© 2008 William Ahearn
When “Australia” opened recently in New York, it started me thinking about the films from down under that I’ve seen. “Moulin Rouge” and the “Mad Max” franchise or even the animated “Babe” or “Happy Feet” have become part of the film culture but they have little to do with Australia itself. So I’ve tried to minimize the list to those films that centered on life on that continent that impressed me in one way or another. Some films, such as “Gallipoli,” “Breaker Morant,” “My Brilliant Career,” “Phar Lip” and “The Man From Snowy River” are far better known than the films I’m interested in. They’re fine flicks and they get enough ink or pixels on their own. Bruce Beresford diected “Breaker Morant” and he would move on to Hollywood to do “Tender Mercies” and “Driving Miss Daisy,” among others. His first film “The Adventures of Barry McKenzie” (1972) launched the Australian new wave, or so I’ve heard. While I couldn’t locate either of the Barry McKenzie films, that is the kind of film that interests me.
The first film that I can remember seeing that was vaguely Australian was Tony Richardson’s 1970 “Ned Kelly” with Mick Jagger. At least it was shot in Australia. Richardson has made some of my favorite flicks. This isn’t one of them and it’s available for free here. This is a British film about an Australian outlaw starring an English rock and roll idol. Ned Kelly is a legend down under and Australian film history begins with the 1906 silent film based on the ex-convict horse thief titled “The Story of the Kelly Gang.” With a running time of 70 minutes, it was the first ever feature length movie in film history. For a look at a 1920 Australian silent flick “Robbery Under Arms” – about another national hero criminal – go here.
Then I saw Nicolas Roeg’s 1971 “Walkabout” with David Gulpilil. There are still arguments as to whether this film is authentically Australian. Roeg who was a cinematographer before becoming a director tends toward an interesting style and I went to see “Walkabout” because his 1970 “Performance” was such an odd and fun film. He then made another of my favorite films, “Don’t Look Now” (1973) and then “The Man Who Fell To Earth” (1976) with David Bowie. I saw “Walkabout” in its first run and then recently re-screened the “Restored Director’s Cut.” “Walkabout” is the story of a sixteen-year-old girl and her younger brother who become stranded in the outback. To explain how they become stranded would spoil the viewing so I’ll let that slide and mention that as they try to find civilization they encounter a sixteen-year-old aborigine. The aborigine has reached the age when his family sends him out to the desert to survive on his own as part of the ritual known as Walkabout. One of the things that I admire about this film is that Roeg could have gone all “Lord of the Flies” with it or gone to hell in a “The Blue Lagoon” kind of way. Roeg finds his own path and there is nudity, brutality (mostly against animals) and an abrupt and somewhat mystifying ending. If you get squeamish or outraged seeing animals killed on screen, don’t see this film. If not, this flick is definitely worth your time.
“Picnic at Hanging Rock” (1975). Peter Weir became the driving force behind the so-called Australian new wave and “Picnic at Hanging Rock” became an international hit. It's a moody and interesting mystery that would remain “unsolved” if it actually ever happened. It's still a very watchable film. Weir’s earlier film “The Cars That Ate Paris” (1974) is a very quirky story of a financially ruined town that lives off the proceeds of “outsiders” who they trap into crashing their cars. Very Australian in humor and location. On the same DVD “The Plumber” (1979), is the story of an odd and charming working class plumber and a work-at-home academic anthropologist. No, this is not Love In The Time of Class War. Low budget and well done.
The movie that really sold me on Australian films is Peter Weir’s 1977 “The Last Wave.” Starring Richard Chamberlain – who is not one of my favorite actors and I thought the movie was going to be a romantic surfing epic – and David Gulpilil (“Walkabout”) who was at the beginning of a long career in Australian cinema. The gist of this flick is that David Burton (Richard Chamberlain) is a solicitor – or lawyer – in Sydney who is asked to defend several aborigines in a murder case. It’s a murder case even though the medical examiner isn’t sure what killed the man. Burton has his own set of problems and strange and eerie events are taking place. To boot, the aborigines feel David is a bit different from your average white man and tell him: “But you . . . I think you may be mukuru. You different tribe . . . from another world . . . across the sea . . . from sunrise.” This is a flick that plays with dreams as well as the dreamtime (alcheringa) and one of the most mystifying films in that to separate the parts is to lose the whole. See this flick.
“The Navigator” (1988). This is an odd fantasy/adventure time-travel film where Britain in 1384 is plague ridden and a young boy’s dream takes a group of miners into a chasm and they end up in modern day New Zealand. It was a co-production of Australia and New Zealand. While we’re in the neighborhood, the kiwis have also turned out some remarkable flicks. Peter Jackson’s “The Ring Trilogy” (2001- 2003) has sucked all the air out of the room, but there are other flicks worth seeing, including the intense “Once Were Warriors” 1994, “Whale Rider” (2000), Jane Campion’s “The Piano” (1993) – a film I am not fond of and found to be incredibly over-rated – and Geoff Murphy’s “Utu” (1983). “Whale Rider” is one of the few recent coming-of-age stories that I could sit through let alone appreciate. “Utu” is an amazing film set in the 1800s about a Maori scout working for the British who finds that they have slaughtered his family in a raid. Not your average revenge and retribution film. If you’re only going to see one film from New Zealand, this is the one. And if “Shaun of the Dead” made you laugh, check out “Black Sheep” (2007). It’s what “Night of the Lepus” should have been. If sick and twisted “relationship” films make your night, check out “Perfect Strangers” (2003). A woman who works in a fish and chips shop goes out drinking with the girls and meets a man and goes with him to his boat. She wakes up on the boat in the middle of nowhere and that’s where things go south.
“Proof” (1991) Don’t confuse this movie with the under achieving John Madden film with the same title that starred Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins. This “Proof” is written and directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse and stars Hugo Weaving, Genevieve Picot and a young Russell Crowe. It’s the story of Martin, a blind guy who photographs what takes place in his day and then has someone describe the pictures to him. Picot plays his housekeeper and she would be stalking the blind man if she weren’t part of his life. Crowe plays a dishwasher in a restaurant who befriends Martin and becomes the describer of the photographs. Lies get told, lines get crossed and I can watch movies like this one all day long.
“Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” (1994) I saw this flick when I realized – after about 15 minutes – that I would never make it through “Momma Mia.” Coincidence had arranged the pile of DVDs that way and “Priscilla” was the perfect visual and aural palette cleanser. “Priscilla” is the story of a transsexual and two drag performers buying a bus and taking a road trip from their home in coastal Sydney out to a casino in the middle of the country in Alice Springs to put on their show. Terrance Stamp (Steven Soderbergh’s “The Limey” and Pier Paolo Pasolini’s “Teorema,” etc) turns in a moving and hysterically funny performance in a film that relies more on characters than sequins and Abba. You haven’t heard disco until you hear “I Will Survive” with a didgeridoo and an aborigine chorus.
“Rabbit-Proof Fence” (2002) Why is it that Australian directors make such neat flicks at home and then go to Hollywood to make the same old thing? Phillip Noyce made this flick between the silly serial killer film “The Bone Collector” and the excellent remake of “The Quiet American” (which is the rare remake that is better than the original). This is a wonderful film about three children on the run in the outback because the Australian authorities know they are half-breeds of a white and an aboriginal and the law says they must be taken to a special school to be taught to be servants and menials. They escape and try and make their way back to their home – 1500 miles (2414 klics) away. David Gulpili plays the tracker and the rest of the cast – Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury and a supporting role played by Kenneth Branagh – are excellent. Based on a true story. Definitely worth seeing.
“The Proposition” (2005) For want of a better word this is a western although I have no idea if Australia had a frontier in the American sense. It’s the story of three criminal brothers and a dirty deal with a lawman. Gritty, violent and well done. Written by Nick Cave and directed by John Hillcoat who made videos with The Bad Seeds and INXS. If down and dirty six-gun shooting makes you sit and watch, catch this flick.
There are several crime flicks from Oz that are worth checking out. “Kiss Or Kill” (1997) is written and directed by Bill Bennett and stars Frances O’Connor and Matt Day. Two grifters running a scam on married men end up holding something that gets people killed. Now if they could only figure out who is doing the killings. One of them or someone else? “Like Minds” (aka “Murderous Intent” 2006) was suggested by someone who knew I was looking into Aussie films. It's a psychological thriller, for want of a better term, and nicely done. Then there’s “Lantana” (2001), the lives of numerous people overlap when a psychiatrist goes missing. Excellent ensemble cast and nice twists and turns. Anthony LaPaglia, Rachael Blake and Barbara Hershey are among the actors playing characters that are and are not connected in several threads. If serial killers are what's for dinner, check out “Wolf Creek” (2005) and don't say I didn't warn you.
For some historical footage and early films from Australia, go here.