Silver City

Set in postwar years, when Australia rather ungraciously 'welcomed' an influx of 'new Australians' from Southern and Eastern Europe. The depiction of arrival in the Promised Land, whether in the hostile customs shed, where the attitude of the officers belies the razzmatazz of the official welcome, or in the inevitable small town, is both sensitive and beautifully realised. Unfortunately, the love story between Nina (Dobrowolska) and a fellow Polish immigrant who happens to be married, soon begins to replace this as the central interest, and the focus is lost in some soupy romanticism and a few loose ends.