The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith is a 1978 movie directed by Fred Schepisi.

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith tells the story of a half Aboriginal, half White man who endures a series of racist encounters. Eventually, he takes brutal revenge on those who wronged him and finds himself the target of a manhunt.

Jimmie Blacksmith has to rank among the most heartbreaking characters in movie history – or at least the most complex. He’s uniquely positioned as someone you both feel empathy and contempt for.

He’s the product of an aboriginal mother and white father – which gains him entry to two starkly opposing worlds. He’s taken under the wing of a Christian missionary, who bails him out of jail and provides him references for employment. Jimmie’s goal is to work hard, marry and own a piece of land. However, those series of jobs reveal the ugly realities of the white world – a place that ultimately rejects Jimmie.

Jimmie endures constant racial harrassment and is continually cheated out of money. Yet, he rationalizes this treatment as part of his dues to join the white world. Along the way, he becomes a sheriff’s deputy and brutally assaults aboriginals during a murder investigation. After he realizes the drunk sheriff rapes and kills the prime suspect, Jimmie is forced to burn the body.

Yet, Jimmie endures and eventually marries Gilda, a white woman who works for the farming Newby’s- accomplishing one of his goals. She gives birth to a fully white baby and then admits that Jimmie is not the father. However, Jimmie remains with her – despite the objections of the Newby’s, who try to convince Gilda to leave him. Finally, when the Newby’s cut off Gilda from groceries – Jimmie snaps.

He threatens Mr. Newby before visiting Mrs. Newby, along with his aboriginal Uncle. Mrs. Newby pulls a rifle on him. In either an act of rage or self-defense, Jimmie buries an axe in her chest. He then proceeds to murder all of the Newby adult children, before sparing the family toddler.

Naturally, the tone of the movie completely flips here – along with the viewer’s sympathies towards Jimmie.

Jimmie, his Uncle and brother Mort are now on the run. An increasingly desperate, yet emboldened Jimmie now gains revenge on others who have wronged him. He murders the Irish farmer who cheated him out of money, along with the man’s wife and child.

Jimmie has morphed into a cold-blooded killer – something that devastates the affable Mort: “Would you look at what you’ve done??!!” All a lost Jimmie can promise is he will “kill no more women.” Mort is convinced Jimmie has turned into the devil. An enraged Jimmie states that he has “declared war.”

The remainder of the movie sees Jimmie hunted down by a Newby militia. He is eventually captured and the final scene shows him slumped in a jail cell, awaiting his execution. At this point, Jimmie’s journey concludes – he’s exhausted all empathy. Both the stimulus for his rampage and its effects leave the viewer numb and depressed.

The acting in The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith contributes to its raw, unnerving emotion. Tommy Lewis’ first role is raw and volatile, but wildly effective. Both his early exuberance and later rage feels like a natural extension of his background. He channels a commanding, explosive dynamism.

Yet, he is surprisingly tender in several scenes. His interactions with Angela Punch McGregor’s Gilda are soft and appealing. Even after butchering the Newby family, he stops to give the remaining crying toddler something to eat.

The scene stealer is Freddie Reynolds’ Mort – Jimmie’s aboriginal brother. Mort is exuberant, vibrant and fully connected to his native roots. Initially, he appears as a drunkard and threat to Jimmie’s attempts to assimilate into the white world.

However, Mort emerges as the movie’s conscience during its chaotic second half. Mort is the one who locates Jimmie’s departure from vigilante to murderer and pleads with him to regain his senses. He carries guilt from shooting the Irish woman and attempts to redeem himself by delivering the wheezing teacher hostage to safety – an act that leads to his own death.

Jimmie faces a series of white men and women who serve to crush his dreams of assimilation. The actors’ racial intentions are both subtle and overt – and all extremely effective in setting Jimmie on his destructive path. However, the standouts include Ray Barrett’s Farrell and Ruth Cracknell’s Mrs. Newby.

Barrett oozes villainy as the drunken, lecherous sheriff tasked with solving the murder of a white man at the hands of aboriginals. He employs Jimmie as a deputy of sorts, using his aboriginal association as a means of brutally assaulting innocent victims. It’s implied that he rapes the case’s main suspect, before murdering him.

Cracknell is potent as Mrs. Newby, who essentially runs the land Jimmie and Gilda live on. She is cold and verbally cruel to Jimmie, especially when Gilda gives birth to an all-white baby. There is a constant malice implied in her language – she tries to convince Gilda to leave Jimmie, characterizing him as an untrustworthy animal. It is tragically fitting that her pulling a rifle on Jimmie ignites his violent killing spree.

Fred Schepisi’s second feature film is both gritty and gorgeous. He uses the natural beauty and barren landscape of rural Australia to create a paradox: even in such a sprawling environment, Jimmie can never be free. The expansive shots of the country are simple and brilliant, while his interiors are bleak and confining – often illustrating the hostile, hateful world that consumes Jimmie.

The BEST – Does Jimmie Become White?

Here’s my fan theory on Jimmie Blacksmith: he accomplishes his goal of achieving whiteness.

Literally, he does not.

However, he assumes the mantle of revolutionary in the midst of his killing spree – as he “declares war” on those who wronged him. Of course, he’s echoing his former employers discussing military tensions between England and Australia. In a larger sense, he’s simply channeling the cruel energy the whites expended towards him as he unleashes his rage.

The gross irony is that Jimmie is ultimately assimilated into the absolute worst of white culture – he’s lost all connection to his native roots and has become a vicious killer.

The BEST Part 2 – Mort’s Last Stand

Mort is the obvious contrast to Jimmie in terms of spirit. He’s more attuned to his native origins and less experienced with the white world. At first, this presents Jimmie with a liability. However, as the movie unfolds, it is Mort who becomes the conscience of the story.

Unlike Jimmie, he understands the consequences of their actions and realizes that he must pay a penance. He dons tribal paint and stoically chants before being shot to death.

It’s a powerful scene. While we hold Jimmie in contempt for his actions, it’s Mort who receives our full sympathy. He not only pays for Jimmie’s actions – he represents the weight of the vile racism that cripples his people.

The BEST Part 3 – Stay Away From White Women

Jimmie’s Uncle goes to his grave with this advice.

The WORST – The Nevilles

In the end, the Reverend and his wife do the least amount of damage to Jimmie. In their defense, the Nevilles bail Jimmie out of jail and provide him with a gateway to work. However, there is an air of oppressive tension present in their actions that sucks the life out of their charity.

The WORST Part 2 – Stuck Between Two Worlds

While it’s easy to censure the extremity of Jimmie’s actions, a few early events provide a counterweight. Jimmie is essentially accosted by his aboriginal friends and made to drink huge volumes of liquor. He’s instantly drunk and rounded up with the others in a police sweep. It’s only the actions of the Nevilles that save him.

Before Jimmie meets Gilda, he continually returns to the aboriginal camp. He reluctantly leaves them his hard-earned money – which he knows will be wasted on alcohol and gambling. This theme is continued when Mort and his Uncle first appear on the Newby land. Jimmie feels the two are looking for another free ride.

It’s a nuanced and extraordinarily difficult position Jimmie finds himself in: he is striving to be accepted in a world that doesn’t want him, yet he is trying to remove himself from a dysfunctional one.

FOX FORCE FIVE RATING – 4.25/5

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith is a heavy, difficult movie. The movie crushes you with guilt and sadness, then asks you to reconsider your investment. It’s a remarkably raw, depressing story with few moments of hope. It’s definitely worth a watch – and it will drain you.