An Ultimate Guide High Ground by Stephen Johnson

Visually depicting Australia’s Frontier Wars, Johnson’s film “High Ground” acts as a critical expośe of Colonial and Post Colonial Australia.
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April 19, 2023

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Visually depicting Australia’s Frontier Wars, Johnson’s film “High Ground” acts as a critical expośe of Colonial and Post Colonial Australia. The film highlights the discordant contrast between the picturesque landscape and the brutal spectacle of violence that takes place upon it. In doing so, Johnson delves into the notions of guilt, justice and revenge, trust and loyalty and belonging.

 

Opening Sequence - Close Analysis


 

Covering a violent chapter in the colonial history of Australia, director Stephen Maxwell Johnson and screenwriter Chris Anastassiades crafted a suspenseful drama in High Ground, whose opening sets the tone for a journey that tackles colonialism, identity, violence, and the various human responses that follow.


 


In its first minutes, High Ground establishes young Gutjuk’s identity as part of the Yolngu community, as well as his people’s vulnerability under the threats of colonialism. The film begins with an aerial wide shot of Nimbuwa Rock, establishing the location of the setting to be North Western Arnhem Land; the supertitles adds “1919” as the year. The opening shot is accompanied by traditional music and chants by Yolngu people, signifying their claim on the land, which remains nature’s domain and untamed by artificial forces. The audience are then introduced to the protagonist Gutjuk through close-ups of him applying white paint onto his body as part of the Yolngu peoples’ hunting traditions. The film becomes intimate in this instance, painting a sensuous image of a young boy within the gentle hands of nature. This contributes to a presentation of the Yolngu community as peaceful and in-sync with the natural world. During the hunt for a wallaby, Gutjuk scares away the animal and is told off by his father. This is an important detail pointing towards Gutjuk’s character as hasty and in need of tutelage - a  key element of his identity throughout the film.


 

Gutjuk’s uncle Baywarra then proudly teaches Gutjuk the dances representing their totem animals. The scene plays out as the body movements of Baywarra are emphasised by the movements of the camera and the editing, which allows the dances to inhabit the frames with a haunting and resolute presence and in turns inspire respect. The cinematography here is of note - Baywarra and Gutjuk are seen inside of a rocky passage through a cave, with sand under their feet and sunlit grass surrounding them.


 

Again framing the characters within natural confines, the scene underlines the Yolgnu peoples’ symbiosis with the natural world. Gutjuk, in this scene, looks on to Baywarra’s dance with eyes filled with wonder, which cements the beginning of Gutjuk’s journey to become the successor to his peoples’ rich and long-standing culture. To continue, the camera covers some snapshots of the lives of the Yolngu community: women and children sitting by fire as a cooked wallaby sizzles, small houses made of straws, children in the arms of their mothers, cooing with a beautiful sense of liveliness.


 

Gutjuk’s mother comments that her son wants to grow up fast and that “he only wants to be with the men”. This is a commentary on masculinity and its assigned aggression, foreshadowing the main characters - all of whom are men - journeying through violence and brutality throughout the film. Through meticulous detail, High Ground’s opening minutes manage to present Gutjuk and the Yolngu people with sincerity and respect, which contribute to the impact the travesty that follows has on its audiences. 


 

The prologue of High Ground features a brutal set piece that captures a violent massacre of the Yolngu community. Echoing the real-life Gan Gan massacre of 1911, the murderous spree the settler police subject the Yolngu people in High Ground is uncomfortably similar to reality. The scene plays out as the Yolngu community carry on their daily lives, not aware of the colonial police closing in on their location.


 

Travis, the other protagonist, is introduced as the sniper in this expedition’s security detail. The camera takes Travis’ point of view, peering upon the Yolngu people from a vantage point through his sniper’s scope. This camera shot communicates to the audience the vulnerability of the Yolngu community in this scene - and more broadly, their vulnerability under the power of the colonists. As Eddy, a settler policeman, sneaks up on the group of indigenous people, he startles young Gutjuk with a gun in his possession. Although the expedition was supposed to be peaceful, the misunderstanding quickly escalates into a bloodbath.


 

When the massacre occurs, birds screech and soar the skies, alerting elder Dharrpa of an imminent tragedy he will encounter, which cements the connection Yolngu people have with nature and their spirituality.  Colonial policemen shoot and kill dozens of men, women, and children, even infants indiscriminately. The violence here is graphic.


 

The film uncompromisingly showcases the brutality to its audience, underlining the uneasy truth about the violent foundation on which Australia was created. This massacre is an incident evident of the tension between these two cultures and the violence that is inherent to colonialism. The brutal irony that befalls both parties is the result of the high alertness that they have against each other due to the history of violence they share. While the scene strongly impacts the characters in the story as the film carries on, its impact on the audience is of equal significance, reminding them of the complexity of the efforts and brutal failures in ending the violence in the settlers-indigenous peoples relationship.


 


The aftermath of the massacre sees the various demonstrations of humanity in the characters as the prologue of the film comes to a close. At this point, Gutjuk is hiding under a small body of water as his entire family fall victim to the colonists’ murdering spree. In response to the monstrous acts of his fellow officers, Travis shoots and kills the trigger-happy army personnel who killed dozens of innocent people without a second thought. He then gently rescues Gutjuk. This showcases Travis’ sense of justice and his defiance against the colonial forces but also his violence, which perpetuates the brutality that is the crux of the rift between white settlers and indigenous peoples. Gutjuk retaliates but soon submits, signalling the beginning of him being subjected to assimilation into the colonist community.


 

Eddy, remaining unhinged from the fight, denies the significance of him being responsible for taking the first shot that started the massacre. When Gutjuk is pulled out of the water, Eddy’s uniform is stained with blood, symbolising the responsibility he holds as an assailant in the killing of innocent Yolngu people. Later, the audience is introduced to Moran, Eddy and Travis’ superior, who suggests that they cover up the massacre. Such dishonest resolve speaks to the immorality of the colonists, but also is an example of their power. In contrast, elder Dharrpa returns to his home to find his people slaughtered and cries out it pain. Mourning his family, however, he does not think of vengeance, and tries to save the life of Baywarra, Gutjuk’s uncle and the only other survivor from the massacre. Here, Dharrpa’s character is shown to be wise and calm, not letting the tragedy cloud his judgement. However, the morality he demonstrates could also be seen as his weakness as he refuses to take direct action against those who have wrought destruction upon his home.


 


The prologue of High Ground is memorable for its utterly tragic massacre that demonstrated uncompromisingly the brutality and violence that the Yolngu peoples are victims of under white colonists’ reign. By capturing, within nature, the liveliness of Gutjuk and the Yolngu community in Arnhem Land, their heritage and identity are underlined and respected, which makes the tragedy that befall them more horrific. In the aftermath of the massacre, the disparity between First Nations Peoples are made more apparent as their responses demonstrate their characters.


 

Analysing Film Techniques:


 

[By Michael Chang]


 

When discussing these cinematic conventions in your text responses, you should follow this abbreviation: CAMELS



 

 
   

Camera:

  • Focus on the type of shot the director uses? What angle is the shot from and what effect does this create?
  • Eg. In the flashback at the start of the film, Johnson utilises handheld camera shots apparent in the slight shakiness of the frame when depicting Gutjuk’s perspective as he watches Baywara dance. As a result of this, Johnson creates a more immersive world for the audience as if they were Gutjuk themselves.

Acting:

  • What was the character’s facial expression? What is their body language suggesting?
  • It is important to understand that communication is not only vocal but also through expressions, mannerism and body language
  • This notion is explicit through the character of Travis who is often laconic (does not speak much), however his feelings and emotions are said through his facial expressions and body language

Mise en scène:

  • This wacky looking french term simply describes what the frame is composed of - eg. costume, props and position
  • Looking out for minute details in frames will take your analysis to the next level as directors often leave small symbols which are hard to pick up on
  • Eg. When Moran and Därrpa take a photo to commemorate the meeting, Johnson specifically places Moran in the centre, seated as if he was a monarch on the throne. 

Editing:

  • While a minor feature, editing can be the result of tension in key scenes
  • Eg. During the prologue of the film, the directors use of parallel editing as he cuts between the idyllic lifestyle of the Indigenous and the ominous sound of the Europeans on horses galloping, is Johnson’s first subversion of typical Western film as he portrays the natives as peaceful, while the Europeans like savages.

Lighting:

  • Like the use of editing, lighting is also a minor feature but it can also communicate volumes.
  • Eg. Shadows can build tension, light focusing on a character can suggest they have agency, light can suggest holy and pure, while darkness can mean evil and devilish

Sound:

  • When discussing sound it is important to classify sound into 2 types:
  • Diegetic: sound that can be heard in the world of the film - can be heard by the characters
  • Non-diegetic: sound that the director placed for the audience - cannot be heard by the characters; eg. music
  • In High Ground specifically, the main discussion of sound should be of the traditional First Nations music (non-diegetic)
  • Though the music is non-diegetic, it also enhances the immersion of the audience into the world of the First Nations people. Furthermore, it also at times can intensify the tragedy of losing loved ones, culture, identity and country

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High Ground — Revision table

Category Explanation & effect Key evidence
Context
Post-WWI frontier Australia & the Frontier Wars The film is set in 1919 Arnhem Land — placing it in the context of post-World War I Australia, where returned soldiers brought their combat experience directly to frontier policing. This period saw systematic military-style suppression of Aboriginal resistance conducted under the guise of law enforcement. Johnson sets the film in Arnhem Land deliberately: this region maintained strong Aboriginal cultural practices and resistance well into the 20th century. Travis and Eddy as WWI veterans turned frontier police — combat experience applied to colonial violence; war trauma feeding cycles of brutality.

Arnhem Land setting — historically significant site of sustained Aboriginal cultural resistance.
Christian missions & the Stolen Generations The East Alligator River Mission in the film reflects the historical role of Christian missions as sites of cultural assimilation and dispossession. Aboriginal children were separated from their families and traditional practices — a policy later recognised as part of the Stolen Generations. Gutjuk's renaming as "Tommy," his Western clothing, and his cultural displacement are all direct consequences of mission policy. Gutjuk renamed "Tommy" at the mission — name change as cultural erasure; identity suppressed by colonial institution.

Makeshift church out of place in the landscape — the Mission's physical incongruity as symbol of European culture's displacement on Indigenous land.
Revisionist Western & postcolonial counter-narrative Johnson deliberately works within and against the Western genre — a genre that has historically celebrated colonial expansion, cast white settlers as heroic and Indigenous people as savage. High Ground inverts these conventions: Europeans are depicted as violent and barbaric; First Nations people are calm, harmonious, and connected to Country. European settlers depicted as menacing savages; Yolngu people as peaceful and harmonious — generic inversion of the Western.

Birds hawking upon the colonists' arrival — nature itself signalling disruption of natural order.
Themes
Colonial authority & resistance Colonial authority in the film operates through both overt violence and subtler forms of control — renaming, clothing, institutional surveillance. Johnson's most sophisticated critique comes in the photography scene: while the photograph appears to show settlers and Yolngu on equal ground, the shot from behind the camera lens — image upside down — reveals the equality as a colonial construct. Photography scene — image upside down behind the lens; equality as colonial construct, not reality.

Moran's "crown on [his] badge" — Imperialist power made wearable; institutional authority as physical presence.

Moran challenging Dharrpa's use of "my country" — colonial authority denying Indigenous sovereignty through language.
Violence & its cycles Violence in the film is not a series of isolated events but a self-perpetuating cycle generated by colonial power dynamics. The opening massacre begins with a misunderstanding — Gutjuk's fear, his community's defensive rush — but the colonial system converts that misunderstanding into mass murder. Johnson argues that colonial violence is systemic, not individual — it corrupts even those who oppose it. Opening massacre — misunderstanding converted into mass murder by colonial power dynamics.

Claire killing Eddy — loss of moral innocence; violence corrupting even those initially opposed to it.

Eddy's WWI trauma fuelling frontier brutality — generational cycles of violence; war damage repurposed as colonial tool.
Identity, belonging & cultural displacement Gutjuk's arc is the film's central exploration of identity under colonialism. Raised at the mission as "Tommy," dressed in Western clothes, separated from his language and culture, he is a living consequence of assimilation policy. Yet his incongruity is visible — he does not fit the colonial world that made him. His reunion with Baywarra catalyses a return to cultural identity. Gutjuk renamed "Tommy" — cultural assimilation as identity destruction; the colonial name as erasure.

Gutjuk's visible incongruity in Western clothes — the body as site of cultural displacement; assimilation incomplete.

Reunion with Baywarra — catalyst for cultural reclamation; the uncle as connection to pre-colonial self.
Connection to Country The film presents Country not as backdrop but as active presence — the land is the Yolngu people's spiritual and cultural foundation. Early scenes frame Gutjuk and his family within nature in warm, intimate compositions that visualise the harmonious relationship between people and Country. This is pointedly contrasted with Travis's sniper scope view — a colonial instrument of distance and objectification. Wide shots of Arnhem Land framing Yolngu within nature — visual harmony between people and Country.

Travis's sniper scope — colonial distance and objectification; land as territory, not home.

Birds hawking upon colonists' arrival — Country responding to disruption of its natural order.
Trust, loyalty & moral responsibility The film presents moral responsibility as distributed differently across characters. Travis is haunted by his hesitation during the massacre — his divided loyalty resulted in deaths he could not prevent. Dharrpa represents the highest moral standard — choosing peace despite the murder of his family. Moran represents colonial morality at its most self-deceiving: framing atrocities as "necessary evil" in service of civilisation. Travis's hesitation during the massacre — divided loyalty; guilt as the film's driving moral force.

Dharrpa choosing peace — the moral high ground as genuine ethical position, not weakness.

Moran's "King's Honor" — colonial morality as self-justifying ideology; atrocity reframed as civilisational duty.

Travis's final sacrifice — competing loyalties resolved; atonement through action.
Characters
Gutjuk / Tommy The film's moral and narrative centre. Gutjuk embodies the experience of a generation caught between two worlds by colonial policy — given a Western name, dressed in Western clothes, raised within a Christian institution, yet visibly incongruous in that world. He navigates between Dharrpa's peaceful high ground and Travis's tactical high ground, ultimately forging his own path. Gutjuk renamed "Tommy" — colonial name as identity suppression; rejection of the name as reclamation.

Hawk motif ("gutjuk" in Yolngu) — true identity encoded in cultural language; hawk as liberation.
Travis The film's most morally conflicted figure — a white colonial officer whose conscience sets him apart from the system he serves, but whose hesitation and complicity make him partially responsible for its violence. His guilt over the massacre drives his relationship with Gutjuk, his eventual turn against colonial authority, and his final sacrifice. Travis's hesitation during the massacre — moral conscience paralysed by institutional loyalty.

Teaching Gutjuk the "high ground" — both tactical skill and moral framework transferred across the colonial divide.

Travis's final sacrifice — atonement through death; loyalty ultimately given to those he wronged.
Dharrpa Gutjuk's grandfather and the film's moral compass. Dharrpa consistently advocates for peace despite having every reason for vengeance — his family has been massacred. His patience and principled non-violence are not passivity but a conscious ethical choice. Johnson presents Dharrpa as embodying the true "high ground" of the film's title: moral clarity over tactical advantage. Dharrpa choosing peace after the massacre — principled non-violence as the film's highest moral standard.

Dharrpa's use of "my country" challenged by Moran — sovereignty asserted and denied in a single exchange.
Baywarra Gutjuk's uncle and the film's most tragic figure. Baywarra begins the film as a respected cultural teacher — harmonious, skilled, connected to Country. Colonial violence transforms him into the leader of the Wild Mob, a warrior consumed by vengeance. His transformation is Johnson's clearest argument about the corrupting logic of colonial violence: it forces survivors to become something other than who they were. Baywarra as cultural teacher in the opening scenes — the man before colonial violence; Country embodied.

Baywarra as leader of the Wild Mob — transformation forced by the colonial destruction of everything he loved.
Moran & Eddy Moran and Eddy represent the two faces of colonial authority: Moran is the ideological face — bureaucratic, self-righteous, genuinely convinced that colonial atrocities serve a higher civilisational purpose; Eddy is the visceral face — violent, traumatised by WWI, displacing his aggression onto Indigenous people. Together they show that colonial violence is both structurally justified and psychologically generated. Moran's pride in the "King's Honor" — colonial ideology as self-exoneration.

Eddy's WWI trauma — colonial violence as outlet for unresolved military aggression.

Gutjuk and Dharrpa quietly mocking Moran's King's Honor — resistance through refusal to validate colonial authority.
Cinematic Techniques
Revisionist Western genre conventions Johnson works both within and against the Western genre. He uses its conventions — remote landscape, armed conflict, justice and retribution — but inverts its moral framework. The white men on horseback are not heroic; the Indigenous people are not savage. Binary oppositions are deliberately dismantled: characters are complex moral agents, not heroes and villains. European settlers as violent and menacing; Yolngu as calm and peaceful — generic inversion of Western conventions.

Moral complexity across all characters — revisionist Western's refusal of binary good/evil.
Cinematography & landscape Johnson's cinematography is ideologically committed. Wide shots establish the vastness and beauty of Arnhem Land, positioning Country as the film's moral centre. Intimate framing during Yolngu scenes conveys a lived, embodied relationship with the land. Colonial violence scenes shift to unstable, claustrophobic framing — the camera itself registering disruption. Wide shots of Arnhem Land — Country as moral centre; beauty as indictment of those who desecrate it.

Travis's sniper scope — colonial objectification; land and people rendered as targets rather than home.
Sound design In scenes of Yolngu life, natural sounds dominate — the absence of non-diegetic music allows Country to speak. During the massacre sequence, Johnson layers gunshots, screams, and bird calls into a cacophony that makes the disruption of natural harmony viscerally audible. The sound design argues the same thing as the cinematography: harmony is Indigenous, disruption is colonial. Natural sounds in Yolngu scenes — Country as living, vocal presence; diegetic sound as respect for place.

Massacre's auditory cacophony — gunshots, screams, bird calls layered; disruption of natural harmony made physically present.
The "high ground" motif The film's title operates on three levels simultaneously. Tactically, it is a combat advantage Travis teaches Gutjuk. Morally, it is the principled ethical position Dharrpa occupies — choosing peace over vengeance. Cinematically, Johnson frequently positions characters at different physical heights to encode power dynamics and shifting moral authority. Travis teaching Gutjuk the tactical "high ground" — colonial knowledge transferred; survival skill as inheritance.

Dharrpa's peaceful choice as the moral "high ground" — where true authority lies in the film's argument.

Quiz Time!

What is High Ground about?

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High Ground (2020) is a revisionist Western set in 1930s Arnhem Land. It follows Gutjuk, a young First Nations man, and Travis, a conflicted colonial officer, as they navigate cycles of violence, identity, and colonial power in frontier Australia.

How does High Ground depict colonialism?

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Colonialism is shown through violence, cultural erasure, and systemic power abuse. Gutjuk's forced renaming as "Tommy," the mission's assimilation program, and the massacre sequence all illustrate how colonial institutions destroyed Indigenous identity and sovereignty.

What is a revisionist Western?

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A revisionist Western challenges romanticised frontier narratives. Rather than portraying colonisers as heroic, High Ground exposes their violence and moral ambiguity while centring Indigenous perspectives, subverting the genre's traditional power dynamics.

What are the main themes in High Ground?

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Key themes include colonial authority and resistance, cycles of violence, trust and loyalty, morality and responsibility, connection to Country, and the complexity of identity. The film critiques the brutality of Australian colonisation from an Indigenous perspective.

What does the "high ground" metaphor mean in the film?

Click to reveal answer

"High ground" operates both tactically — as a combat advantage Travis teaches Gutjuk — and morally, as the ethical position advocated by Dharrpa. The film asks whether it is possible to maintain moral integrity within, or despite, a violent colonial system.

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