Kanyini is a 2006 documentary film which explores the philosophy and the life of Bob Randall, an Aboriginal man who lives beside the world's greatest monolith, Uluru, in Central Australia. He is an elder of the Pitjantjatjara people and a member of the Stolen Generations. The film, directed by Melanie Hogan, is based on Bob Randall's own personal journey and the wisdom he learnt from the old people living in the bush. Bob tells the tale of why Indigenous people are now struggling in a modern world and what needs to be done for them to move forward.
Kanyini is a Pitjantjatjara word meaning interconnectedness; to care for, to support, to nature, and to protect.
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Kanyini raises many important issues, and tells us about racial discrimination, stereotyping and perception. Bob Randall claims that the situation in which Aborigines live now has not changed much, and definitely not in a positive way. It is at sometimes stressing, but stresses the importance of us to at least understand our history. Bob Randall himself claimed, in tones of bitter sadness, that he himself once sniffed petrol, which is a drug many Indigenous Australians are addicted to. Saying this, he shows that the number of suicidal rates, of smoking, alcohol and sniffing petrol and depression, have increased so much in Indigenous Australians, solely because they have no meaning in life: They have not been given almost anything from the Government, so many suffer from depression, and fail to be able to read and write.
Kanyini grossed $52,450 at the box office in Australia.[1]