The small and desolate mining town pictured in “Opal Dream” hardly seems the spot for vivid imaginations to live and flourish. Dusty and stark, this sad setting in the Australian Outback seems a place where hopes come to die, a graveyard for shattered spirits, with lonely ghosts wandering the eerie mining hills that dot the landscape.
Only, the place really is a home for ghosts. But not the spooky kind you might be thinking of.
Kellyanne Williamson (Sapphire Boyce) is a sweet and shy 8-year-old girl with two of the best friends any girl her age might hope for. Pobby is a short, chubby boy with spiky hair, a wooden leg and a cape. (He thinks he’s a superhero, and has been teased a lot.) Dingan is a tall, blond beauty who loves playing with her hair and has a beautiful opal jewel affixed inside her belly button. Pobby likes blueberry lollipops; Dingan likes cherry lollipops. Loyal and fun-loving, the pair never leave Kellyanne’s side.
Pobby and Dingan are imaginary.
Kellyanne’s father Rex (Vince Colosimo) is seeing things that aren’t there as well: the prized opal that supposedly speckles the terrain. And like the other local miners, Rex is feverishly excavating the area in hopes of striking it rich. But he is not faring well, and times are hard. Stuck in the middle are Rex’s patient wife, Annie (Jacqueline McKenzie), and their 11-year-old son. Ashmol (Christian Byers), whom his father calls the only sane one of the bunch.
Frustrated and struggling to make ends meet, Rex makes a simple but devastating mistake while taking his son to work with him one day: He leaves Pobby and Dingan behind at the site.
Things soon go from bad to worse for the family, as Kellyanne falls inexplicably ill and the town turns against the family as “ratting” rumors swirl that Rex and his son were attempting to pillage a fellow miner’s site.
With options few and his family virtually exiled, young Ashmol makes a brave and difficult decision: He is going to find Pobby and Dingan. And the whole town, despite its hostility, is going to help him do it.
“Opal Dream” is a warm and uplifting story, sparkling like the gem that it is. Subtle and sweet, this unheralded film will brighten the day of Dupont Circle moviegoers who’ll soon see that a flower blooms in harshness of the Australian Outback.
‘Opal Dream’
Starring: Vince Colosimo, Jacqueline McKenzie, Christian Byers
Director: Peter Cattaneo
Now playing: AMC Loews Dupont Circle 5, 1350 19th St. NW, Washington. 202-872-9556.
Showtimes: 2, 5:15 and 7:30 p.m.
