'I don't know why you are telling him all this. He can't understand'
Walkabout 8.3
Only a very short time after pressing play on this one, I knew it was something special. Within five minutes it had given me impressions of the (for want of a better word) randomness and shooting style of, among others, some French New Wave titles. Themes of Werner Herzog and the feel of Terence Malick also occured to me at different times. This first impression gained my attention entirely.
The plot; a young boy (around 6) and his teenage sister, straight out of finishing school, are essentially stranded in the outback - the events leading up to this I will not spoil, but they are bravely and delightfully unsignposted. Before long the duo become a trio when they happen upon a young Aborigine boy who is out on walkabout. The film explains through an opening title card that every 16 year old Aborigine heads out into the outback to test their knowledge and survival skills. The two, then three, amble around the neverending wilderness, simply surviving and finding small islands of solace along the way. The ending I will also not spoil, but it is an intriguing ending to this deeply enigmatic production.
All of the technical aspects of the film work on their own merits. It looks good, there is good sound design and there is at no point any question about whether the characters are actually in this dire situation. There are messages and meanings to be taken including the sterility of modern life in man made cities against the roots of civilisation that spawned it and the exploration of life elements that transcend such insurmountable barriers. It is effective at transporting you to the time and place, with help from the suitably unpolished and authentic feeling performances. But it is the approach to, and the feel of, the film that makes it stand out for me.
The audience is shown the story of the two out of their comfort zone, set against the unflinching brutality and beauty of nature. These can sometimes be shown simultaneously and in short bursts to impose the juxtaposition between life for a 16 year old Aborigine on walkabout, and two privileged children from the wealthy suburbs e.g. imagery of Jenny Agutter swimming serenely in a pool and the tribal boy hunting with a spear are interspliced. There are other similar sequences of departure from the story which show imagery and sounds from the environments to create more mood - not miles away in their ability to set a mood from the montages which are so memorable from Tree of Life or 2001: A Space Odyssey.
It is drenched in off beat filmmaking and personality. It could have probably only been made like this in the late 1960s and 1970s, when film was undergoing a flourishing surge in creativity and freedom. At the midpoint, we see some brief shots of them making their way through some undergrowth. The young boy is telling a story to his sister whilst the Aborigine is acting as their guide. The shots are stitched together by pages turning inbetween - you literally see the corner of a page being turned - this is such an original touch which really stands out and made me especially take notice.
I found myself thinking that this is the kind of film that modern audiences brought up/spoon-fed on big fatuous franchises should see, but exactly the kind of film they would probably call boring because 'nothing happens'. Obviously this is the fault of the modern audience and not the film. It's the kind of rare film that would play across the broad language and lifestyle chasms that the the film focuses on.
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