Ernie Dingo & Cate Blanchett

Burned Bridge is a brave and confronting 13-part series about the mysterious death of an Aboriginal girl in (Brooklyn Waters) a small coastal town. Burned Bridge is a love story involving two people convinced of the innocence of the prime suspect. Cate Blanchett, & Ernie Dingo are the lovers, this was very controversial when this film was made. Ernie Dingo heads a fine cast in Burned Bridge. He plays Vincent Burunga, the Aboriginal Liaison Officer at Brooklyn Waters who lives on the razor’s edge between loyalty to his people and and his official Government job as Liaison Officer. Cate Blanchett plays Beth Ashton, while recovering from divorce she inherits her grandfather’s estate in Brooklyn Waters. She arrives as an outsider but discovers more about her grandfather’s life. She finds out that her grandfather has had several children by Aboriginal women. Beth is now a blood relative of several inhabitants of Brooklyn Waters. The growing relationship between Burunga and Ashton is put to the test, having to survive the hostility between the Aboriginal and white communities as well as the obstacles of their very different backgrounds, attitudes and cultures. Cate Blanchett gets a challenging and confronting insight into his background when she travels with him to his home in outback Western Australia where traditional law is still strong within the community. Ernie Dingo must deal with her urban white environment when they pursue the accused youths case in Sydney. The third piece of the mini-series concerns the people of the Binbilla Aboriginal community just outside of Brooklyn Waters and its battle to reconstruct their community in their own way and restore their self-esteem. This is a strong and very satisfying series, Cate Blanchett before she was Cate Blanchett. She later Starred in Elizabeth, and the rest is history, as they say. I highly recommend it. well worth renting.

Victoria Thaine and Rachel Ward

The Local District Vet Kate McDonald (Rachel Ward) hires an assistant, Jill Blake, (Victoria Thaine). Kate is the Vet in a farming district called Paringa. Kate is a vet who cannot keep an assistant, the last ten assistants were either fired or bolted. Jill Blake is her last chance at getting an assistant, the agency has told Kate that if she cannot keep Jill as an assistant for at least 6 Months they will not be sending her any more replacements. Kate (Rachel Ward) is as hard as nails. Jill, her new assistant, young, small in stature is her equal, Tough As Nails. The two women have to learn to work together without killing each other. There is plenty of work, lots of vet stuff in this 6 part series. Each episode is a different situation that the two women have to deal with. But the main issue they have to deal with is the drought, or climate change, and a reportable disease that has infected most of the sheep in the district. Even though the disease is reportable Kate chooses not to report for fear of bringing economic ruin on the entire district. Jil of course has different ideas. This is a beautifully shot, well acted, picture post card Australian TV mini series, well worth the watch. I loved it.

Rachel Ward & Victoria Thaine