Free 2?

A caged cockatoo in 'The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith'

I watched the movie 'The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith' last week for the first time after just having read Stan Grant's book 'Talking to My Country'.
In Stan's book he writes how he and his siblings would watch this movie and how much he liked to watch it when growing up.

I had never seen the movie before, as I knew there was a graphic axe killing scene or two in the movie and that kind of put me off watching it over the years.
And having seen it now, I can tell you that it makes 'The Shining' look like a Disney movie by comparison.
Although maybe I'm overselling the violence in the movie but be warned if you decide to watch it.

'The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith' is kind of like the legend of Ned Kelly, a true story that is meant to make you have sympathy for the downtrodden who turn to crime to justify their cause.
I can't say that I've ever been a fan of the Ned Kelly story, so while I get the "up yours" to the authorities that both stories tell, the violence they use to justify their cause doesn't really wash with me.
But I'm glad that I watched 'The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith' this year for the first time in my life, as I may not have appreciated the movie as I do now in 2019.
More about why that is in some upcoming posts about the movie, but in this post I want to write about the cockatoo scenes in the movie.
I like how director Fred Schepisi opens the movie where the Methodist preacher played by Jack Thompson has a caged cockatoo on the veranda of his house to represent the lack of freedom that the poor animal has at the expense of the preacher's judgement of trying to save the bird from the wild that the creature belongs in. 

Animal Messages and Totems

The preacher obviously thinks along the same lines with "educating" Jimmy Blacksmith.

Cockatoos flying wild in 'The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith'

At the end of the film are magnificent shots of cockatoos flying in the wild, which looks like they are happier than the poor bird in 

the preacher's cage right back at the start of the movie.

I have wild cockatoos that fly around the suburb where I now live, and this movie reminded me of this old post of mine -
Free?

I love birds and can't work out why other people who say that they love birds would want to keep them in cages.
I get the companionship angle of the human jailer, but birds aren't meant to be in cages, they are made for flying.
Indonesia confiscated some 200 pet cockatoos

Who keeps a cat in a cage ... or a box for that matter?-)
Schrödinger's Parrot and the "Nature" of "Reality"?

.

My cockatoo statue I bought last year in my living room

The flock of cockatoos that fly around my place

It certainly is a magical sight to see birds flying free for me -
A Magical Drive in Tasmania with Gordon White from Rune Soup?

 'The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith'

I think sometimes you see a movie or read a book just at the right time in your life to appreciate it on some synchronous level and reading Stan's book and seeing this movie recently in my living room was the right time in my life for me I think, and I'll tell you why in some upcoming posts I'll be writing about 'The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith' soon.

UPDATE: 2019

Six Degrees of Brendan Cowell and Thomas Keneally?

UPDATE: 2019

Birds Should Be Free!