Storm Boy

Trailer—Storm Boy

source: Storm Boy

I think this film excellent with the cinematography. Greg Rowe was excellent, he wasn't schmaltzy, he played it straight and not over sentimental. The stubbornness and respectful approach to his strange, overly quiet dad. The pelicans were fantastic. There was very little CGI used in 1976, all the pelican shots were real. So sad about the inhumanity towards animals, and the shooters. It showed a true side of Aboriginal culture and they do have their owns laws for people who break them. Fingerbone was a good man, who had broken aboriginal law. For people who wish to see this film, it is available online on Google Movies or the DVD is available to be purchased on Amazon

Family film isn't usually a genre you would associate with my back catalogue viewing history of horror, war and Western but I thoroughly enjoyed this film and believe it enjoys greater recognition. The film is based on the wetlands of the mouth of the Murray River in South Australia. A habitat not normally seen in Australian film and a welcome change from the hot, arrid landscapes more usually the backdrop of Australian cinema. The film follows the story of Mike (Greg Rowe) who lives in a ramshackle beach hut with his miserable father Tom (Peter Cummins). Mike befriends an aboriginal character Fingerbone (renowned aboriginal actor David Gulpilil) and spends his spare time helping his dad fishing and trawling the wetlands. One day he rescues pelican chicks and nurses them quite literally to fully grown birds. Here the film is like the celebrated British film, Kes (1969) although I found the wetlands far more appealing than Barnsley, and pelicans replace the kestrel. The cast give good performances. The wetlands provide good photography opportunities. The musical score is appropriate for the sad nature of the story that develops around Mike and his quite educationally deprived upbringing. A very different side of Australia and a good story.

A very moving and personal film, set on the windswept coast of South Australia. In many respects it could be anywhere in the world - as the cold and the wind and isolation are far from the public image of Australia. I first saw this film when I was seven with school at the cinema - and bawled my eyes out. The alienation from his father than Storm Boy feels is ameliorated by the connection to the land and the the animals via a local Aboriginal man Fingerbone - thereby making it a very spiritual film for many. I've since showed it to my own son who enjoyed it but then...inconsolable - said "why did you show this to me?!" Think Ring of Bright Water, or Old Yeller by way of animals bringing out the best in us...

A touching story about living in the Coorong, a hundred kilometre stretch of beautiful windswept dunes where the mighty Murray river meets the sea. Against this backdrop is the tale of a boy and his father living in isolation from the modern world. The story while fairly simple is very moving, and appeals to the child in all of us. The film moves at a leisurely pace, yet this enhances the feeling of vastness and remoteness, the tranquility and solitude of the setting. The star of the show is Mr. Percival, one of the pelicans the boy befriends as well as Fingerbone, an Aboriginal also living in the wilderness who gives a brilliant performance. Simply put, it's a masterpiece of both storytelling and cinematography.

This is a wonderful film that kids will love. It would be hard to get a copy these days but if you can then you shall not regret it. 9 outta 10! I would have given it 10 but i just hate sad endings

I recall this film very fondly from my late teenage years and was keen to revisit it, partly in preparation for a stage play adaptation we will be seeing shortly. I had studied the book at school and saw this film once in 1976 or 1977 in its first release. I found it remarkably fresh and almost as captivating as back then. Greg Rowe as the young Mike (Storm Boy) and David Gulpilil as Fingerbone, the Aboriginal youth who befriends him is his lonely isolation were just as convincing. Somehow Peter Cummins's 'Hide away Tom Kingley still didn't quite ring true, despite the obvious challenges in such a reclusive role. I'm not sure the school scenes worked as well as they could have done either. But Tony Allison's national park ranger portrayal is wonderful, with the challenging handling of the same issues rangers face today. But it does shows what telling the story truly, without trying sugar coat the darker bits can be so effective and provides lasting impressions. The photography and locations are just brilliant, as are the pelicans. In fact, the capturing of these locations as they were in the mid 1970s is probably even more important now, given the environmental degradation the Coorong has suffered over the 40 years since then, with greatly reduced water flows into the lower Murray and probably declining water quality as well.

This heart-warming, fun-loving flick will be a kids' favourite. Concerns the adventures of Mr. Perciville, brother to Mr. Proud and Mr. Ponder, he is an orphan pelican who is raised and nurtured by a ten year old boy who lives a lonely life with his hermit father in the remote coast land of South Australia. The movie touches on the issues of parenthood, responsibility and friendship, but it is really just a simple tale of a young boy and the pelican he loves. Lovely scenery compliments the film. David Gulpilil made his movie debut as 'fingerbone' Bill. N.B. Based upon Colin Thiele's book. Saturday, May 22, 1999 - Video

A touching, very human movie that is a great story. The natural Austarlian coastline locales are stunning. It seems to be usually not very sunny which adds to the mood (and the visual beauty of the place as well; I think the weather is a necessary ingredient in making this such an excellent film.) This is the most real movie (maybe) I've ever seen. A ten-year-old boy lives with his father in a shack-y, though cozy, small hand-built house located right near the beach. Father has a very small fishing boat. We don't see him actually fishing, but on the dock preparing to go out, or coming back in. He puts food on the table and seems to do a good job caring for his son, who loves him. The boy is not in school and this becomes an issue as the story progresses. The boy meets a young Aborigine man (in his early 20s) one day when he is out on his own, as he tends to be, sailing on his tiny homemade raft, and after encountering each other a second time they become friends. While they are together, they find three baby orphan pelicans, which Storm Boy adopts. (Storm Boy being the nickname given to him by his Aborigine friend.) I don't want to tell anymore so as not to ruin it. Let it suffice to say that drama ensues, in various ways, as the story goes on, and it is all moving, and as I said, very human. It will definitely touch your emotions. I think this is a story everyone could relate to.