Review: ‘The Sapphires’

It’s 1968 and there’s a revolution in the streets. Over the water, the war in Vietnam is raging, but in the back and beyond of aboriginal Australia, four girls are discovering that their shared talent for singing could change their lives forever. The driving force behind them, and the man with all the big ideas, is Dave (Chris O’Dowd–Bridesmaids, The IT Crowd) and as their manager, this family affair becomes a fully formed girl band ready take Vietnam by storm and sing for the US troops.

First discovered singing Country and Western, Dave takes them from timid young girls unaware of their potential and introduces them to soul, rousing them with his passionate words of strength and courage, teaching them: “every note that passes through your lips should have the tone of a woman who is grasping and fighting and desperate to retrieve what’s been taken from her”.

Based on a true story, this show stopper is more than a light hearted morale booster. Moments such as Dave’s request regarding the girls singing: “before you do it again, can you make it sound blacker?” suggest the serious racial undertones explored in this temperamental era. The ‘whitest’ girl in the band: Kay, (Shari Sebbens – in her debut role), for example, has clearly had a different upbringing to the rest of the girls – which is later explained, and thus one of the more poignant sub-plots of this tale is her re-integration into black aboriginal culture. In conjunction with this, Gail (Deborah Mailman – part of the original stage show production, The Secret Life of Us) the most domineering of the girls, learns to accept that Kay’s different upbringing does not necessarily define her as a person and so she begins to accept her own place in the world. The other two girls in the band are Cynthia (Miranda Tapsell) and Julie (Jessica Mauboy). For Julie, the film follows her coming of age, running away from home to join them, but ending up becoming the lead singer and a woman along the way.

Described by Deborah Mailman herself, as “fun, fabulous and powerful” this film previously penned as “part drama, part comedy, with a classic soundtrack”, is contagiously uplifting. With The Sapphires being billed as Australia’s answer to ‘The Supremes’ who can resist making comparisons between this and the box office smash Dreamgirls.

With an exceptional ten minute standing ovation at Cannes Film Festival and international rave reviews, this foot-tapping, feel good film about friendship, love and war is one not to be missed.