The Tall Man By Tony Krawitz

Imagine what it is like to be an indigenous palm islander, and suddenly becoming a victim of police brutality while in custody, to the point that a tragic death had occurred. This is what happened on the 19th of November 2004, when Indigenous Palm Islander man Cameron Doomadgee was a victim of manslaughter by Palm Island Police Officer, Sargeant Chris Hurley, in a prison cell. Not only was Hurley not charged with the most serious form of homicide (being murder), but it was also downgraded to manslaughter, eventually found to be not guilty and acquitted. This controversial case consequently led to civic disturbances on the island, and a legal, political and media sensation that carried on for multiple years. This disturbance within the community

Moreover, the documentary aims to reveal how the QPS blatantly disregards their oath, service, and integrity as Australian serviceman, establishing a feeling of being perfidious about white authority.

When you think of policeman and what they do for your country, what do you think? Do you think that they seek justice and do what’s right for their country, or do they have prejudice against this nation? Did you know that according to the Queensland has the highest dissatisfaction percentage with the policeman in their state? It’s 35.7%! That’s nearly 2 million Queenslanders, who aren’t satisfied with the officers of their state! At this point there is not even a point in believing that the policeman of this country seek justice for

During the film, when a couple of white citizens on palm island were giving their testimony about Chris Hurley, they all said he was a nice guy, he was a gentle giant and wouldn’t hurt a fly. They all said that he was always kind to them. From the perspectives of the white palm island community, the audience is positioned to believe that Hurley would show allegiance and oath to the QPS, making it seem like the police officers and the QPS are an identity in this documentary that can be trusted. However, would you believe a man who lied about his own testimony several times? From the beginning to the end of the documentary, Hurley changed his testimony every time, always saying something different as to what the indigenous palm islanders had to say after they said it. These changes in his testimony even though they were obviously fake, eventually lead to him not being guilty. This brings a lot of suspicion to Hurley as to why he changed it so much, positioning the audience to reflect and challenge their representations of the QPS, revealing to the audience that Hurley himself unmistakably disregards his integrity as a police serviceman, establishing a perfidious feeling about the authority in this nation. These perspectives and representations were challenged through the