The Australian Dream about so much more than football

This plain-spoken documentary about the racisim furore that eclipsed the final chapters of the AFL legend’s career packs a hefty emotional wallop.

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THE AUSTRALIAN DREAM

Three stars

Director: Daniel Gordon

Starring: Adam Goodes, Stan Grant, Eddie Maguire

Rating: MA15+

Running time: 105 minutes

Verdict: It’s about so much more than football

This plain-spoken documentary about AFL legend Adam Goodes packs a hefty emotional wallop. The conventional, talking head interview format might be a little clunky, at times, but by giving screen time to a diverse range of perspectives — from indigenous greats Nicky Winmar and Gilbert McAdam to right-wing commentator Andrew Bolt and foot-in-the-mouth sports identity Eddie McGuire — the filmmakers prepare the ground for a gut-wrenching final act.

Lending a voice of authority to the project is writer/narrator Stan Grant. The Australian Dream is really an extension of the journalist’s hugely influential 2015 Ethics Centre speech, in which he called out his fellow country men and women for their casual and not-so-casual racism.

Michael O’Loughlin and Adam Goodes in The Australian Dream.

Grant felt compelled to speak after witnessing AFL fans’ treatment of Goodes on the sporting field — the two-time Brownlow Medal winner was subjected to a sustained and co-ordinated attack after demanding a teenage girl be evicted from the football ground after calling him an ape.

“I can’t speak for what lay in the hearts of the people who booed Adam Goodes. But I can tell you what we heard when we heard those boos. We heard a sound that was very familiar to us,” said Grant. “We heard a howl. We heard a howl of humiliation that echoes across two centuries of dispossession, injustice, suffering and survival.

“We heard the howl of the Australian dream, and it said to us again, you’re not welcome.”

Segments of Grant’s powerful and persuasive speech are interwoven with archival footage of the football star in action as well as fresh interviews with him and his family.

Particularly moving is the testimony of Goodes’ mother, Lisa Sansbury, who only revealed to her son that she had been taken from her parents as a five-year-old while filming an episode of Who Do You Think You Are in 2014.

Not your typical activist ... AFL star Adam Goodes.

Winmar and McAdam, who still bear the scars of the racist abuse they endured on and off the field, provide historical context. Former coach Paul Roos and Collingwood great Nathan Buckley offer a contemporary perspective. Sam Newman stirs the pot with racist invective and a severely miscalculated appearance in “blackface”. McGuire compounds the damage with his King Kong “joke”.

Quietly spoken and not entirely comfortable with the limelight, Goodes isn’t your typical activist. But while Grant provides the eloquent rhetoric, it’s the athlete who makes this story personal. The Australian Dream charts his slow and at times painful politicisation.

The documentary ends with a small ray of hope in the form of the “I stand with Adam Goodes” and “Racism: It Stops With Me” campaigns.

But as the broken footballer walks along with beach with his pregnant wife, it’s clear that nobody can repair the damage that’s already been done. A thoughtful, layered companion piece to The Final Quarter, which was watched by almost half a million Australians when it screened on Channel 10 last month.

Opens August 22

Originally published as The Australian Dream about so much more than football