Heather Kirkpatrick's documentary Mary Meets Mohammad shows the human faces on both sides of the asylum seeker debate

One friendship speaks all languages in this Australian documentary about the first detention centre for asylum seekers in Tasmania

Mary Meets Mohammad

MARY MEETS MOHAMMAD [PG]

Rating: 3 ½ stars

Director: Heather Kirkpatrick (documentary debut)

Starring: Heather Kirkpatrick (narrator)

There has been a glut of fine Australian documentaries recently, and the trend continues with this honest, open-hearted affair.

Mary Meets Mohammad tracks the impact of Tasmania's first detention centre for asylum seekers on a small country town. While many of the residents of Pontville are up in arms, a community knitting group decide to greet the new arrivals - all of whom are from war-torn Afghanistan - with homemade beanies.

One of the club's most intractable members is Mary, a widowed pensioner in her 70s who later forms a bond with Mohammad, a young Muslim.

The personal journey for Mary that is chronicled here is not to be underestimated. In no way a bigot, her misgivings about asylum seekers are drawn from fear and misunderstanding of the unknown, as opposed to blind prejudice. We all know someone like Mary, or indeed, we could share more in common with her than we care to admit.

Filmmaker Heather Kirkpatrick has achieved big results with small resources throughout the making of Mary Meets Mohammad.

Not only was access of any kind to the refugees often not possible at all. On many occasions, Kirkpatrick was also single-handedly performing the duties of an entire film crew.

This doco avoids jumping on a political high horse, and is all the better for it. These are the human faces on both sides of a divisive issue in this country.

There is much to be learned here just by spending some time in their collective company.