The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith

1978

1h 48m

Drama

List

100%

13 Reviews

Tomatometer

73%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

Jimmie Blacksmith (Tommy Lewis), a man of half-Aboriginal ancestry, is pushed to the breaking point by the racist oppression perpetrated by the British in their rule of Australia in 1900, and by his inability to acclimate to Western culture. Raised in a white Christian family but never recognized by white individuals as their equal, Blacksmith undergoes frequent humiliations that provoke a violent response when he brutally murders his employer's family.

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William L

A surprisingly well-made cross between the exploitation films that had turned a spotlight on racial inequality just a few years prior and more potent drama, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith seems to have received most of its criticism for its characterization of its titular character, Lewis's Jimmie. Appropriately patient and caring in the film's first half, suffering the abuses and prejudices of those around him with a dignity that most would likely not be able to stomach, it is Jimmie's reflexive about-face to a hateful, violent individual instead of a Robin Hood-esque hero of the people may be less of a crowd-pleaser but it feels much more powerful and realistic. It's empathetic without being sympathetic. The violence comes from a place of deep-seated resentment, but the film puts in the appropriate amount of investment to justify the motivations behind the violence, if not the violence itself. Perhaps somewhat slow in the first hour or so, but shown to be done with a purpose when the moment of truth arrives, turning what had been a film of social dynamics into something else entirely. As someone who grew up seeing Quigley Down Under far more often than was necessary, it was nice to see Steve Dodd in another role, and this time with actual lines. (3.5/5)

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

09/29/21

Full Review

Audience Member

This critically acclaimed Australian film about an aborigine man pushed to the brink somehow ended up as a section 3 video nasty. Director Fred Schepisi left Australia for a decade after making this movie, directing films like Roxanne, Iceman and Six Degrees of Separation. That's because even though this movie was a big success, the promotional costs took away the profits, taking Schepsi's entire monetary investment on the film. Jimmie Blacksmith (Tom E. Lewis) is the son of an Aboriginal mother and a white father, a fact that brands him as an outcast even though Reverend Neville and his wife Martha attempt to raise him to have better opportunities than society would expect. Of course, when he goes out into the world to work, he's taken advantage of at every turn, from employees that don't pay him fairly to others that force him to found up other Aboriginals. Finally, when he gets a decent job on the Newby farm he's able to bring his girlfriend — already pregnant with another man's child — as well as two relatives to live with him. The Newby family soon turns against Jimmie, with even the women telling his girlfriend to take her child and leave him behind. He decides to put a scare into them, but it gets out of hand and nearly every Newby woman and child is hacked to pieces. Jimmie goes on the run but declares war on everyone that has wronged him, seeking out past employers and butchering them. Yet Jimmie can't stay on the run forever, not when the entire town — maybe the entire world — wants to see him hung. Just as much a lesson on racism as it was when it was released, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith doesn't really belong amongst the video nasty cannibals and beasts. But there it remains.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

Matthew W

Similar in the harrowing tone to the more recent & equally uncomfortable movie The Nightingale,The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith bases this story on the brutal true events of a part Aboriginal man Jimmie (Lewis) who finds the pressure of adapting to white culture intolerable & as a result of constant racism, lies & humiliation snaps in a very voilent & horrific rage against his white oppresses.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

11/02/20

Full Review

tony h

It's good albeit a little dated as the film does indeed show its age somewhat; -We are surely able to sustain more sophisticated dialogue about racial tensions these days! But then again the film is portraying the age of its subject-matter, of course. In any case, the ending is a cop-out, somehow, as if it should seek to excuse the age that it is portraying, which in turn is an indictment of the age of the film itself that it would even try to do so.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

william k

A passionate and harrowing indictement of racism in Australian; a masterpiece of political cinema.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

matthew h

A raw, brutal, powerhouse story that all Australians need to see. Way ahead of its time both in terms of production values, storytelling and topically, this is a stunning film.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Fred Schepisi

Director

Tommy Lewis

Jimmie Blacksmith

Freddy Reynolds

Mort Blacksmith

Ray Barrett

Farrell

Jack Thompson

Rev. Neville

Peter Carroll

McCready

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Pauline Kael

New Yorker

The director, Fred Schepisi, has a gift for individualizing every one of the people on the screen; it takes him only a few licks to let us perceive how they justify themselves to themselves.

Sep 12, 2023

Full Review

Jay Scott

Globe and Mail

A powerful, heartbreaking dirge for the casualties of colliding cultures

Aug 16, 2022

Full Review

Brian Susbielles

InSession Film

It’s a representative film of the racism occurring against the Aborigines, and the film’s historical basis reflects on how the country had (and still has) yet to come to grips with its actions.

Mar 7, 2023

Full Review

Tom Beasley

VultureHound

There's a lot to feast on here, and not least a ferociously resonant and emotionally potent epic set under the blazing Aussie sun.

Rated: 4/5

Aug 16, 2020

Full Review

Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

Featuring a moving and underrated performance from the underappreciated Tommy Lewis, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith hits on a variety of troubling social injustices.

Rated: 3.5/5

Aug 11, 2020

Full Review

Michael Lasky

Bay Area Reporter

A richly rewarding film, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith is a not-to-be-missed treasure.

May 4, 2020

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Synopsis

Jimmie Blacksmith (Tommy Lewis), a man of half-Aboriginal ancestry, is pushed to the breaking point by the racist oppression perpetrated by the British in their rule of Australia in 1900, and by his inability to acclimate to Western culture. Raised in a white Christian family but never recognized by white individuals as their equal, Blacksmith undergoes frequent humiliations that provoke a violent response when he brutally murders his employer's family.

Director: Fred Schepisi
Screenwriter: Fred Schepisi
Production Co: The Film House, Victorian Film
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 18, 2018
Runtime: 1h 48m

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