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Samson and Delilah Movie Review

Samson and Delilah is a 2009 Australian drama film directed by Warwick Thornton and starring Rowan McNamara and Marissa Gibson. It’s a flawed, but quite authentic Aboriginal story.

Samson and Delilah are in love, but tragedy strikes when her grandmother dies and she is blamed for it. They leave the village hoping for a better life, not knowing what the city holds for them. This movie won the best first feature award at Cannes, and although I did not love the movie, I did find the directing from Warwick Thornton to be very strong and certainly worthy of this award. He is of Aboriginal ancestry himself, so that led the film a lot of authenticity.

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This is a very tough movie to watch, especially harrowing in its second half where a lot of horrible things happen. That is why I preferred the lighter and more bearable first half myself. The movie is extremely realistic in its approach of course, but it still felt somewhat implausible in the piling of misfortunes that they included in that problematic second half.

Rowan McNamara and Marissa Gibson were both first-time actors here. It’s unfortunate that this turned out to be their only film work as they were so good and believable in the main roles. The casting for this movie was truly fantastic and the two actors were both charismatic and easy to root for.

Samson and Delilah is very well shot, strongly edited and again so well directed. The pacing is slow, but the film’s impact when it comes to the depiction of indigenous Australians and their struggles is quite estimable. The theme of what it means to be Australian is solidly explored. I just wished for a brisker pace, more memorable plot points and more dialogue as the silent approach did lead to an overly leisurely drama.

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