The Sapphires

"The Sapphires" (2012) is an Australian musical comedy-drama you can watch online on iFILM. Director Wayne Blair tells the story of four young Aboriginal women from rural Australia — sisters Gail, Cynthia and Julie, and their cousin Kay — discovered at a local talent show by Dave (Chris O'Dowd), a ramshackle Irish musician who convinces them to entertain US troops in Vietnam. It's 1968, the war is very much on, and soul music turns out to be the thing that crosses every border.

The film draws on the real history of an Aboriginal group that performed in the Mekong Delta. Deborah Mailman and Jessica Mauboy handle the vocal sequences without any studio smoothing, and it shows in the best way. O'Dowd plays a lovable mess who turns out to be exactly the right person for the job — and that's the one relationship in the film where you don't see every beat coming. It's loud, warm, and honest enough about the war not to use it just as backdrop. Stream "The Sapphires" (2012) online on iFILM.