Behind the Scenes of 'The Sapphires'

Music always tends to ease the soul, especially in tumultuous times. In 1968, four women who understood that brought their soulful music to Vietnam to entertain the soldiers of the pending war. ET takes you behind the scenes of the film inspired by that true story, The Sapphires.

The story is based on a play of the same name that debuted in 2004 that tells the story of four Aboriginal Australian women who form a group called The Sapphires and end up singing for U.S. troops in Vietnam on their journey to become a popular music group.

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The play was written by the son of one of the original Sapphires member, Tony Briggs, who co-wrote the screenplay for the film.

Although music is a central to the film, it is merely one of a few key elements of the story. Also in the forefront of the era are the war as well as race relations in Australia and worldwide.

"It's absolutely a story of empowerment, especially for us younger generation, to have an understanding of what that time was in Australian back in...'68," said Deborah Mailman, who also starred in the play.

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"...These women, what they did and their strength and their humor and [for them] to just move through that and become singers and to actually really embrace the opportunity that was there, it's really inspiring."

While the original Sapphires members' names aren't characters in the play or the film, they nevertheless played an important role in the film's production as the underlying inspiration for the story.

Watch the video for a behind-the-scenes look at the film as well as interviews with the original Sapphires.

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The Sapphires is now in theaters.