This is the extraordinary allegory of an Australian Aboriginal tracker, in forced servitude to English soldiers in 1922. It is the first staring role for iconic Aborigine actor David Gulpilil, featured in many films including Nicholas Roeg's "Walkabout" (Gulpilil's first film), Peter Weir's "The Last Wave", as well as a small role in "Crocodile Dundee." An exceptional actor and an amazing person, I feel a brotherly kinship with Gulpilil although we are polar opposites. The only connection I have with Gulpilil is our age (we were both born around 1948) and a spiritual brotherhood. A search party of four: the Fanatic who leads the search party; the Follower, a young recruit trying to prove his fitness; the Veteran, an old soldier pressed into service; and the Tracker seek the Fugitive, an Aborigine accused of raping and killing an English woman. The Tracker, while enslaved by the English, retains his dignity, free spirit and kinship with his homeland and his people. His remarkable knowledge of the land is displayed by his tracking skills throughout the story.The search proceeds through the incredible Australian outback, to a wonderful soundtrack performed by the Aborigine singer Archie Roach. Aboriginal cave paintings along the route document incidents that occur during the search party's trek. The Fanatic heartlessly slaughters innocent Aborigines encountered during the mission. "They'll give me a medal for it," the Fanatic boasts. The apparently docile Tracker has his own agenda. While the soldiers seek English justice, the Tracker pursues a more universal justice. He follows higher ideals, nurtured by his Aboriginal roots. He endures mistreatment but remains undefeated.This is one of the most beautiful, passionate, engrossing and atmospheric films I have ever seen, and I have seen thousands of films. No one should miss the opportunity to enjoy the aesthetic ecstasy of watching "The Tracker." This movie is a game-changer!

Being in the USA, I'm not exposed to many films from Australia. I had seen Rabbit Proof Fence and Walkabout films some years ago ... and this one is in yet another corner of being a most outstandingly exceptional film.There was a moment when the music almost seemed too much too long, but the "understood" clip clop of horse's feet not heard and replaced with music with a profile movement of each character outlined on the screen had the desired effect in keeping me from cutting off viewing. One thing I would have liked would have been some insight to the social customs of Aborigine's and aboriginal laws of the time concerning the subject of rape and murder. I recently watched an episode in a new series of Double Trouble in which it was a serious offense for a young aboriginal girl and boy to go to a cove to go swimming alone without an adult. How was "consensual sex" between a white woman and aboriginal man considered back in this movie's era? Customs, culture and "laws" were so much different then.This film gives the sense of the long trail with three men tracking an Aborigine accused of raping and murdering a white woman. As the trail meanders thru the dry brush tundra, it is mingled with songs and freeze frame shots with original paintings capturing the moment's dark scene(s). Alongside Walkabout film, this film should, also, be with the Criterion Collection, if not already. With that said, this film was truly an experience and I truly recommend it.

Many movies choose topics so that they can't be attacked or questioned: racism, the Holocaust, genocide, pederasty, the heroes of 911, Hitler, etc. This is about one of them: extreme racism in Australia. Nevertheless, the movie sucks.The characters are one-dimensional (this is probably intentional - the characters are named for their traits). There's no character development at all. Gulpilil is great, as always. The rest are flat.Far and away the worst thing is the soundtrack. Remember when John Wayne tells the woman that he's a loner, gets on his horse and rides away while she cries and looks pained? Just then some music comes up. Some weak ballady thing "He rides alone; his heart of stone; he knows the path; the wayward wind; ..." whatever. It's an RCH away a lounge song. Tracker has music at this level throughout. It's not just intrusive or weird. It's completely out of phase with the movie. And it's so bad it's painful.Tracker much like a high-school film project about racism: you know you're not going to get an A if you defend it; you know it's bad; so you have characters with names such as Mr White; Mr Black; Mr Bigot; ... And your parents are really proud of you.See the brilliant "The Chant of Jimmie Blacksnmith" (1978) and don't waste a minute on this one.

The Australian landscape and brilliant use of the light made this a stunning movie to look at. I thought the use of art work to depict the violent scenes worked very well but the soundtrack was a bit too much sometimes. One Night The Moon which came out about the same time does the musical thing much better. It is also hard not to compare this movie to Walkabout, I found that Walkabout was much more atmospheric and made a lasting impression on me, only time will tell if The Tracker does the same (De Heers's Bad Boy Bubby certainly made a lasting impression on me).As for the plot, it was good but, the ending was too simplistic for my liking, it gave it a bit of a 'spaghetti western' feel. I didn't think Gary Sweet was right for this role or it might have been that the dialog wasn't quite right for the period portrayed. Gary Sweet was much better in De Heer's movie 'Alexandra's Project'.Overall, a very good movie with a few flaws but still a 'must see'.