A Brief Summary Of The Film Our Law

The short documentary film, Our Law, directed by Cornel Ozies (2020) explores two Noongar police officers, Revis Ryder and Wendy Kelly, experiences in communicating within the Warakurna community. The film reveals how different forms of communication are demonstrated through the bonds formulated within the communities and the police officers. Effective communication can be difficult to maintain when barriers such as language are restrictive (O’Toole, 2012). In Our Law, a Warakurna elder, Bernard, states that language barrier is one of the primary problems existing in Warakurna. The split rock located nearby symbolises, “the division. that provides the language barrier,” with one side speaking English and the other speaking the native language (Ozies, 2020, 5:50). This division is shown

Lishman (2009) states despite not knowing something, being able to confidently change this by learning to understand or finding a way to learn is a genuine response. This is evident in Revis as he seeks help from Daisy. Another example of effective communication is the display of empathy in the documentary. Empathy is the ability to understand someone’s perspective through their eyes without judgement (Bolton, 1987). The police officer’s express empathy to the community by how they approach them in a caring manner. Wendy describes their conversation with one of the Warakurna residents as ‘casual’. When delivering news, both officers calmly talk to them, casually finding out how they are understanding their situation. The ability to effectively listen to other people’s stories in an empathetic way can decrease people’s anxiety and help them communicate and share their feelings easily (Lishman, 2009), which Daisy and Revis are able to do with the Warakurna community. Other forms of interacting with others, such as non-verbal communication, can be very meaningful (Floyd,