Uploaded January 2014 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Richard Crouse interviews Rhymes for Young Ghouls director Jeff Barnaby.
The self-assured debut feature from director Jeff Barnaby is the story of Aila (Devery Jacobs), an Aboriginal teenager who is guided by the spirits of her departed mother and brother to exact revenge against a vicious Indian Agent named Popper.
"I think the idea behind what we were doing was to show the enormity of that went on," says Barnaby. "You do want to shock people but not with the content of the film but with the idea that the content of the film actually happened. Most of the reviews have been astoundingly positive but the couple of bad ones that we've gotten have complained about the Popper role, and how over the top it is and how he is like this moustache twisting villain, but if you know the history, these guys had to have existed.
"I suppose you could be polite about saying, 'You can't leave the reserve and you can't go find work and you have to live in this poverty, and by the way, you have to give us your kids.' I'm sure there was an Indian Agent or truant officer somewhere who was really cool about it but at the end of the day these are the acts of evil men."
Richard Crouse interviews Rhymes for Young Ghouls director Jeff Barnaby.
The self-assured debut feature from director Jeff Barnaby is the story of Aila (Devery Jacobs), an Aboriginal teenager who is guided by the spirits of her departed mother and brother to exact revenge against a vicious Indian Agent named Popper.
"I think the idea behind what we were doing was to show the enormity of that went on," says Barnaby. "You do want to shock people but not with the content of the film but with the idea that the content of the film actually happened. Most of the reviews have been astoundingly positive but the couple of bad ones that we've gotten have complained about the Popper role, and how over the top it is and how he is like this moustache twisting villain, but if you know the history, these guys had to have existed.
"I suppose you could be polite about saying, 'You can't leave the reserve and you can't go find work and you have to live in this poverty, and by the way, you have to give us your kids.' I'm sure there was an Indian Agent or truant officer somewhere who was really cool about it but at the end of the day these are the acts of evil men."
