Two Laws (1982)

Australians do not understand that there are two laws - one for Indigenous and one for everyone else. Two Laws is a film about history, law and life in the community of Borroloola in far North Queensland. The films offers viewers a remarkable and different way of seeing and hearing. The concept of two laws - being colonial and Indigenous law - can also be spoken about as two ways of storytelling. The film delves into what two laws stand for, two ways of being and two ways of perceiving. Like the film "Backroads" it is one of the few productions at that time in which Indigenous people had creative input. The impetus for Two Laws came from the community themselves. There was substantial collaboration with the film makers before and during the shooting period. It is one of the most outstanding films to be made during the 1980s. It is an historical analysis of what, nearly forty years later, is an increasingly contemporary question.