This film is a devastating depiction of life for Aboriginal people, rarely glimpsed outside of their immediate culture. O'Rourke's hook is the battle for land rights in Queensland, a region known as Australia's Deep South. Inhabitants of the continent for 60,000 years, the Aborigines find themselves marginal people in their own country. Dispossessed, they live on reservations where alcoholism is rampant and unemployment the major occupation. Much of the film's power comes from the hard-hitting narration by Aboriginal activist Mick Miller. Politically savvy and articulate, he speaks "through" the Aboriginal experience, condemning the abuse and desolation of a culture in ruin. O'Rourke reinforces Miller's insights with footage, some archival, illustrating the bitter ironies of alleged social reformation. Beer-swilling rednecks profess their vulgar superiority while, in the bush, Aborigines, garbed in cowboy attire, try desperately to retain their customs. "...Couldn't Be Fairer" leaves you in the vertiginous space between disdain for boorish white society and remorse over the collapse of Aboriginal culture. -Steve Seid