Justice & Revenge

in ‘High Ground’
Compile a list of synonyms for this theme
Big Picture Ideas
● Is there a cycle of injustice portrayed in the film? Does it end?
● Do these characters have a common, shared idea about what is just?
● What are the consequences of each character seeing things differently?
● Who pursues revenge in the film? Is this different to justice?
● What are Johnson’s own views about justice? What is he
advocating/endorsing/championing? What is he
rejecting/condemning/critiquing?
Brainstorming
Consider each of these characters. How do they perceive justice?

● Travis
● Gutjuk
● Moran
● Eddy
● Claire
● Gulwirri
● Baywara
● Darrpa

Does Johnson condemn or endorse this?

Essay Topic # 1

In ‘High Ground’, revenge comes at a cost. What challenges do the characters

face seeking to right the wrongs in their lives?

● What challenges come with seeking revenge? Does it come at a cost? What
is that cost?
● Why are the characters seeking it? Do they achieve it? Is it just?
Essay Topic # 1
In ‘High Ground’, revenge comes at a cost. What challenges do the characters
face seeking to right the wrongs in their lives?
What is the best way to approach this topic? Character based?
○ Travis turns on his own men and makes himself a target
○ Gutjuk’s revenge takes twelve years and the loss of several other lives in the process
○ Baywara’s ‘Wild Mob’ seek to terrorise settlers as a form of revenge
○ Gulwirri and Claire are unwillingly forced into violent acts to avenge patriarchal violence
○ Eddy and Moran seek to punish Travis for his perceived disloyalty yet ironically forfeit their own
lives in the process
Or following the sequence of events?
○ Initially – the massacre was a retaliation for a minor crime
○ Subsequently, each character seeks their own form of revenge, many paying a price
○ Ultimately, despite many challenges, justice is achieved
Practice TEEL – finish this off…
Travis’ admirable act of vengeance provokes suspicion and distrust from others. In the establishing scenes of the
film, Travis is portrayed via mise-en-scene as superficially part of the police force, yet detached from them,
perched on “high ground’ literally and symbolically. His act of retribution is foreshadowed as he points his gun
towards his own men, as depicted through Johnson’s use of a subjective point of view shot via Travis’ rifle cross
hairs. When the police unleash a brutal attack on an innocent First Nations family, Travis’ instinct is to avenge the
loss of lives by shooting his own men and “two whitefellas end up with (his) bullets in them.” Such actions
suggests a morality and decency lacking in his colleagues, accentuated by Travis’ repulsed and horrified facial
expressions. Yet this act ironically puts a target on his own back too….

● Travis is pressured to “act as a unit”, it’s seen as a betrayal when he doesn’t

● Eddy stalks Travis through the outback as “Travis has no sense of duty, no sense of loyalty” - pulls a gun on
him, threatening/menacing
● Moran sees Travis as a “mad dog” who “breaks (his) heart” - and chains him up, threatening to hang him for
his disloyalty, Bruce eventually kills Travis
● Is Johnson still advocating/endorsing Travis’ act of revenge, even when it comes with such a cost?
Practice TEEL – finish this off…
Although Baywara’s vigilantism is portrayed as justifiable, it results in conflict with his father and ultimately costs him his
life. Johnson foreshadows Baywara’s volatile nature in the prologue of the film when he tells Gutjuk, “I strike like
lightning”. When he miraculously survives the massacre that killed his family, Baywara refuses to live in terror and
instead forms “The Wild Mob,” a vigilante First Nations group intent on “wreaking havoc, killing livestock and burning
stations.” This defiant act of revenge sends a powerful message to colonialists that they will not be intimidated or have
their land or culture stolen from them. Johnson’s shots of blazing homesteads with Baywara accentuated through low
camera angels of him in ochre pain, spear in hand, reinforces this rebellious and assertive stance. Later, Gutjuk
sympathises with his Uncle’s situation, lamenting that he was forced into a life of retaliation as he never “had a chance”
to be anything “different”.

● Yet this creates conflict with his father, who sees things differently
● Moran sees the mob as having “crossed a line” and results in a bounty for his capture
● Baywara eventually killed, at the very site his own family died
● What is Johnson saying about the cyclical nature of violence in Australia’s Frontier Wars? Is Johnson
advocating/endorsing this type of revenge, even when it comes with such a cost?
Essay Topic # 2
“In this country we all abide by the same laws”. Is that true in ‘High Ground’?

● Who said this? When?

● Is this true?
● What are the different types of laws people follow?
● Are they just/fair laws?
● Do people go outside the boundaries of the law? Why?
● What are the consequences of this?
● What is Johnson saying here? Which of these laws does he advocate?

Can we adapt/repurpose some of our ideas from essay # 1 here?

Essay Topic # 2
“In this country we all abide by the same laws”. Is that true in ‘High Ground’?

Contention: Each character sees the idea of ‘law’ differently, some abide by their own moral codes, take the law
into their own hands or use the law to justify cruelty

Some ideas:

● Johnson demonstrates that the white law is biased, racially motivated, and violently enforced
● shows how the First Nations people have their own ancient laws they abide by, separate from/in conflict with
Commonwealth law
● Ultimately both groups disregard the law and resort to violence, disobeying the law in their quest for revenge
● Some individuals are only loyal to their own ideas about morality and justice
● Yet Johnson is more sympathetic to Darrpa’s ideas as “perfect” as it attempts to minimise the violence -
“restoring balance”, “making peace”, instead of being “lost…to anger”