Review: Our Law

Summary

A brief but timely examination of an alternative form of policing, one where understanding of language and culture is essential to community building.

If there is a more timely film than this, it is hard to imagine what it is. As Black Lives Matter protests continue around the world, including a renewed examination of Aboriginal deaths in custody, there have been calls to completely reassess the structure and notion of police work.

Filmmaker Cornel Ozies (Jarlmadangah – Our dream our reality), an Indigenous man from the Kimberley region of Western Australia, takes the states town of Warakurna as his microcosm for change.

In a town of 200 inhabitants, the first Indigenous-run police station sees two cops attempting to learn language and culture as a means of tackling the unique issues of a singularly remote populace.

In this brief snapshot of their beat, Ozies follows Sergeant Wendy Kelly, a Noongar woman with almost two decades of service, who is trying to learn Ngaanyatjarra language to help her community. She encourages colleague Sergeant Revis Ryder, a Noongar man and former football player, to do the same. “I don’t think you can police effectively,” says Kelly, “if you don’t at least try and learn language where you are.”

The results that we see are encouraging. The decision not to use arrest as a default solution in many cases leads to a closer bond between police, community and families thanks to this increased understanding. There’s a beautiful moment, for example, of the whole community coming together to pay respects to the families of two visitors from the eastern states killed in a road accident.

Yet this example, and shots of Ryder coaching football through an interpreter, are only surface-level nods to the deeper work that must happen on an institutional level to see widespread change. At less than 30 minutes, OUR LAW doesn’t have the space to get any deeper than this, although it does provide some good points to begin the broader conversation.

It has been argued in the US that one response is to “defund the police,” a recognition of the fact that it’s impossible to do a quick fix of a system that is fundamentally built on a core of white supremacy. As comedian and commentator John Oliver argued this week, “it’s about moving away from a narrow conception of public safety that relies on policing and punishment, and investing in a community’s actual safety net.”

OUR LAW doesn’t offer all of these answers, and nor is it a solution that will work in every community, but it’s a positive start. As Kelly says, “By the time we leave, hopefully we’ve set a precedent.”