Inspired by a true story, “The Sapphires” captures the journey of four young Australian Aboriginal women as they launch their brief, but dazzling, rise to stardom as a soul -singing quartet, performing for U.S. troops in Vietnam in 1968.
Cynthia (Miranda Tapsell), Gail (Deborah Mailman), Julie (Jessica Mauboy) and Kay (Shari Sebbens) allow Dave (Chris O’Dowd), a talent scout with a kind heart and strong alcoholic tendencies, to manage their group as they embark on a wild tour through Vietnam.
The film, focusing on controversial and serious themes like race, gender and power, contained a sense of light- heartedness that left the film lacking. The young Aboriginal quartet is persuaded to stop singing country music, seemingly because of its members’ race. However, the reasons for this change and the repercussions of it are never explored in the film.
In a Q&A session, the director, Wayne Blair, described how the real-life Sapphires took little ownership of the feature film, though it was produced within the family. The co-writer of the film and writer of the stage play, Tony Briggs, is the son of the real life Julie.
Generally, throughout the film, character development is weak. At the drop of a hat, the women in the film could build up the necessary strength to overcome challenges. Still, the film has very little nuance, no unforeseen twists and each plot development is strongly foreshadowed by a very obvious chain of events. The film relies heavily on character tropes to construct the characters’ images in the minds of the audience.
The film briefly touches on the deep social issues that the real life Sapphires were likely subjected to. However, these fleeting forays into the trials and tribulations of these women leave the viewer feeling that there is something being left unsaid. The strange moments where white soldiers are present and being entertained by these black women are meant to present the Sapphires as being subject to the male gaze, but little emotion is involved in these moments. Indeed, men play a rather disappointing role in the film overall, especially considering that “The Sapphires” superficially seems to espouse female empowerment and autonomy. Male love interests are crucial to the story, and the female characters are all too often defined by their relationships with men. Furthermore, scenes in which the protagonists are interacting with men are barely processed at all, despite their implications.
Overall, the film plays out as a comedy despite the possibly heavy nature of the subject. Emotions are always strong and it’s easy to get the sense that important transition scenes are missing.
The strong sense of injury or fear held by the main characters comes almost as a surprise to the audience, with a lack of prompting for the deep emotions that come to the fore. One scene in particular where the emotions reached a fever pitch is the scene that contains the death of Martin Luther King Jr. The scene is voiced-over by the Sapphires singing an aboriginal song to their mother over the telephone.
Given the life choices that these women made upon returning to Australia, and their strong commitment to family suggested by the real- life narrative, it seems that the producers, directors and writers missed an opportunity to show the deep connections of community that motivated these women to do what they did.
The movie is, simply speaking, black and white, both in terms of race and plot development. The movie seems to have been filmed for a largely non-critical audience that is searching for a “good drama” speckled with satisfying love interests who bring on a heartwarming finale. There are moments in the film that suggest depth, however these elements are left unexplored, and thus the film only begins to scratch the surface of the brilliant real-life story on which it is based.
