D A M A G E
ABOUT
Damage is a feature drama, 81 min, colour/BW, (full specs in EPK)
Synopsis
Ali is not a citizen. He drives a taxi using another man’s license and relies on the GPS to negotiate his way around a city he doesn’t know. His passenger, Esther is an old woman who can’t remember where she is going. She is angry because she has been stripped of everything that is familiar to her and she doesn't recognise the world anymore. They travel through the night in search of a vague destination while surveillance cameras mark their journey, coldly redacting the human element, defining who belongs and who does not, who is safe and who is not. What they are left with is their damage – she can’t remember and he can't forget.
ART HAS THE POWER TO MAKE IDEAS FELT - Emma Goldman.
A few minutes into the film a taxi driver listens to an American voice on the car radio:
“We’re going to take out seven countries in five years… starting with Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Lybia, Somalia, Sudan and finishing off Iran…”
I purchased the rights to this recording for the film. It is the voice of General Wesley Clark, the former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, the first four star general to ever run for president. You can see him in full describing this fateful memo here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWxKn-1S8ts
DAMAGE is a film that is laced with deeper meanings and signals hidden inside the simple, intimate narrative. It can be read in various ways - a simple story about two very different people who are forced by circumstances to find their commonality. It can also be read as a more sophisticated commentary on the constant colonial wars that transform human beings into homeless refugees. I am an Australian writer and director working in both screen and theatre. I researched our refugee policies and the traditionally progressive party and I witnessed the devastated lives of people inside detention centres - most coming from the middle east where the wars referred to by General Wesley Clark are taking place – most recently in Palestine.
My 89-year-old mother, Imelda Bourke plays the role of ESTHER, the passenger. The character of ALI the “illegitimate” taxi driver is played by Ali Al Jenabi, an Iraqi refugee who works in the building industry in western Sydney and has lived without a residency permit for over 16 years. The performances have an edge that is different from the techniques of a professional actor. They are crafted as a representation of ideas, Beckettian – prioritizing the raw energy and resonance of sociological truth.
The simple, intimate narrative is interrupted by black and white images; surveillance footage of the two characters as well as the controversial Wikileaks footage “Collateral murder” - Iraqi journalists being gunned down by American snipers in a helicopter as if they are figures in a video game. This viral footage was amongst the material that put Julian Assange in jail.
Ali Al Jenabi's life story is the subject of Robin de Crespigny’s award winning book, The People Smuggler -The True Story of Ali Al Jenabi, the 'Oskar Schindler of Asia'. It has been published twice by Penguin and won the Queensland Literary Award and the Human Rights Book Award in 2012.
The use of non-actors is central to the concept of the film; both Ali and Imelda used their own lives as resources for an invented narrative. Damage took five years and a deeply committed team to create. It is a truly independent feature that expresses the importance of humanity and hope in a world where war is becoming the norm and fear and misrepresentation of the refugee a symptom.
MADELEINE BLACKWELL writer, director.
The Music
The music is like a third character in the film. It comes in through the car radio and is a key point of connection for the characters. The radio is a reminder of the outside world – the bad news, the attitudes and catastrophes that have uprooted Ali in the first place. The soundtrack comprises compositions by Peter Knight, Jem Savage, Mohammad Ameen Marrdan and Kate Reid.
Thankyou to Our Donors and Supporters
The film was made with the generous support of many donors and supporters who came to our aid over the difficult 5 years spent making this film. The many crowd-funding campaigns were administered by The Australian Cultural Fund. We THANK our wonderful donors for helping this film come to existence.