SILVER CITY (1984) There are two films I saw in the mid 1980s that gripped my heart because they reflected the life of my partner (B) so closely: The Women’s Room, based on the well-known novel by Marilyn French, and Silver City, written by Sophia Turkiewicz and Thomas Kenneally. The first was turned into a 1980 American TV movie starring the wistfully-beautiful Lee Remick (as Mira) and Gregory Harrison (as Ben). The second was a 1984 Australian movie starring Gosia Dobrowolska (as Nina) and Ivar Kants (as Julian). Both movies have unfortunately disappeared ignominiously into cinematic history. Nevertheless, I cannot help but think that the heroines of both exhibit those same qualities of strength and intelligence that B has displayed throughout her life – and that is what makes these movies so important to me. Both movies feature a strong-willed woman who seeks to buck the male domination of 1950s society. But it is Silver City on which I shall focus here, for that story captures even more poignantly and pointedly the trials and tribulations and final triumph of a migrant woman in Australia seeking fulfilment and education. The film – played out in flash-backs – has Nina arriving in Australia in 1947 as a new immigrant from Poland and immediately settling into a camp for “New Australians” – a “silver city” of corrugated iron sheds in rural New South Wales, just like Scheyville Migrant Camp near Windsor where B spent her first year in Australia. It then tracks her efforts to establish herself and to come to grips with this alien antipodean environment. She falls for a fellow migrant, Julian, who also lives in the camp and is a former law student. Unfortunately Julian is married to Nina’s best friend, Anna. He leaves Anna, to live with Nina, but soon abandons her when Anna announces that she is pregnant. Nina moves on with her life and focuses on her ambition to become a teacher. She lives a life of sacrifice and self-denial in order to gain the necessary education and a grasp of English such that she can realise her dreams. Despite racism and a system that is weighted against foreigners, she achieves what she sets out to do, and rises through the ranks to become a successful academic. Twelve years later she unexpectedly encounters Julian once again – on a suburban train – and there are immediate frissons and undercurrents of the relationship they had had so many years earlier. The culture shocks, the prejudices, the conflicting values of the lives of typical “New Australians” are all portrayed so accurately by Director Turkiewicz, that it is clear that she has based the story closely on her own family history. The film gives some deep insights into the migrant experience and made me immensely proud (albeit vicariously) of B’s achievements – as mirrored so closely in the movie. Life as a migrant was not easy. B arrived in Australia with her then husband in 1957, and they spent ten months at Scheyville Migrant Camp near Windsor. But B was not happy in the marriage from the very start. She spoke a little English when she arrived – but not very well. And then she had two children, who became the focus of her life for the next seventeen years. Nevertheless, B went on eventually to become a successful teacher and to gain impressive teaching qualifications, specialising in art. When her children reached an age of independence she left her husband in order to pursue her own challenges – and several months later she met me. B has achieved much in her life, despite adversity, and I am enormously proud of her. Silver City shows with dramatic clarity the sort of life she led in those early years in Australia.
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 04:23:11 +0000
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