I discussed recently how often the films we dismiss as mere “popcorn entertainment” often have the ability to have a lot more meaning than we think. It’s not just that they may have “heart” such as the recent ‘Lego Movie’ or ‘Ted’, but also that they could have interesting things to say about the society we live in today.

This became apparent to me recently as I watched one of my favorite Australian comedies, The Castle, which follows the trials of the Kerrigan’s, a classic “Aussie battler” family who go up against a large corporation in a David vs. Goliath fight to retain their house.

Upon first look, it’s simply a highly enjoyable underdog story, where each family member draws easy empathy from the target Australian audience. However, when critically looking at the film, I realized it can also be interpreted as a reflection of the struggle for the first Australian’s to hold onto their land.

The film constantly reminds us that a house is not simply bricks and mortar, for when you sit on somewhere for long enough it becomes a lot more significant, in fact ‘it’s not a house, it’s a home.’. 

When the word ‘home’ is used, it becomes something that is not just shelter, but something that is spiritually significant. This perfectly encapsulates the plight of the Aborigines, where to the English settlers, it was simply land, of which they had only seen in the 5 years they had known Australia. Yet to the indigenous, it was everything, over 40,000 years of memories and stories.

The Castle clearly reflects this, where in the words of Darryl Kerrigan, ‘This house is like their land.  It holds their memories.  The land is their stories…The country’s got to stop stealing other people’s land.’ So whilst it is a filmic representation of the stereotypical simple Australian family lost through globalization, it’s also a reflection of Australia’s history, and perhaps a statement on the darkness of the countries colonized beginning’s.