Made by director Rolf de Heer ("The Tracker"), this film covers Aboriginal people in a way not seen before. When we see films about indigenous people, there is an assumption that at some point, white explorers (e.g. Terrence Malick’s "The New World") will become central to the story. This first feature film ever made in an Aboriginal language of Australia is about customs and folklore of Aborigines only.

The plot is essentially a slice of life with the clock turned back in time. Customs passed on for generations are shown in black and white. A more current time is shown in color, which is quite striking. Our biggest quibble with the film was that in the black and white sections, the subtitles were often hard to read because of the white type. While you did not get confused about what was going on, it’s possible some subtlety may have been lost.

Narrating the film from a folklore perspective is David Gulpilil ("The Proposition" and "Rabbit Proof Fence"). He adds humor to what often are serious events in a way that connects the dots of a culture that is foreign to most people.

Primitive does not mean savage, undisciplined or disrespectful. At first there is a tendency to focus on the nudity (which is less provocative than many PG-13 films). As we get more involved in what the people are doing and why, our attention shifts to deciding who we are pulling for and what we want to happen for them.

Canoes for hunting geese are made from bark that is stripped from trees and then treated in various steps, including the use of fire and molding, much like the process in a modern day steel mill. The men do this while the women tend to things more related to food gathering, preparing meals, washing and taking care of the home.

Older men tend to be married, often to more than one wife. Young men, to include boys as well as adults in their twenties, live in a separate house. One such young man is smitten with the young, bright smiling, third wife of his older brother.

While on this hunting quest, the ancient story of ancestors in the same situation is related by an old storyteller and keeper of the tribal history. The predicament, as outlined in the tale, is handled respectfully and things appear to be heading in the right direction until two things happen. The first is that a stranger appears and then disappears. Not long after that, wife number two also disappears. There is speculation that she was either kidnapped by the stranger, eaten by crocodiles, or that she just ran away.

When someone is killed, because of honor, the person that did the deed owns up to it. There is a custom on how the situation is handled and it’s as honorable as our courts of law, maybe even more so in some ways.

We’ve all seen death scenes acted out many times yet the one in this film is very unique and emotionally moving. Insight into the concept of reincarnation is more than superficially thought provoking.

The young man, who so patiently waited for this folktale to be told, finally does become a husband at a young age and when he realizes what he has on his hands, our modern day thoughts might be "be careful what you wish for."