Where the Green Ants Dream (1984) - full transcript

[somber opera singing]
[orchestral music]

[whistling winds]

[engine chugging]

[didgeridoo droning]

[ethereal music]
[didgeridoo droning]

[flames crackling]

[muffled voice]

- 103.

No, I tell a lie.

It's 107, and the air
condition is rooted.

Welcome to purgatory south.



- [Voiceover] I know it well.

- Cogs called anyway.

[muffled voice]

- I have a picture here,

it's Ben, Benjamin Franklin.

That's Ben and that's me.

- The real problem
is, Mrs. Strehlov--

- Strehlow.

Miss Strehlow.

- We don't do this,

we're not the
people to help you,

I mean our equipment
here is meant--

- For registering footsteps?

- Well, yeah but--



- Footsteps could
make it an easy job.

My Ben

he's out there in the
tunnel, in the darkness,

and you've got the
equipment to find him.

[wind whistling]

- [Voiceover] Look,
mein Captain, okay?

- Yeah, skol.

- Um.

- Perhaps you would show
this young man the photo.

- Why thank you, madam.

I haven't been called
young in a long time.

- [Seated Man]
She's lost her dog.

- Really?

- [Older Woman] Ben is
just four years old.

- Four?

- So when Mr. Franklin,
God rest his soul,

brought me the two
puppies, he said,

"Which do you prefer,
Lizzie or Ben?"

And I, without a moment's
hesitation, I said,

the little brown one.

Oh, he was so cute, and funny!

- It's true, our instruments
are very sensitive,

they can pick up the tiniest
movement, footsteps, anything.

But they have to occur right
next to the measurement probe.

- [Voiceover] Then
you can find him.

- It's possible,

but we'd have to bore probes
in the whole mining area.

That'd mean at least
five thousand borings.

- My Ben, he's lost out
there in the tunnel.

The darkness.

[didgeridoo thrumming]

[wind whistling]

[car door slamming]

- We're gonna be blasting
again soon, you gotta move.

Boom, boom, quick
quick, understand?

You've never been here before,
why all of a sudden you,

Just what are you
doing here anyway, eh?

[speaking foreign language]

- We are keeping watch.

This place.

[engines rumbling]

[knocking]

- Come in.

- One two five two ready
to go, Mr. Hackett.

- Be ready, let's
do it now, okay?

- Right.

- Anything wrong?

- The boys would like
to wish you luck.

- [Hackett] Thanks, Laurie.

- After all the trouble
you had with the company

getting approval to
do the test out here,

where you said, it's
good to see it happen.

- Come in, Carl, over.

- [Voiceover] I'm
here, mine Commandant.

- Get the boys back.

Tell them with any luck

there'll be champagne in
buckets for everyone tonight.

'Cause I'm laying five to one,
and I'm not a betting man,

that they'll go off their
brains at headquarters

when they see what we're
sitting on out here, okay?

- [Voiceover]
Everything okay here,

waiting for the Gulliver, over.

- Signal.

Test on.

Running.

30 seconds.

[speaking foreign language]

[explosions booming]

- [Overalls Man] Get outta
there, get back, get out,

there's a cable, get
the bloody cable out!

- What's happening out there,
the impulse has gone dead.

- [Voiceover] What the fuck
do you think's happening?

They've cut the cable, I
swear to Christ they did.

- They've cut the cable?

- Come on out, those
fuckers have gone crazy.

- What's going on here?

Can anyone tell me

why someone ran into
the middle of our test?

[speaking foreign language]

- What's he saying?

- There will be no digging
and there'll be no blasting.

- Oh, I see.

And may I ever so
politely ask why?

- This is the place where
the green ants dream.

- Ants?

Green ants?

Dreaming, here?

- Cole--

- Why the fuck can't they
dream somewhere else?

- Cole, calm down!

Get someone to check
the ignition cable.

I'll see if I can
contact headquarters.

Calling headquarters,
calling headquarters,

this is Mentabi
test two five two.

- [Voiceover]
Lance, is that you?

Lincoln here.

- Hello, kid, look,
is Ferguson there?

I've gotta speak with him.

- [Voiceover] No,
look, he's in Sidney,

he's on a break.

- Tell him to contact
the legal department.

Say it's like what
happened in Eri-coon

when those blokes went
berserk on that test site.

We're gonna need the
best legal advice.

Hang on, hang on.

[engine rumbling]

Tell him to come up
here straight away!

- [Voiceover] Lance?

Lance, what's
happening out there?

Lance?

[engine rumbling]

- Cole!

Cole, turn that off!

- [Cole] I'm taking
care of this!

- [Lance] Turn it off or
I'll fucking kill you!

Now turn that off!

[engine fading]

Gimme the keys!

[keys clinking]

- Everyone's gone
mad here today.

I could've taken
care of this easily.

Nobody would've gotten
more than a few scratches.

Everything that happens
here henceforth,

I want you to know,
you caused it!

- Gentlemen, on behalf
of Ayers Mining,

I would like to apologize.

[metal clattering]

I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

You all right?

I'm sorry.

How are you?

How are you?

- Gentlemen, my name is
Ferguson, Baldwin Ferguson.

I am executive vice president
of the Ayers Mining Company.

No need to introduce you lads.

Do you smoke?

Please help yourselves.

I've been informed of
the incident yesterday.

But I'd like to
hear from your side

what the background
of the problem is.

[speaking foreign language]

Who is your spokesman?

[speaking foreign language]

- I'm an tribal elders.

- So you're the tribal elder?

- Actually, they explained
it to me yesterday.

We mustn't disturb the
dreaming of the green ants.

We mustn't wake
the green ants up.

- I admit that from the
side of Ayers Mining,

no inquiries have
been put forth.

Now please allow me to
make an explanation.

Until today, we've lacked a
representative to contact.

Or at least one legitimate
person to address.

At the same time,
may I remind you,

that it didn't seem necessary,
because this is an area

which doesn't bear the official
status of a reservation.

All of us, and
that includes you,

are subject to the
binding strictures

of the Land Rights Act of the
Commonwealth of Australia.

And we have counter-signed
and initialed

all necessary contracts

and all permissions
have been procured.

- You tell me, what
is it Land Right Act?

Because we have been
here for 40,000 years,

longer than you cames.

If you're gonna
mining in this land,

you're gonna destroy
the land of green ants.

And green ants will come out

and destroy the
whole universe world.

- What we're doing here
is exploring an option.

Hackett, please explain the
nature of our activities.

- Well, these are only
preliminary tests.

We don't yet know much

about the geological
substructure of the region.

Look, let me put it this way.

If you have a tree trunk
there in front of you,

well you don't yet know much
about how it looks inside.

So you tap it, and listen,

and you can see if
it's hollow or not.

Well we're listening to
the earth's interior.

- You'll have to shoot us
first, before you move in.

- Well, that's an option we've
not considered, naturally.

But you must
absolutely understand

that we will take legal steps.

- We wish to invite Mr.
Hackett from your company

to come and talk to
us and stay with us.

- That seems sensible.

What do you say,
Hackett, it is up to you.

- Look, I'm only a geologist.

- I'd rather think of you

as an employee of
Ayers Mining, more.

- Yeah, so I am.

- [Voiceover] Gather
round, fellas.

- It was here, it was here
that he was last seen.

- Yes, well the real problem
is that these northern tunnels

here run into some
natural caverns.

They haven't been
explored thoroughly yet

but we do know they're
pretty complicated.

Rock formations are stable,
they won't fall in or anything

but it's a real labyrinth.

All sorts of levels.

- [Older Woman] Then
we need ladders.

- I don't think so.

Anywhere we'd need
a ladder to get to,

he'd need a ladder to get
to as well, if he'd gone in.

- But perhaps he fell down.

He could have fallen down.

Oh, poor Ben.

[chatter]

[whistling]

- [Voiceover] Here boy!

[whistling]

[fire crackling]

[didgeridoo droning]

[didgeridoo droning]

[percussion instruments tapping]

[singing in foreign language]

- I've been authorized
by the board of directors

to make the following proposals.

Ayers Mining is prepared
to make a substantial

cash settlement,
the value of which

would buy you a new pumping
station for your water,

a bus to take your children
the ten miles or so

into town for their schooling.

[speaking foreign language]

- [Blue T-Shirt Man] He says no.

- I've been authorized as well
to make a further proposal

of a small percentage

of the company's
revenue from the mine,

if that mine proves productive,

which of course
remains to be seen.

- [Blue T-Shirt Man] No.

- It's also been proposed

that a center for aboriginal art

be constructed in the town
at the company's expense

and be completely under
your administration.

- [Blue T-Shirt Man] No,
you don't understand.

- No, you're right, I don't.

I'd like to.

- Are you Christian?

- Well, I was raised that way.

- What would you do
if I bring bulldozer

and dig up your church?

[knocking]

- [Lance] Is Mr. Arnold in?

- [Voiceover] No!

- [Lance] I want to talk to him.

- [Voiceover] Out!

- It's important.

I'm Lance Hackett
from Ayers Mining.

- I know who you are.

- I want to talk to you
about the local aborigines.

You've studied them,
you must know them.

- I learned nothing, nothing.

Except one thing.

- What?

- [Arnold] You better
get out of here.

Go back where you came from!

Your civilization destroys
everything, including itself.

- I heard all that
at university.

- [Arnold] You know
how you seem to me?

- Tell me.

- You're like
somebody on a train

that's heading for an abyss.

Up ahead a bridge is down,

and the train is
racing towards it.

And only you know
the bridge is down.

And the communication
cord is not working.

And this train is going
so fast towards its doom

that all you have time to do

is run through the train
to the rear compartment.

Good day to you.

[clapping]

[singing]

- [Blue Sweater Man]
Yes, more more more.

♪ All things shall pass away

♪ Time for the king

♪ And for the conqueror

♪ And for the lamb

♪ And new creation

♪ And the new man

Wonderful, wonderful.

Have you come to see us?

- Yes, I--

- Can I help you?

- No, no not exactly.

Thanks anyway, I've
got what I wanted.

- Well ladies and gentlemen,

now in your language,
in yong-lo, one, two

[singing in foreign language]

- Ah, excuse me.

I'm curious about something.

- You've got a
complaint, mate, or what?

- No no no, come on,
over here, over here.

It's all right.

What's all that about?

- Oh, it's a sacred site.

- [Lance] There
beside the detergent?

- It's where the one tree for
miles around used to stand.

When we put up the shop, we
cut down the tree, didn't we?

They weren't too
happy about that.

- No, I can imagine.

- IT's where their
children are dreamed,

that's what they reckon.

First the fathers
dream the children,

then the children are born.

- [Lance] And that's
the only place

the children can be dreamed?

- [Store Man] That's right.

We used to chuck
them out of there,

they kept on coming back.

We sort of got used to them.

We put things low
on those shelves

that people don't buy much.

Oil paint, boot polish.

I've belatedly formed
the opinion they're
good for business.

More children, more customers.

[metal creaking]

[opera music]

- I wish the world
was as clear to me.

I studied rocks and
geological strata.

I know that the Earth is
round and that it moves.

But what shape the universe
is, and where it's going

I don't know.

Stars have been discovered

rushing with almost
the speed of light

away from us to the
borders of the universe.

I can't rid myself of
the feeling that one day

someone will prove

that the universe is
like a snail shell

coiling in on itself, with
an interior and no exterior.

And that these same stars
that are rushing away from us

are in fact on a
collision course with us.

There are mathematicians
working on these theories.

They call it curved space.

It's like this.

A man hangs himself
from a rope in a tree

and just dangles
there, on his rope.

Now how many ropes would he
need to be absolutely still?

How many points of reference
so that his position is fixed

in a three-dimensional space?

How many?

One, one additional
rope would do it.

Then he wouldn't move any more.

But how many ropes
would we need?

How many ropes
would the Earth need

to be absolutely
still in the universe?

Because everything moves.

How could we become
absolutely still?

And what would these
ropes be tied to?

- You white men are lost.

You don't understand the land.

Too many silly questions.

Your presence on this
Earth will come to an end.

You have no sense, no
purpose, no direction.

- I'm not getting anywhere
with the aborigines.

They've knocked back every
proposal we've put out.

Look, do us a favor, Nance,

and send that Telex to Sydney
for me tonight, will you?

That way they'll have
it on their desks

first thing in the morning.

Yeah.

Well I know about the
interim order, yeah.

What?

The Commonwealth of Australia?

Oh no, I thought it would
only be the Supreme Court.

Nance, what are
you doing tonight?

Oh, I'm in my mobile home
with the air conditioning on,

all those erotic videocassettes
which I really like

and a fridge full
of stale cheese

and half-empty
bottles of Riesling.

How about you?

With James, eh?

No, no, he's a nice bloke,
for South Australia.

I'm not melancholy, I'm fine.

Yeah.

Well, have a good time, eh?

Mm.

Good night.

Melancholy, eh, melancholy.

Or is it toothache?

[speaking foreign language]

- [Voiceover] Goal,
goal, goal, goal!

[cheering]

Goal!

[speaking foreign language]
[cheering]

Goal!

- I said it once and
I'll say it again,

fucking dirty bludgin'
bongs, looks at 'em.

All they're good for
is getting drunk.

What talent, what an
example to the world.

- Get that out of here.

- [Cole] Bloody bongs.

Should never have
bloody come here.

[diesel engine rumbling]

- [Ferguson] I'd like to show
you the lights of the city

from my office tonight.

It's on the nineteenth floor.

It's the most marvelous view.

[beeping]
Having a bit of trouble there.

I can't figure this out.

How do you turn this thing off?

Have you got the
instructions here, Jane?

Even though we're
opponents in this lawsuit,

we thought we'd invite
you as our guests

so you can see
our point of view.

There's a great
view from up here.

Here we are, number 19.

[clanking]

Hello, what's going on?

Hmm.

We seem to be stuck.

- [Lance] Obviously.

The 20th century should be
called off for lack of interest.

- [Ferguson] Don't
be funny, Hackett.

This is preposterous,
my time's valuable.

I beg your pardon, gentlemen,

I'm sure your time
is valuable too.

We're stuck.

Oh, here's the alarm.

[alarm ringing]

- We could be here for hours.

- Well nothing like this
has ever happened before.

What we take out of the
ground was meant for everyone.

There's electricity for
light, heat, refrigeration,

anything you want.

Uranium is such a dense
matter, that in comparison

lead or gold are as
light as this cork.

[singing in foreign language]

[glassware clinking]

Thank you, Michael.

[singing in another
foreign language]

[silverware clinking in rhythm]

What's he singing about?

- He's singing
about the happy song

that the cor-ky was
felled, and agreed.

- You know what
just occurred to me?

We're not really at
this table at all.

We're still stuck
in that damned lift.

We wanted so badly
to be out of it

that we fantasized all this.

This is just a figment
of our imagination.

We're still stuck in the lift.

- [Ferguson] Still up, Pat?

- [Security Guard] Still up.

You had a good evening?

- Yes, very good, thank you.

Well, it's getting quite late.

But the lights of the
city are on all night.

[metal clanking]

- Again?

- [Ferguson] I'll
call you from Sydney.

- [Lance] All right.

- [Ferguson] Safe journey,
it'll be a long haul.

- [Lance] Yeah, thanks.

- [Ferguson] I'd
like to say goodbye.

- [Lance] Good to see you again.

Where's Dayipu?

- Is anything wrong?

- [Lance] Can we
be of help to you?

[speaking foreign language]

What's he saying?

What does he want?

You can tell us, whatever it is.

What does he want?

- He want that airplane.

- Oh, really?

- Why?

- We want that
airplane in Mentabi.

- But there's no
airfield in Mentabi.

- Well of course the airplane
doesn't belong to us.

It belongs to the Air Force.

Well, under certain
circumstances,

we might be able to
arrange for you to have it.

But you wouldn't be able
to use it in Mentabi.

There's no runway.

- We will build the airfield.

- Gentlemen, if I might
make a suggestion,

perhaps you could watch my
pilot take off and land,

to show you what facilities
you'd need at Mentabi.

Just give me a little time
with my board of directors.

My tribal elders.

I think we might be able to
come to some mutual agreement,

with certain safeguards.

[didgeridoo droning]

- Good morning.

Why didn't you knock?

How long have you been here?

- For a little long while.

- Ten minutes?

- Yes.

- An hour?

- Yes.

- Overnight since
yesterday evening?

- Yes, since yesterday
evening, since sun went down.

- What's going on?

- The runway is finished.

- Finished?

That's impossible.

No no, no no no, look.

A Caribou, a plane
needs at least

a half a mile of
completely level ground.

I have to get on with the firm,

we haven't taken this
seriously enough.

Look, I can supply some
earth-moving equipment,

but you blokes
will have to help.

Okay?

- Yes, we'll help.

- Good.

[scoffing]

[grunting]

[didgeridoo droning]

[engine rumbling]

[didgeridoo droning]

- What is it now?

- Them bastards!

I went out to lunch,
half of them piss off,

dead to right, they're like
that, our black brothers.

And listen to this, my
Caterpillar doesn't run anymore.

Do you know why?

- I have no idea.

- Because during the lunch
break, some of the younger ones

knocked off the
transmission fluid.

And now they're out in
the scrub and the bush,

lying about, sniffing the fumes.

My Caterpillar!

Bludgin' bastards!

Bastards!

My Caterpillar
doesn't run anymore.

- You need a holiday, Cole.

Relax.

- Relax?

You're telling me to relax when
my Caterpillar doesn't run?

What are you talking about?

[orchestral music]

[wind whistling]

- Why am I here?

Well, it's not visible.

But there's nowhere
else in Australia

where the Earth's magnetic field

is so abnormally distorted.

- And you've measured that?

- Yes, of course.

Because the green ant is the
only living creature on Earth

with a sensory organ
attuned to magnetic fields,

like a small green
living compass,

I drive them crazy

by beaming in additional
magnetic fields.

[engine rumbling]

[metal clanking]

Your friends there

are capable of transforming
whole landscapes.

In less than a day, they can
build six-foot termite hills

as hard as rock.

They always align
themselves, north-south.

They dig immense tunnel
systems under the earth.

They feed on wood, they
gobble up everything.

They can even chew through
lead-reinforced roofing

to get at the wood beneath.

They're not provided

with a fully digestive
system of their own.

And so they live symbiotically

with one-celled bacteria-sites
in their inter-sty-al tracts.

Biologically speaking,

the green ant does not at
all belong to the ant class,

they only look that way.

They're actually
a kind of termite

and belong more properly to
the family of cockroaches.

If you get me.

- [Lance] What about
the aborigines?

I mean, why is it
that they always--

- The abos!

Black fellas.

They must have observed
that our tiny friends

are like weather
vanes before a storm.

Whole armies, they
align themselves north.

And then they stop in the
middle of their tracks.

That's when they're
said to be dreaming.

They dream of the dream time.

Of the origins of the world.

- Well, what I actually
wanted to know--

- Ah yes, the ants are sexless.

- Sexless?

- I hope you know what I mean.

Only once a year, they
grow wings and fly east

over the mountains
in mall-o swarms.

Only two individuals
in that gigantic swarm

assume sexual
differentiation and mate.

The female becomes the queen.

And the male, the
courting prince.

Now do you get me?

The female lays
40,000 eggs a day.

Many times more
than her own weight.

She's immobilized in the
heart of the structure.

She grows to a hundred
times her original size.

She'll grow to the size
of almost two inches.

The male remains tiny
and fertilizes the eggs.

He often seeks refuge
under the queen.

He's easily frightened.

When the queen, I hope
you can follow me,

when the queen becomes sterile,

the whole colony
begins to die off.

Warriors come.

Multitudes to lick the queen
until she's licked to death.

And then a new
generation prepares

to fly east over the mountain.

[airplane roaring]

[excited chatter]

- [Ferguson] Hello,
good to see you.

- [Lance] Oh yeah.

- [Voiceover] We
met up Saturday.

- [Lance] Good to see
you, you're welcome.

- [Ferguson] A week from today,

we'll meet each other in court.

But Ayers Mining hopes
that this will be seen

as a sign of mutual
consideration and
mutual respect.

- [Wire-Rimmed Glasses
Man] Mr. Miliritbi?

August Baycock.

- [Ferguson] Come over here,
you must meet the fellas.

- [Voiceover] How do you do?

- I just need one
of your gentlemen

to sign for a receipt
for this plane.

Would you sign this please?

- I'd like to add, too,

how pleased we are that you
see the value of compromise.

- [Wire-Rimmed Glasses
Man] Mr. Dayipu,

if you could just sign here.

- [Voiceover] Well
this is great.

- [Voiceover] Isn't this great?

- There it is.

Can you get a photo
over here please?

Good luck, good luck
with the Caribou.

It's all yours.

- Perhaps if one of
you gentlemen could
sign this document,

it's just a release
form, just a formality

but we do need it.

Mr. um, Mili-
- [Ferguson] Miliritbi.

- Yeah, sorry.

[laughter]

Please, I do need a signature.

Mr. Dayipu, perhaps
you could sign for me.

- Just a formality,
it's just a--

- [Wire-Rimmed Glasses Man]
I'm sorry, but I do need

a signature,

I do need a signature
from someone.

[speaking foreign language]

Mr. Dayipu, please,
I do need someone.

- [Voiceover] I'm sorry, you
can't climb on, no no no.

Mr. Blakeson.

- [Wire-Rimmed Glasses
Man] Please sign this.

[speaking foreign language]

- Come over here.

- [Wire-Rimmed
Glasses Man] Could I

have someone sign this?

- What have we got to do to
get this man's signature?

- Forget it, don't worry about
it, they've got their plane.

They've got their plane,
that's all they want.

- Philip, Philip,
come over here.

Hang on, hang on.

Now look.

- [Philip] We must, for
insurance purposes--

- They wanted their plane,
they've got their plane.

Forget about it.

[mumbling]

- Oh my god, they're setting
the aircraft on fire.

No, it's only a campfire
on the floor there.

I tell you what, we'll
have to drain the fuel

and alter the
wings fore and aft,

but then it should be okay.

- [Other Pilot] All right, man.

[percussion instruments
tapping and didgeridoo droning]

[singing in foreign language]

- Now listen,

I'm gonna tell you,
gonna tell you one thing.

I was the only partly black
pilot in the Air Force.

My captain, he said to me,
"Watson, you got class."

[weak laughter]

♪ My baby does the hanky-panky

No worries, still half
a tank of gas left here.

♪ My baby does the hanky-panky

[machine parts whirring]

[engine rumbling weakly]

[engine rumbling]

[engine fading]

- Silence!

Silence.

All stand please.

And remain standing.

All persons having business
before this honorable court

are commanded to
give their attendance

and they shall be heard.

God save the Queen.

Be seated, please.

- I open the proceedings
in the matter

of Dayipu and Others
Plaintiffs versus

the two defendants
Ayers Mining Company

and the Commonwealth
of Australia,

which is represented by
the Solicitor General.

I feel it's important
to say at the outset

that this case before
this high court

is not merely one of
aborigines dispossessed

of their access to
land by the white man,

finding in the activities
of Ayers Mining Company

a final assault
on their beliefs.

It's also a case that raises
fundamental moral questions

of great complexity.

We must here discover whether
the aboriginal plaintiffs

hold, in fact, in common
law a land rights title

valid before 1788 to territories
annexed by Governor Philip,

who, by hoisting the flag,

claimed all of this vast
continent for the British crown.

- At this point, Your Honor,
it might assist the court

if I could quote from
Professor Ernst's discussion

of the dama-kamala
and je-moon-da-mala.

In this he describes a
claim to certain land,

a claim which goes back to
unthinkably ancient times,

what they call their dream time.

He also explains their
clan relationship,

which he identifies as
a maka-mala combination.

Professor Ernst even
speaks of a maka-mala pair.

The clan is essentially a
patrilineal descent group,

which is strictly exogamous.

In other words, each
member of the clan

may marry only
into the other half

of the maka-mala combination.

Now this brings us to the
concept of the so-called moiety.

And I must stress that this
area of anthropological theory

is still highly speculative,
not to say controversial.

There are certain
aspects of it indeed

that lie within the realms of
as-yet unexplained mysteries.

- Objection, Your Honor.

- The Solicitor General.

- [Solicitor General] The
witness is putting forward

as expert evidence

what are clearly
presumptions and theories.

He should be asked to confine
himself to proven facts.

- Objection overruled.

The court is competent to
reach its own conclusions,

thank you, Mr. Coulthard.

The witness will continue.

[speaking foreign language]

- We care to tell
you about the land,

so court can recognize

the land that we is living on.

If the mining company coming

and digging the earth

all this through the land,

that mean, that
destroy the people.

[speaking foreign language]

That mining company come
and destroy the land

and the feeling of the people

and for that dreaming,
green ant dreaming.

[speaking foreign language]

If you're gonna
destroy the land,

which is sacred
land, a special area,

dreaming land for green ants

if you gonna drew,

that mean you gonna destroy
the people, the green ant,

and you never come back again.

[beeping]

[muffled beeping]

- Will the counsel for the
plaintiff please explain

what is meant by that?

In answer to a
specific question,

relating to the precise
limits of his territory,

your witness answered
with this gesture.

Can you translate
that into English?

- Please, Your Honor.

- Order, I call the
Solicitor General to order.

- And on the question
of the exact expanse

of the tribal territory, I
hear "a little long way."

Now what I'd like to know--

- Mr. Coulthard, will
you please restrain

your boundless gift for irony?

- With your indulgence,
Your Honor, I'm very angry

that evidence of this order
should be admitted by the court.

As well as repeated statements
which are clearly hearsay

by the aboriginal witnesses.

- I order that the transcript
to this proceedings

be so written as to
include indications

of descriptive gestures
by the plaintiffs.

And I assure Mr. Coulthard
that this court will decide,

in this case and in
all others before it,

what is and what is not
admissible evidence.

- Your Honor, I do not
withdraw my objection.

- Mr. Coulthard, I trust
I don't need to remind you

of the elaborate representations
by the plaintiffs' attorney

in the case me-sha-ga
Indians versus

the Dominion of Canada on
the admissibility of evidence

by the tribal witnesses
as long ago as 1871.

And as to your
remark about hearsay,

I'd like to remind
you of the decision

in the case An-goo versus Atta,

before the Privy Council of
the Gold Coast West Africa

in 1916.

You are, of course,
familiar with that decision?

- No, Your Honor,
I'm sorry, I'm not.

[scoffing]

- You're not?

Then would you be so kind
as to inform yourself

of this case?

In An-goo versus Atta,
the African indigenes

reporting on tribal customs

gave evidence essentially
founded in hearsay

and in such
overwhelming frequency

that these testimonies
became so widely attested

as to condense into
a palpable truth.

And the courts had to take
judicial notice of them

and henceforth recognize
hearsay as admissible evidence.

And in my view the proceedings
before this court today

form a close parallel
with those proceedings

I have referred to.

- Progress.

Here, you talk about
progress over and over again.

And what does it
leave the aborigine?

It is progress into nothingness.

What have the last
200 years brought?

Extinction.

And where that wasn't
radical enough,

cultural extermination by
the white civilization.

Simple outright murder
was only part of it.

- Order.

This court is not a forum
for political oratory.

- Let me get back

to the disputed numerical
concept of the aborigine.

Their relationship to quantities

is distinguished
completely from ours.

It is not subject to
abstract enumeration.

Therefore, in most
tribal languages

there are only numbers
from one through to three.

Everything beyond
that is called "many."

However, if a black cattleman

has a herd of 600 cows,
together, enclosed in a corral,

he will know at a glance,
without even counting,

that two cows are missing.

We still have rudiments
of this ability.

If, for example, a
mother with six children

is loading suitcases on a
train in a crowded station,

and one of the children
escapes to the milk bar,

that mother would know,
with a single glance,

without counting,
that one is missing.

[speaking foreign language]

- Mr. Ba-li-la, you were
not called to the stand.

Mr. Miliritbi, could you
please make this clear

to Mr. Ba-li-la?

- Your Honor, I'm afraid I
cannot speak his language.

- The plaintiff Mr. Mr.
Ba-li-la was introduced

to the court as mute at the
start of these proceedings.

I feel slightly confused.

Is there anyone among the
plaintiffs or witnesses

who can translate?

- The situation, Your Honor, is,

this man is the sacred custodian
to the secrets of his tribe

and his tribe has died out.

He is the sole and
final survivor of
his people, his clan.

They call him the Mute,

because there's nobody
left on this earth

for him to speak with.

- Mr. Miliritbi.

- Your Honor, we
come here to show you

the most important sacred object

what we belong,
and for the land.

Please, I want you
to remove the people.

If they see this sacred
object, the world must destroy.

- Motion accepted.

Ladies and gentlemen, will
you please leave the court?

Mr. Miliritbi, you are
aware, however, that

for reasons concerning the very
nature of these proceedings

the defendant as well as the
court reporter must be present.

- This sacred object is
very, very important.

This sacred object have
been buried in the ground

for two hundred years.

Now we come and
show you the proof,

what the land is belong,
and belong to the land is.

Most important to our
life, to our feeling.

- [Court Reporter] And
how should I record this,

Your Honor?

- Wooden object,
carved, with markings.

The markings indecipherable.

The significance of the markings
not plain to this court.

- Silence.

Silence, all stand
and remain standing.

Be seated, please.

- For all the reasons given,

my decision must be
for the defendants.

The claims of the plaintiffs
for radical legal title

to the territories in
question are rejected.

This title lies, as
before, with the Crown.

The claims of the
aborigines do no not accord

with the provisions
of English common law,

which, though imported,
is nonetheless,

perhaps regrettably,
the law of the land.

I am most grateful for
the dignity and eloquence

with which all parties have
argued this difficult case.

The action of the
plaintiffs is dismissed.

The cost of the proceedings

will be paid by
the Commonwealth.

[muttering and shouting]

- Land rights now!

[shouting]

- Well if you don't
want my opinion,

don't bloody ask for it.

- What's got into you, Hackett?

- Look, you're talking about
a settlement out of court,

but what have they
got to negotiate with?

They've got nothing left.

- [Voiceover]
Wonderful job, Eric.

My profound congratulations.

- We destroyed kr-atz.

- [Ferguson] Now look,
no court in the world

can pass judgement on
200 years of history.

- What do you eat
for breakfast, eh?

Raisin Bran?

How do you sleep,
do you sleep well?

With the air conditioning on?

How are your thoroughbreds?

- [Ferguson] What's
wrong with you?

Whose side are you on?

- Sorry, sir.

Do you want me to
have a talk with him?

[somber music]

- [Lance] Hello there.

I've brought you some food.

Can I ask you a question?

- [Miliritbi] Yes.

- Tell me, why is
it you sometimes,

and Dayipu pretty
well all the time,

just sit here looking east?

- Because in the east is the
spirit land and special area

that the green ant have been
disappeared, never come back.

- So that's your dreaming land?

- [Miliritbi] Yes.

- I see.

I'll roll you a smoke.

I've never done this before.

[wind whistling]

[string music]

- I used to be fullback on
the squadron rugby team.

"Watson," the
captain used to say.

"You can play fullback."

I caught a fly.

I bet I was even better
than that captain.

- So you flew a
plane, a real plane?

- Course I did, I flew.

I tell you, one day we
had the sir-cu-la-tors

out there, full of 'em.

And that captain said to me,

"I can't get this big
bugger off this ground."

I said, "Captain, just
let me handle it."

I just gave it that throttle.

Vroom, vroom, vroom.

I got that plane off the
ground, that captain couldn't.

- I don't believe it.

- I'll show you, watch.

♪ My baby does the hanky-panky

♪ My baby does the hanky-panky

♪ My baby does

[hydraulic lift roaring
drowns out other sounds]

[beeping]

[engine rumbling]

[engine sputtering]

[engine roaring]

- Hackett, I think
we've got a problem.

You know your black fellas?

Hackett, they've
taken the plane!

- What?

- They've taken the plane!

[engine rumbling]

- Is Ferguson there, over?

I've gotta talk to him.

- [Voiceover] He's out of
town, you can't talk to him.

- I've got to talk to him.

- [Voiceover] Sorry,
he's unavailable.

He's out of town.

[helicopter whirring]

[wind whistling]

[opera aria music]

- I've been having
this dream lately.

Everyone in the world
is running away,

and all carrying little
packages as big as lunchboxes

of their most precious things.

Thousands of them,
running, stumbling.

And I can't run with them,
I've got to go to school,

and it's a Catholic school.

A nun comes up to me,
and grabs me by the arm,

drags me into a circle of
other nuns and schoolkids.

And they all shout at me,
"Where's your lunchbox?"

And I can't answer,
I get frightened.

And I piss my pants.

The piss just keeps
coming, and coming.

It runs in a little stream
out along the ground.

First the nuns, and
then the schoolkids,

open a pathway to let
it trickle on through.

And they keep staring at me.

It's never really
happened to me.

It's never really bothered me.

I feel I'm in that.

I'm in that situation.

[singing in foreign language]

[singing in foreign language]

- A-five is negative,
B-five is negative,

C-five is negative, and
fuckin' D-five is negative!

- The plane had only
enough fuel for 40 minutes.

- Yeah, it's a puzzle, isn't it?

There are enough ravines
in those mountains

for them to go down in.

It looks as though
we're gonna have to

start this whole
shit-fight all over again.

- Some tribal aborigines
arrived yesterday

from up in the mountains.

Maybe they've got
something to say.

They just sit there,
saying nothing.

You know, the way they do?

- Yeah.

You find out what you can
from those black bastards.

They seem to like to
wanna speak with you.

- I'll do that.

- They can ride bicycles and
they can drive motorcars.

Now they think they can
fly fucking aeroplanes.

[engine roaring]

[helicopters whirring]

- [Miliritbi] A
while ago, I spoke.

You listen for yourself.

[singing in foreign language]

They have heard the green
ants with the big wing,

you know, Mr. Hackett?

There's a little green
ant trapped on the ground.

These people,

they found it on the
mountain big, big wings.

- They found a wing?

- Yeah.

- [Lance] They found the plane.

[explosions booming]

[somber music]

[wind howling]

[speaking foreign language]

- [Voiceover] Goal, goal, goal!

[cheering]

Goal, goal, goal, goal,
goal, goal goal goal!

[cheering]

Goal!

[speaking foreign language]

Goal!

[speaking foreign language]

- Well, what's the news?

- They found the plane.

Up near un-a-detta.

- Indeed.

- This is nice.

Are these easy to come by?

- There's my old water
tank still out there.

- Thanks.

[explosions booming]