EUTHANASIA was legal in the NT from 1995 until 1997 when the Commonwealth banned it.

Co-producer, writer and director Jeremy Sims’ film achieves significant verity in adapting Reg Cribb’s 2003 stage success about cab driver Max Bell’s response to terminal stomach cancer.

The film’s plot accompanies Broken Hill taxi driver Rex through Marree, William Creek, Oodnadatta, Mataranka and Daly Waters with a diversion to a World War II RAAF airfield and, finally, Darwin.

Michael Caton’s portrayal of Rex is no less an acting lesson than the one Ian McKellen gives in “Mr Holmes”. As Polly, the Aboriginal woman whose house is opposite Rex’s, Ningali Lawford-Wolf is great. Mark Coles Smith is terrific as Rex’s uninvited companion Tilly, a young angst-ridden Aboriginal bundle of conflicting emotions whose performance of an Aboriginal butcher’s dance at the Daly Waters pub is high comedy in a film where comedy abounds.

Jacki Weaver is strong as pro-euthanasia Darwin GP Nic Farmer and Emma Hamilton is the pretty backpacker who decides that her nursing qualifications are better applied to caring for Rex than pulling beer for the multitude.

The merits of “Last Cab To Darwin” aren’t diminished by a few details that don’t exactly reflect reality. Screenplay nuances, impressive performances, laconic Aussie humour, emotional strengths and unflinching observations of social issues combine to make not only a marvellous Australian film but also an important one. The affection and compassion embedded in its dramatic values will tug at your conscience, even your heartstrings. Remember to take tissues.

At Dendy and Palace Electric, from 6 August