This was published 10 years ago
Emotion and grit set tone and style
The award-winning Redfern Now continues to impress.
By Kathryn Kernohan
A grief-stricken indigenous man holds a bedside vigil for his comatose same-sex partner in a Sydney hospital, while his boyfriend's estranged mother pleads with two nurses to keep her son's life support on.
''You heartless bitch,'' she hisses at one of them, before her body succumbs to emotion and the machines' slow hum gives way to silence.
Redfern Now - the first drama series written, directed and produced by indigenous Australians - was one of last year's homegrown success stories. Over six self-contained episodes, it explored sensitive issues such as mental illness and benefit fraud in a gritty, uncompromising style, earning a swag of awards, including the industry-voted Logie for Most Outstanding Drama Series.
The part of Australia Redfern Now spotlights remains light years away from the colourful, glossy worlds generally inhabited by shows like Offspring and Wonderland.
Uncompromising: A heart-wrenching scene from Redfern Now, starring Kirk Page and Noni Hazlehurst.
''We [indigenous Australians] have never had the opportunity to showcase our stories on the screen in the way this show does,'' says Deborah Mailman.
''That's what I love about the writers, directors and producers of Redfern Now is that they're not apologetic about tackling the big issues. I've always thought that if you have to go there, you really have to go there.''
Mailman reprises her character, Lorraine, from the first season in the opening episode of series two, Where the Heart is, beautifully written and directed by Sydney filmmaker Adrian Russell Wills.
''When the producers said they wanted me back, I didn't even know what the script was, but I said yes right away,'' she says. ''I consider myself very lucky and grateful to be involved again.''
Deborah Mailman.Credit: Ben Rushton
Having starred last season - as was the case in the first series, each episode has a different cast and creative core - Mailman appears in more of a supporting role this time around. The harrowing story of grief and bereavement centres on the turbulent relationship and ensuring custody battle between Peter (Kirk Page) and Margaret (Noni Hazlehurst) after the death of Richard (Oscar Redding), Peter's partner and Margaret's son.
''It's such a ball-tearer of a story, so powerful, but with such tenderness. It really puts a spotlight on how people struggling can lose touch with their world and how grief can be a monster in people,'' Mailman says.
Hazlehurst - most recently seen in Seven's period drama, A Place to Call Home - is one of several new faces this series, alongside Ernie Dingo, Craig McLachlan and Sibylla Budd.
An avid viewer of the first series (''getting our indigenous people on the bloody screen as something other than a token is so important''), the actress's role as a mother mourning the unexpected loss of her son took a physical toll.
''After we finished shooting, I flew home to Melbourne and came down with a cold. I was sick as a dog for two days because of all the emotion we put into the work,'' she says.
''As a mother [of two boys], the story wasn't a difficult leap for me to make. I thought about how I'd feel if it was one of my sons.
''They're very human emotions you see on screen.''
Themes in later episodes include gambling addiction (Pokies), deaths in custody (Starting Over) and potential child abduction (Babe in Arms) - all, Mailman points out, widely relatable issues.
''Although the show is grounded in a cultural content, the storylines certainly aren't exclusive to the indigenous experience. I think both indigenous and non-indigenous people can feel something when they're watching,'' she says.
At least part of Redfern Now's carefully crafted accessibility is attributable to English screenwriter Jimmy McGovern, the creator and writer of the '90s crime series Cracker.
As he did with the first series, McGovern engaged the six writers - two, Wayne Blair and Leah Purcell, are new to the show - in an intense development workshop.
''Jimmy believed everyone involved in the show had a chance to push the boundary and be ballsy about these ideas,'' says Mailman.
''He's overseen the project very closely with remarkable results, and raised the bar in a way which is fabulous,'' says Hazlehurst.
Again, filming has taken place predominantly around inner-city Sydney, including Redfern's infamous Block.
The scene of violent riots in 2004, the Block will this week welcome the show's premiere with an outdoor screening.
Locals have been accommodating to the cast and travelling film crew throughout.
To Mailman, it's validation that ''the community is really excited there's a production company there, telling stories about their suburb for the first time''.
The first series produced by the ABC's Indigenous Department, Redfern Now will be followed by six-part drama The Gods of Wheat Street. (The series is complete, but no air date set.)
Meanwhile, features including Samson and Delilah, Bran Nue Dae and The Sapphires, the latter of which received a standing ovation at last year's Cannes Film Festival, have helped put indigenous filmmaking on the map.
Mailman, star of Bran Nue Dae and The Sapphires, stops to consider whether the films' success paved the way for Redfern Now.
''I think Redfern stands on its own as a quality drama, but there have been years and years of artists working on all of these projects together,'' she says.
''What they all do is show on a wide scale the bloody great work that's happening in indigenous filmmaking.''
With 12 powerful stories across two series, the pool of indigenous filmmakers ensures the door is well and truly open for a third.
''Usually when you have a program like this it becomes better when the people involved find their feet,'' Mailman says.
''But I think Redfern had already done that in its first series. The writers already knew how far they could take their stories. As a viewer, I want to keep watching something like this.''
Redfern Now (series return), Thursday, ABC1, 8.30pm.