When I saw the previews for The Sapphires, I wanted to see it immediately. I was expecting Pride, Billy Elliot or The Full Monty except addressing racial issues instead of sexual orientation, gender norms or working class issues combined with the fabulousness of 20 Feet From Stardom. Also when I realized that Deborah Mailman was in The Sapphires, I was extremely excited because she was in Rabbit Proof Fence, which was one of the best historical dramas EVER. The Sapphires also appeals to many demographics-my mom wanted to see it even though usually our tastes in films differ dramatically.
Unfortunately The Sapphires fell extremely short from my expectations. The Sapphires is an ambitious movie and gets kudos for steadfastly refusing to quibble about the Aboriginals status in Australian society. They’re black. They’re bodies are literally governed by the state-families are literally ripped apart by a policy that if your child looks like they are white, they will be adopted by a white family. No amount of talent, good looks or circumstance can change it.
Movies like Pride, Billy Elliot and The Full Monty effortlessly seem to be able to jump from drama to humor to performance in seconds while not sacrificing character and plot development. The Sapphires cannot pull off a similar feat.
While watching The Sapphires, I had not done even cursory research, but my gut said that Chris Dowd’s character wasn’t real, but once he appears, he hijacks The Sapphires. He felt too much like a nicer version of Michael Rapaport or Quentin Tarantino-a white person striving to be a honorary stereotype of the cultural black person. His character gets more of the movie’s focus than any individual Sapphire. Even though a son of one of the real-life Sapphires wrote The Sapphires, it is clear that he took an amazing real life story, did not feel comfortable exploring his mother’s story (or women’s stories) and invented a character that he found more relatable…and profitable. Please note that I am a Chris Dowd fan, but I felt ripped off.
Also The Sapphires is fairly realistic in the way that it addresses issues of racism, drug abuse or teen pregnancy, but when it comes to alcoholism, The Sapphires treats it like a joke, which I found problematic.
I need a documentary about The Sapphires because there IS a really solid story, but the fictional movie does not do it justice. The actors and the performances were amazing, but the story fell short. My mom loved it, and if you don’t watch a lot of movies, then give it a shot.