Ryan McNeil
Don’t you ever feel sad
Lean on me when times are bad
When the day comes and you’re down
In a river of trouble and about to drown
Just hold on – I’m comin’
– Sam and Dave
THE SAPPHIRES begins with a brief history lesson. Text at the start of the film reminds us that up until relatively recently (read: The Late 1960’s), aboriginals in Australia had no human rights. What’s more, the light-skinned aboriginals were consistently snatched by government officials and placed into the care of white families.
Once it establishes that, the film introduces us to Gail, Cynthia, and Julie (Deborah Mailman, Miranda Tapsell, and Jessica Mauboy). The three young women are musically gifted, but don’t have much of an outlet for their talents in the aboriginal they inhabit. In an effort to make something of their abilities, they travel into town to try their hand at a talent contest. It’s there that they get the attention of Dave Lovelace (Chris O’Dowd) – the talent show host who believes they have something to offer.
While the girls enlist the help of their long-lost fourth member -Kay (Shari Sebbens), a pale-skinned aborigine that invites the expected tensions – Dave arranges an audition for the group. After convincing them to leave their country roots for the power of soul, Dave preps the girls to try out for a USO show entertaining American forces in Vietnam.
Soon enough, these women harness their talent for soul singing and nail their audition. For their effort, they are flown to the rather dangerous environment of Vietnam for the troops’ entertainment as the newly minted group, The Sapphires. As the four of them grow into better and better singers, they are forced to confront the challenges around them – both internal and external. Doing so requires them all to confront themselves, and each-other, and learn to believe in the very mood and message that their songs testify.
Like many great songs, the roots of THE SAPPHIRES are proudly on display. It makes no bones about its influences, and doesn’t “cover” these beloved films so much as it channels them. It steps up to the mic and sings a familiar song, and it does so in a way that makes us smile warmly and quietly sing along to ourselves. One gets the impression that the movie isn’t trying to unleash the next smash record, it’s just trying to get the crowd on its side.
If the film has a flaw, it’s guilty of trying to do too much. The story of Australia’s Lost Generation is a compelling one – one that’s been touched on by more than one recent film. In THE SAPPHIRES though, it is handled a bit clumsily. Kay’s backstory, and the entire thread of racism, tends to come and go when it’s convenient. A few tears here, or a racist term there, and we move on. The problem pops its head out of the gopher hole when the plot needs some goading, and then disappears again, primarily unaddressed.
It’s a pity, because when the story stays on-point – talking about these young women, and their desire to make something of themselves with their talent – the results are beautiful. At its best, THE SAPPHIRES is joyous, fun, humorous, moving, and even shocking. It brings five well-drawn characters together and surrounds them with such wonderful music. We’re invested in all five of them – and all five as one collective group. This is no easy feat, since in many stories with this many characters, someone is short-shifted.
That’s not the case here as all five main characters work so well, and work so well with one-another. At the forefront is what we see from Deborah Mailman and Chris O’Dowd. Their relationship evolves the most through the story, and does so in a way that’s both unexpected and very natural. Both actors give really multifaceted performances, so the film would have been that much richer with just one or the other – the way the story allows them to play off one-another is just an embarrassment of riches.
One of the storytelling elements that allows these characters to flourish is the way they embody the way music can shape one’s identity. In life, many of us relate to music in a deeply personal way. What we identify with – and what some are lucky enough to perform – becomes more than just a style of choice. These notes and rhythms become a badge on our sleeve. Music can empower us to overcome an obstacle, and allow us to become better in touch with who we are.
Best of all, music has a knack of bringing us together and allowing us to power through as one.
In THE SAPPHIRES, the love of music allows Dave to stop living out of his car. The notes that Gail, Cynthia, and Julie are able to hit take them places they never might otherwise have seen, and put them in front of people they never might otherwise have met. And the harmonies that Kay is able to find gives her a chance to come to grips with her past. The journeys of all of these characters is underscored with the songs they sing and the way they sing them.
At first blush, these ideas might seem cliché, but so many of history’s greatest musicians have been part of a similar story…so many of them have found themselves in the notes they play.