A film without words is hard to pull off, but when it’s packed full of emotion, visual innovation and dramatic flair it becomes an amazing experience. This is exactly the case with Australian film Samson and Delilah.

Following two young aborigines (the indigenous people of Australia) in one of the pared down slums in which so many reside, the story is one of love, addiction and the cruelty of the world around them. Samson lives with his brothers, every morning he wakes up to them playing music outside his window; and every morning he prepares himself for the day ahead with a few deep inhalations from a tin can full of glue. During one hazy day he encounters Delilah, who is preparing paintings with her grandmother, and takes an instant shine to her. Whilst the feeling is not mutual from the start, the pair are soon brought together by tragedy.

What ensues is a unconventional love story in which words mean nothing and action means everything, and in which the only interaction from the rest of society comes in the forms of the ramblings of a well-meaning homeless guy. It’s bizarre, it’s poignant, and it is utterly gripping.

There a number of things that make this film particularly special. The first is director Warwick Thornton’s connection to his subject matter. Not only is he of aboriginal heritage, and a native to the Alice Springs area, but he even cast his own brother (once a destitute alcoholic) in the film as… a destitute alcoholic. Similarly both of the lead actors are from communities not unlike depicted by Thornton. The realism and understanding that this brings to the film is immeasurable, and significantly more important given how little is passed onto the audience verbally.

The on-screen perfection is further enhanced by Thornton’s decades of experience as a cinematographer. The typically bright-yet-bleak Australian outback is given its predictable glimmer, but the composure of every shot and the setting of each scene is constructed perfectly to convey the various lines of difference and repetition that comprise the difficult lives of these young teenagers. And when these lines are punctuated by sudden tragedy, as happens several times during the course of their journey, that moment punches the audience with a violence that moments of such gravity so often deserves but so rarely gets.

There is little more to be said other than that this is a rare and exciting film, which should not be missed.

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By: Mike Edwards