Zac Martin
The true story of a part aboriginal man who finds the pressure of adapting to white culture intolerable, and as a result snaps in a violent and horrific manner.
Two strangers - one white, one black - steal a car in western NSW and head for the coast. Jack is abrasive, cunning and disparaging about Aborigines. Gary doesn’t really care – he just wants to escape. En route, they pick up Gary’s Uncle Joe, a French hitchhiker and a young woman who’s running away. Their petty crimes escalate as they go, heading towards disaster.
Adapted from the stage production of the same name, 'Basically Black' is a sketch comedy TV pilot that aired in 1973, and due to the provocative racial content, ABC never produced another episode. It stands as a historical milestone, the first television program and stage play completely created and written by Aboriginal Australians.
