Why the world bought into power, passion and political values of Midnight Oil

Documentary reveals why the world bought into power, passion and political values of Midnight Oil, writes Leigh Paatsch.

From a top-notch documentary about one of Australia’s best bands and another classy performance from Guy Pearce, there’s plenty to like at the movies this week.

MIDNIGHT OIL: THE HARDEST LINE (M)

A scene from the Midnight Oil documentary, The Hardest Line.

Director: Paul Clarke (Mother of Rock: Lillian Roxon)

Starring: Peter Garrett, Rob Hirst, Jim Moginie, Peter Gifford, Bones Hillman

Rating: ★★★★

Flame over fortune

You can say what you like about Midnight Oil, but one aspect of their remarkable career cannot be disputed.

Across over four decades of a sustained sonic quest, the Oils have never once gone close to selling out.

Instead, first Australia and then the world bought in to the power, the passion and the political values espoused by this exciting and incendiary band.

The excellent new documentary The Hardest Line applies both an impressive scale and detailed context to what has made Midnight Oil matter to so many for so long.

Just as importantly, the doco drives home just how unique a phenomenon the Oils have proven to be across their long career.

From the outset, the band shared virtually nothing in common with their peers, whether it be live on stage or as a recording act.

The likes of Cold Chisel or The Angels may have had larger followings or higher chart placings, but they and other local acts were prepared to “play the game” within the Australian music industry in ways that the Oils steadfastly refused.

The documentary does a magnificent job in capturing how the band’s instinctive resistance to compromise in any form eventually catapulted them to global prominence.

The Hardest Line does a magnificent job in capturing how the band’s instinctive resistance to compromise in any form eventually catapulted them to global prominence.

However, where the doco truly leaves a lasting mark is by never forgetting the impressive body of musical work the Oils were able to craft, often despite the limitations their aggressive ideological stance imposed upon themselves.

If anything, the Oils’ sound continued to evolve and expand in ways that no Australian act has ever matched before or since.

Loyal fans of Midnight Oil will be particularly taken by how deeply and honestly The Hardest Line delves into the complex personality dynamics that fed into various line-ups of the band.

In particular, the dominance of lead singer Peter Garrett and his parallel lives as an environmental activist and, later, a conventional politician (a move that snuffed out the Oils for almost twenty years) is held up to the light for closer examination.

So too is the personal toll taken on members of the group by the heavy demands of constant touring, recording and well-intentioned rabble-rousing.

Overall, The Hardest Line crafts a fitting tribute to one of the great Australian cultural warriors of all-time, a bloody-minded bunch who stood their ground, made their noise and made a difference.

Midnight Oil: The Hardest Line is in cinemas next Thursday

THE CONVERT (MA15+)

Guy Pearce in The Convert.

Rating: ★★★

General release

Mark down this modest, yet engrossing historical drama as a welcome return to form for Lee Tamahori, a New Zealand filmmaker who has often lost his way since bursting on the world stage with the classic Once Were Warriors in the 1990s. A genuinely fascinating story unfolds in the 1830s, during a crucial phase of white settlement in New Zealand, which will eventually end the long dominance of Maori tribes on both islands.

Guy Pearce stars as Thomas Munro, a British lay preacher who rescues Rangimai (Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne), the daughter of a leading Maori chief, from certain death during a bloody clash between two warring tribal factions. Munro’s unwitting intercession in a long-running feud opens his eyes to the cruel indifference of his fellow British settlers, who are poised to capitalise big-time should the most powerful Maori factions keep fighting their way towards mutual self-destruction.

Guy Pearce gives a nuanced performance in The Convert.

While there is a grim inevitability to how this situation will ultimately play out, Pearce’s nuanced performance and Tamahori’s atmospheric control of proceedings keeps this heavy-going yarn heading in the right direction. The ultra-impressive Ngatai-Melbourne is also a promising talent who will be seen to better effect sooner than later.

A SILENCE (M)

Daniel Auteuil, Matthieu Galoux and Emmanuelle Devos in A Silence.

Rating:★★★½

Selected cinemas

This decidedly unsettling Belgian affair has its roots in a true story that gained a lot of attention right across western Europe a few decades ago. The veteran French actor Daniel Auteuil takes the lead role of Francois Vissel, a prominent lawyer whose reputation has been built on cases involving the abuse of children. While the movie embeds us inside a long-running trial that has become a complete obsession for Francois, we slowly notice there is something deeply amiss within the crusading legal eagle’s household. Both his wife Astrid (a superb Emmanuelle Devos) and adopted son Raphael (Matthieu Galoux) appear to be keeping their distance, communicating on only the most basic levels.

The reasons why there is a curious disconnect inside the Vissel family unit take some considerable time to be revealed.

The reasons why there is this curious disconnect inside the Vissel family unit take some considerable time to be revealed here, a deliberate delay that may indeed test the patience of some viewers. Nevertheless, once director Joachim Lafosse releases a series of narrative shockwaves into the screenplay, his movie becomes a gripping, gut-wrenching experience that few will have seen coming.

Originally published as Why the world bought into power, passion and political values of Midnight Oil