| Date | Area | Gross |
|---|---|---|
| USA | USD 2,415,396 |
The film is set in 1965 and refers to Idi Amin's seizure of power in Uganda, however in reality this did not take place until 1971.
AFI Award |
| Best Achievement in Cinematography |
| Best Achievement in Editing |
| Best Achievement in Production Design |
| Best Achievement in Sound |
| Best Actor in a Supporting Role |
| Best Film |
Festival Prize |
| Best Independent Film |
| Date | Area | Gross |
|---|---|---|
| USA | USD 2,415,396 |
In one school is Danny Embling (Noah Taylor), an introspective young man who reads Camus and Sartre in the other school is Thandie Newton (Thandiwe Adjewa) the daughter of a Ugandan diplomat. Danny is an outsider because of his shy manner, gawky build, and offbeat intellectual passions.
Coming of age in an austere boarding school must leave lasting impressions since we have so many books and movies about the experience. Here we have two schools on opposite sides of a lake, one for men and the other for women.
In some respects, John Duigan's fairytale has a lot in common with Hughes' 'The Breakfast Club', exposing the audience to the classically subversive nature of the true adolescent. Both films have the power to put viewers of all ages (once again) through the agony of young insecurity.
This film takes place in rural Australia in 1965 at an all-male boarding school with a young man named "Danny Embling" (Noah Taylor) recounting what his life was like during this time. As it so happens, while watching a rugby game with his good friend "Gilby Fryer" (Bartholomew Rose) Danny just happens to meet an attractive African girl named "Thandiwe Adjewa" (Thandie Newton) who attends the all-female boarding school across the lake.
It's 1965 rural Australia. Danny Embling (Noah Taylor) is a student in an all-male boarding school.
A lake separates the male and female dormitories of Australia's rural St. Albans boarding school, but water can hardly part the flirtatious musk hovering in the air between windows.
I saw this movie today for the very first time and it was amazing. I've never seen a movie so well put together, even young adults as myself can relate or even fantasize with the plot itself.
The irreverent Australian teen who survived the first advance of puberty in 'The Year My Voice Broke' finds himself enrolled in a strict, boys-only boarding school and attracted to a demure young girl (played by newcomer Thandie Newton, in a remarkably natural performance) from the equally cloistered girl's academy across the river. He fact that she's a refugee from Uganda isn't an issue (except to indicate how each is an outsider in their respective schools), and their refreshingly colorblind romance lifts the film above the average horny teenage mating ritual.
Heavens be thanked for how Australians and New Zealanders have revived the acting element of film. Everything in the country seems set up to produce performing artists, even talented writers that understand acting, where Brazil produces soccer players and the US lawyers.
