrayed as being very rude and usually in that culture they would never treat an older lady with disrespect.

The problem I have with this particular film is that it is white washed in the storytelling and the culture. It's supposed to be a story about a refugee and Aussie woman with a culture clash and we learn about both their worlds. The story decided to focus more on flashbacks with Ali and his traumatic past in IRAQ and the war he faced losing possible loved ones.

I felt sorry for him but it DIDNT evoke any real emotion, it felt forced and contrived and it didn't come from a place of lived experience. Even if the Director who is of Anglo-Saxon background did research and uses real lived experience from the real actor - it didn't translate well, it was missing so much emotion - I should have been crying by the end or feeling something strong.

It can be dangerous telling other culture's stories as it sometimes fails and doesn't transcend the real world and trauma that middle eastern people face.

Overall, a really nice movie and I enjoyed it, but it should have been so much more.