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Clip description
In court, David O’Sullivan (Robert Carlyle) and his associate Helen Devaney (Kerry Fox) discuss the best way to have Max give evidence. They decide to use an unsworn statement from the dock, in order to prevent the Crown prosecutor, Mr Chamberlain (Charles Dance), from being able to cross-examine. Max (David Ngoombujarra) attempts to read his statement but he can’t read. O’Sullivan asks the court’s permission to have someone read aloud Max’s statement, but the judge, Justice Reed (Frank Gallacher), won’t allow it. Mr Chamberlain tries to improperly influence the jury’s perception about the use of an unsworn statement, but the judge rebukes him. Max’s statement is unintelligible to the judge, who loses patience with O’Sullivan’s 'translation’.
Curator’s notes
Once again, Max is almost without a voice in the proceedings. No provision has been made for him to speak in his own first language, which is not English, and the court’s rules won’t allow an unsworn statement if a man can’t read. One possible question here is why O’Sullivan hasn’t asked for an interpreter to be present. The film suggests at several points that O’Sullivan’s defence is lacking, partly because of his inexperience and partly because he is driven by his emotions, and his hatred of the way the legal system works in regard to the disadvantaged. In fact everyone’s emotions run high in this scene, in order to underline the suggestion that a trial is far from an objective or simple process. The judge’s hostility to O’Sullivan becomes obvious, as does Mr Chamberlain’s willingness to use any means to influence the jury.
A central idea in this scene is the absence of any sense of justice – except in O’Sullivan’s frustrated demeanour. Max Stuart is effectively denied any chance to explain himself, or deny the charges in a meaningful way here, because he can’t speak the language of the court. One effect of the casting of Carlyle is that it connects the issue of Stuart’s treatment with a sense of historical injustice to the working classes in England, which provides part of O’Sullivan’s dramatic personality in the film. His sense of justice is inextricable from his sense of the class struggle. In a country founded as a series of penal colonies – with the notable exception of South Australia – this argument has some resonance, but it’s largely a dramatic invention. David O’Sullivan was born and bred in South Australia. The casting of a prominent Scottish actor was part of the attempt to market the film internationally, as was the casting of Charles Dance, an Englishman. Roderic Chamberlain was also South Australian.
