'This moving Western Australian story captures the mystery of the sea and majesty of the old fish Abel calls “Blueback”. It is Abel’s journey from inquisitive boy to a man prepared to stand up for what he loves and believes in.
'Blueback is full of underwater imagery and exquisite puppetry, an extraordinary celebration of the West Australian coastline from one of WA’s most beloved authors.'
source: Spare Parts Puppet Theatre.
Blueback
( dir. Robert Connolly
)
Western Australia
:
Arenamedia Pty Ltd
Minderoo Pictures
,
2022
23358274
2022
single work
film/TV
'While marine biologist Abby (Mia Wasikowska) is out on a boat examining the slow destruction of coral reefs, she’s called back home with the news that her mother has had a debilitating stroke, which has left her unable to speak. Abby begins reflecting on her childhood and the immense influence her mother, Dora (Radha Mitchell), had on her worldview. Through flashbacks, we meet the teenage Abby, played by newcomer Ilsa Fogg, who captures confidence and curiosity, taking a deep interest in protecting the bay where they live. In between amusing encounters with a local fisherman (Eric Bana), she maintains a bond with a groper fish affectionately named Blueback, who becomes a reminder of all the wonders the ocean has to offer and a path to healing a rift between Abby and her mother.'
Source: Toronto International Film Festival.
Unit Suitable ForAC: Year 7 (NSW Stage 4)
DurationFour to six weeks
Curriculum Summary
Find a summary table for Australian Curriculum: English content descriptions and NSW Syllabus outcomes for this unit.
Themes
connection to place, connection to the natural world, family, greed, resilience, the environment
General Capabilities
Critical and creative thinking, Ethical understanding, Information and communication technology, Intercultural understanding, Literacy, Personal and social
Cross-curriculum Priorities
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, Sustainability
Teaching resources via publisher's website.
'Eric Bana is one of Hollywood's brightest stars, but these days he prefers to shine on home soil.'
'Filming is underway in Western Australia's Bremer Bay for a movie adaptation of a popular Australian novel, with directors today revealing three Hollywood stars are set to star on the south coast.' (Introduction)
'A film adaption of Tim Winton's award-winning 1998 young adult novel Blueback is the latest in a string of movie productions in Western Australia, with filming slated to begin on the state's south coast by mid year.' (Introduction)
Mind the Country : Tim Winton's Fiction
Crawley
:
University of Western Australia
,
2006
Z1286107
2006
single work
criticism
'In Dirt Music, remembering the time before a car crash took the lives of his brother Darkie, Darkie's wife Sal, and their two children, Bird and Bullet, Luther Fox recalls Bird's question : 'Lu, how come water lets you through it?' Bird is the one who saw God, and 'if anyone saw God it would likely be her. Bird's the nearest thing to an angelic being.' Bird's question suggests the function of water in Winton's novels. Water is everywhere in his writing, as people sail on it, dive into it, live on the edge of it. Clearly the sea and the river are vital aspects of the writer's own experience. But water is more than an omnipresent feature of his writing and his life, the oceanscape of his stories. It is something that 'lets you through'. It lets you through because it is the passage to a different state of being, sometimes in dream, sometimes in physical extremity, but always offers itself as the medium of transformation. When it lets you through - whether to escape to a different life, as a rite of passage to adulthood, to see the world in a new way or to discover the holiness of the earth or the wonder of the world, whether it is the baptismal water of redemption to an opening to a world of silence - and it is all these things- you become different.' (Author's introduction 16)
