Alternate Best Actor 2002: David Gulpilil in The Tracker

David Gulpilil did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying the titular character in The Tracker.

The Tracker is an intriguing off-beat film about a posse tracking an indigenous man accused of murdering a white woman.

The posse features a tyrannical and violent leader known as the Fanatic (Gary Sweet) with two other white men whom he also berates, and their tracker played by David Gulpilil. As mentioned some reviews ago, Gulpilil has a unique presence as a performer which once again comes to play here. This as he can stand out really without doing much of anything. This being essential in the early scenes of the film which almost play like a musical in a strange way where there is very little dialogue as we see the men walking through the desert, title cards telling us their purpose, and really the music filling most of the blanks past that. In these scenes we see the tracker technically as part of the group but not as part of the group. This as Gulpilil delivers this certain distance in his manner as a man doing a job he doesn't particularly like. This in his eyes a gaze of lack of investment as they follow the brutal Fanatic. One of the earliest acts of the Fanatic being to slaughter a group of aborigines. The initial cut to Gulpilil's immediately after this act is depicted through a painting is incredible. This as his reaction is a specific heartbreak. He's clearly devastated but more internalized as a man who knows how he must behave in order to survive the circumstances he is in. This as even with that monstrous act he must continue going on with the group and the Fanatic's whims.

Gulpilil is great though in almost bringing a comic quality to his performance as it continues on. This as he finds the right tone in his manner that is both uncaring to Fanatic's cause, but also as disarming as possible. Gulpilil finds this effortless combination as he portrays the Tracker showing his ways to try to basically avoid the Fanatic's wrath while also in a way mocking him in his sort of quiet way of delivering every mention of his expertise in trying to find the supposed murderer. This of course doesn't satiate the mad man who instead chain up the tracker to bring him along the trip.Gulpilil still makes remarkable use of his presence in he has this certain command in presence in the sense of assured intelligence within the man even when shackled the way he is. He keeps both a reality and dignity intact with the character that simply is wonderful. There is a particularly great moment for Gulpilil takes a moment even to eulogies one of the fallen men of  the posse. Gulpilil brings such an understated yet palatable warmth in the moment, showing the tracker caring for another even within this divide with such a honest humanity. Again Gulpilil is captivating in his work by being so genuine in every moment here even in the film's rather atypical and at times overtly stylistic approach, Gulpilil is able to stand out in this essential reality within his own work.

After the tide turns though, where the tracker and the other surviving posse member team up against the fanatic, Gulpilil's performance changes. Naturally he shows the tracker more overt in his defiance, after all he is in charge. This is so powerfully shown though in the intensity he brings in a moment when he shows the fanatic directly his cruelty by looking upon a dead aborigine. There is such a notable strength in Gulpilil's glare no longer diluted by the need to seem harmless. This eventually leading to the tracker condemning the fanatic, where I love how straight forward Gulpilil is in the moment. This as his sentencing is even delivered with almost this casual quality, however in this creates such an honesty if even humor in the moment by showing that same manner of how he used to survive now inform him in his way of punishing the Fanatic. In this though still Gulpilil's casual quality has a real power to it as it feels so pure to the man and the character. It is again part of the man's presence so wonderfully. The film continues past this point as the tracker decides to still go to figure if the man is guilty or not. Gulpilil's sort overt confidence in terms of how much he expresses grows all the more. This again reinforcing the idea of the hidden intelligence of the tracker basically no longer being hidden, and the confident man that was there all along just being completely open in the moment. In the end we see the man wholly within his power and it is great just to see Gulpilil own the screen in these moments, no longer on the edge of moments but just dominating them. Now that is a relatively brief part of his work, however it is the natural end to his work. This being a fantastic realization of this arc of the tracker in a way revealing himself, but Gulpilil's artful gradual increase of his basically his charisma as a performer.