"*Bran Nue Dae" is an anidote to Obamanomics - CinemaDave

Under the darkness days of the Great Depression, movie musicals were great box office for the movies. Songs songs by Ginger Rogers like **We're in the Money" still resonate eighty five years later, if anything, for their irony. Despite the recent announcement that the current recession ended last June, the reality is that many people are struggling to make a living. Taking lesson from those who survived the Great Depression, perhaps it is time to watch a musical. **Bran Nue Dae** is an antidote to the current malaise.

The moment **Bran Nue Dae** opens, the viewer knows that they have entered a vacation of the mind. The colorful cinematography opens and one thinks they are in the Baptist Church with a great gospel singer. Actually the location is Australia and the music is just as good as the Harlem Gospel Choir. We are introduced to Willie (Rocky McKenzie) who is infatuated with the singer, Rosie
(Jessica Mauboy). The two develop a relationship in their idyllic fishing community, until Big Mama arrives and ships Willie to a religious mission for better education.

Willie crosses academic sabers with Father Benedictus (Geoffrey Rush), a missionary with many secrets of his own. As the facial plot motivations play out, the music gets better and better. With a cross section of country, blues, Broadway chorus and indigenous sounds of Australia, one will leave **Bran Nue Dae** with a lifted heart.