Napaltjarri Wrong Skin — James Ward

A tattered few of Australia's semi-traditional indigenous people, the Aborigines, live in an "archipelago"of filthy, stinking desert and remote communities cut off from mainstream Australia. Napaltjarri tells the story of a middle-aged white man and his confronting contact with the Pintupi people, in one of these depraved communities. The Pintupi live in the centre of Australia's harshest desert â€" an eight hour drive west of Alice Springs by four-wheel drive. Sent there to teach a small rag-tag bunch of children, he realises he has gone back forty thousand years in time. This is a place where spears and nulla nullas (fighting sticks) still exact tribal justice. It is a distant place where the ancient black sorcerers still ply their evil trade. It is a trip back into the heart of darkness, where rape, murder and insanity are driven by Kadaicha men, as well as by the white man's grog, which flows illegally into the communities - leaving a trail of extreme violence and sexual abuse of children. Is it possible for a white man to last even a year in this community? Is it possible he may be killed for loving a young full-blood woman promised to another man?