Movie: The Sapphires

 Wow, this was only on my list of ‘good to see’ rather than ‘must see’ but please put it on your ‘must see’ if you can! Sadly it’s already finished in my local cinema as it’s taken me a week to find time to upload this!This is the story of an all-girl vocal band from Australia who get plucked from anonymity. Well that’s all I really gathered from the trailers but the actual film is about 3 sisters going to a talent contest in town. Its clear there is no way they are going to win, despite being the only ones there that can not only sing but sing well. They are not going to win because they is black. In the sixties, being aboriginal means this is the case except the pianist sees their talent and offers to manage them.The younger of the sisters, the one with the voice (except I think they all have voices!) who snuck in on the act despite being under age and against the wishes of the feisty elder one, Gail, finds an advert for auditions for Vietnam. Dave Lovelace decides to manage them and take them to the auditions in Melbourne, where after a family feud is mended, they hook up with their long-lost (white) cousin and the Sapphires are born.Off they go to sing to the troops and they are a hit in particular with the Black GIs who appreciate their sweet soul music, which they now have transferred to from their country blues roots with a little persuasion from our man, Irish Dave.The film covers racism, romance and of course war, with some upsetting scenes in parts but mostly the film is uplifting and is absolutely made with the soundtrack. The Sapphires interpretations of songs mostly song be men (‘Heard it through the grapevine’ and one of my all time favourites ‘I Can’t Help Myself’) are amazing.It’s very much along the lines of the Dream Girls, with the younger sister being courted as the ‘Diana Ross’ character and another one falling for the manager but a million miles away in terms of grit and character – and music!Being a fan of country music and soul music, I loved the [paraphrased] line from Dave about country music and soul music is about lost; but in country music they go home and wallow in their loss but with soul music they strive to lift themselves out of sadness!8 ½ /10 – one of the films of the yearSmile factor 9/10