Sydney - Australians were daring to hope Thursday that the 13-year-old Aboriginal boy Brandon Walters could win an Oscar for his critically acclaimed performance in local film director Baz Luhrmann's epic Australia. Papers in the United States have tipped an Academy Award nomination for Brandon's portrayal of the orphaned Nullah in Luhrmann's World War II melodrama.
Spotted by talent scouts in a public swimming pool in Broome, Western Australia, Brandon beat out 1,000 other hopefuls for a role that is likely to drag him into the limelight at home and abroad.
As well as stealing hearts and winning plaudits for his performance as Nullah, Brandon also features in a multimillion-dollar government-sponsored tourism-promotion campaign now showing in 22 countries.
Nullah personifies the friction between the indigenous settlers and the colonizers of 1940s Australia. He's torn between remaining in the Outback with his indigenous relatives and taking up with the white man's world of cattle stations, commerce and consumerism.
Nullah is also a member of what has become known as the Stolen Generations - Aborigines who were taken from their parents and put in Christian missions to be brought up as white folk in what authorities now concede was a misguided attempt at assimilation.
The practice only ended in the 1970s, and authorities said most Aboriginal families have a memory of one of their number being taken away.
Nicole Kidman, who starred alongside Hugh Jackman in the 165-minute film that goes into general release next week in Australia, has promised to look after Brandon's interests if the film turns out to be his passport into the glitzy world of Hollywood.
"I feel very protective of him," she said at this week's Sydney premiere. "If the film does really well, he's going to need a lot of protection."
Kidman, who was an international star in her teens, knows first-hand the pressures of celebrity. Her first marriage was to Hollywood heart throb Tom Cruise and her second is to mega-rich country singer Keith Urban.
Around 500,000 of Australia's 21 million people claim Aboriginal heritage. There are indigenous sports stars - foremost among them Olympic gold medal track star Kathy Freeman - but Brandon would be the first to carve out an international career in the cinema.
Luhrmann's first feature film since 2001's Moulin Rouge was shown this week in Sydney as well as Darwin and the other far-north locations where is was shot.
Dorothy Berto was at the Darwin screening and told national broadcaster ABC that Brandon's performance had brought back memories of her own removal.
"I was crying, too," she said. "I was crying for the mission kids. Yeah, I'm one like him. I'm one of them. I was taken away."
Like Freeman, who famously lit the Olympic flame at the Sydney Games in 2000, Brandon now carries a torch for his people and his country.
