Directed by Warwick Thornton
Samson, a cheeky 15-year-old boy, and Delilah, live in an isolated Aboriginal community in the Central Australian desert. The two teenagers soon discover that life outside the community can be cruel. Lost, unwanted and alone they discover that life isn’t always fair, but love never judges.
Samson & Delilah, 삼손과 데릴라, Самсон и Далила, 赛门和黛利拉, Sansão e Dalila, שמשון ודלילה
South Africa Durban International Film Festival 
Germany12 
AustraliaMA 15+ 
USA 
Ireland15 Australia Germany Ireland South Africa USA 
Never underestimate the extraordinary lengths people will go to avoid listening to a local ska band.
I feel shamed that it has taken me nine years to get around to watching Samson and Delilah. My shame is driven further when, as I watch the film unfold, I witness the dismissive interactions of 'white' Australians with both characters, particularly with Delilah. The plight of our indigenous peoples will never be rectified while we continue to plunder their culture and turn away or ignore how our invasion has damaged our own.
This film is a tragedy wrapped in beauty. There is beauty in the simple but profound connection between these two vulnerable young characters, and a poetic love for this vast, mostly brown land. It is a stunning debut film of little dialogue and powerful messages.
I wish that Australia valued Warwick Thornton as much as the rest of the world seems to, both as a filmmaker and storyteller.
It's interesting that many reviews seem to see this film as split between a happyish "rom com" first half at home and a brutal second half in the "real" world.
However I felt the first half was equally as brutal as the second, exposing the excruciating poverty and deprivation of remote Indigenous communities. Far from the "lifestyle choice" a former PM described them as, Samson and Delilah emphasises that in the settler colonial state there are no opportunities for First Nations people in these communities.
Stay or leave, it makes no difference.
Deep inside their red and dusty country, a couple of unlikely young souls search for their place. A place where they can be free to live a life respectful of their heritage. It's not meant to be though, and as the giant orange sun sets on another arid day, they suffer quietly. Alone.
Delilah lives with her Grandma, a painter of dreamtimes for the white man to sell and prosper. Meanwhile, they struggle to get by in a life where a good feed is a luxury. Samson lives close by in a ramshackle house, just trying to get through the day in a life that gives him little in return. So, he huffs on petrol in an addiction to numb…
I think I hate this film. I hate its dismal, detatched characters. I hate the empty, unforgiving environment they find themselves in. I hate how the "happy" ending left me feeling hollower than before. I hate most of all how real this all feels, this depressing landscape is one that without a doubt exists for many.
Thornton perfects this with his attention to detail, the places our characters visit feel small yet filled to the brim. We see the secruity guard who follows Samson and Delilah in the supermarket, we see the unsaid - for not many characters are talking within this film - all within the emotionality of the scenes. And emotional they are, nothing can prepare for the…
Story of a couple of neglected teens who find each other in their world of desolation.
Sought this out after watching Warwick Thornton's amazing Sweet Country. As an Aboriginal, he's solely interested in creating work that's true to himself, which clearly shows in all of his features.
This film showcases the brutal reality of the natives within Alice Springs. As a major tourist destination, people travel there to see the beauty of the outback but are often oblivious to the hidden world on the outskirts.
This film gives us a glimpse into that bleak world which puts these kids through hell. They're not equipped to deal with life outside of their community, where anything can happen. I honestly had no…
- quietly devastating, emptiness, isolation, the harsh reality of it all. i’m glad in the end they were finally at peace.
This is a heartfelt and gripping account of two young aboriginals as they cope with a life where they find themselves ostracised by their community, and then incapable of dealing with life in an urban centre. The beauty of the Australian landscape (which has been shot like a tourism film by director/DOP Warwick Thornton) is in direct contrast to the dirty reality of a society that will take responsibility for its indigenous people where there is a profit to be made but will at best abandon, and at worst directly ravage their purity and potential. The two young leads are magnificent and will both infuriate you and break your heart.
Heart-breakingly unflinching in its depiction of Indigenous Australian poverty, this film is almost neo-realism in the matter-of-fact way it unfolds. Although dialogue is minimal, music of all sorts (diegetic and non-diegetic) does a great job of conveying the Groundhog Day like monotony of poverty. Australian society is pretty much one of apartheid and this should be required viewing for aussies.
*walks on stage*
*clears throat*
*takes a long sip of water*
*leans in to mic*
this made me sad
favourite character was that bitch gonzo who did nothing but cook noodles and sing silly songs🤝
A difficult film to rate because on one hand I find it slightly exploitative, on the other I feel the subject matter warrants the brutal shifts in tone... So much interesting stuff going on here though!
The first thing that struck me is the slowness and silence of the film. At some points it has a kind of end-of-time, post-apocalyptic feel. The couple are forced to scavenge to survive, hiding under a under a freeway as colonised society passes over them. The way Thornton renders white society as alien and annoying is impressive.
The rom-com feel of the first part is betrayed by a painful descent once Samson and Delilah leave their hometown. Samson's petrol sniffing was one of the…
