Herein lies my attempt to work through the backlog of Criterion Collection Blu-Rays & DVDs I have accumulated. Each week (hopefully) I will attempt to write an article on a particular film from the fantastic Criterion Collection for your reading pleasure. Be forewarned, spoilers may lie ahead.
Australia, United Kingdom
1971
100 minutes
Color
1.78:1
English
Spine #10
Our story begins with a moment of violence, a tragic event that pierces the frame and thrusts the film into motion. The Walkabout (1971) has begun. Nicholas Roeg’s evocative debut directorial feature is a film that says so much without actually saying anything at all. Very rarely does a film arise which so clearly and confidently utilises the cinematic language to communicate and ignite ideas so complex, that any attempt to comprehend them with words or symbols inevitably fails. Roeg’s film not only successfully manipulates the language of the cinema into an expressive form, but is also abstractly designed, allowing each audience member their own individual experience of the film and the abundance of ideas and thematic concerns layered within.
After witnessing a particularly violent and terrifying event which threatens their lives, a young girl and her younger brother are stranded in the Australian outback with no water, limited food and no idea how to get home. Days go by but eventually the children encounter a young Aboriginal boy who himself, we assume, has begun his own journey; on the traditional Aboriginal Walkabout, a rite of passage for adolescent boys. With the inability to communicate using language, the trio manage to collectively survive and make their way across the harsh Australian wilderness. The Walkabout is an attempt for an individual to learn to co-exist with the land. Our identification with these children and their dependency on this Aboriginal boy demonstrates a disconnection of not only the cultures, but also our growing detachment with the environment.
Walkabout achieves a critical analysis of modern culture through this relationship and also the images presented to us. By limiting the communication available to the characters in the film, Roeg allows the camera to dictate language. At the film’s core is a culture clash, one of modernity and the natural order and the corrosive effect a Western progress orientated sensibility has on our planet. Processed food, advertising and people bustling through a city are depicted with a haunting indigenous soundtrack. The juxtaposition of the Aboriginal boy using primitive tools and even his hands to kill animals for survival compared with his witnessing of the senseless killing of the poachers. The openness of this Aboriginal boy and his accommodating of the lost children compared to the businessman towards the end who denies them entry to his home. There is even a shot in the beginning of the film where the children swim in a manmade swimming pool in the vicinity of a natural body of water. Roeg presents a myriad of visual conflicts such as these, which allows for the presentation of ideas, namely that of a resource driven, globalized society and its divergence with the natural order. At some point in the film a radio transmission states that “nothing can ever be created or destroyed”. This concept that nature occupies a cyclic construction is one of crucial importance to the film. Images of maggots and flies eating the decaying flesh of other creatures, and the Aboriginal boy’s resourcefulness and reliance on the land depict this radio broadcast in purely visual terms. Nature is all powerful and all encompassing in Walkabout; it exists in its own state of harmonious balance, which Roeg is determined to illustrate by depicting the role modernity plays in tipping its homeostatic scales.
These larger themes are balanced quite effectively with the more personal, character driven themes such as maturation, sexuality and above all, death. The experience of parental abandonment and forced survival are particularly traumatic for the two children involved. At one point the girl arrives at an abandoned home, filled with images of past lives and she begins to sulk. The confrontational nature of this event coupled with the near death experience of their “Walkabout” is explored through the use of the image, not dialogue, as is that of the devastating conclusion to their journey. Upon finding the girl undressing the Aboriginal boy begins a courtship dance for her, of which she ultimately refuses. He dances on however into the night and is found to have hung himself in the morning. Although his motives are unknown, one can speculate his taking of his own life is symbolic of the failed symbiosis of the two cultures. Our modern progress has reached the point of no return.
Walkabout explores its characters, their environments and their culture all within the limitless possibilities of the language of the cinema. It is a film that explores ideas and truth through the visual and aural interplay, and without the aid of human communication and language. A prophetic film of sorts, our society today demands the progress of capitalism and is still (even more so) resource driven. Walkabout demands us to remember that we as human beings are nature, even if that concept seems so distant and alien, we must never forget it.
Special Features:
New, restored high-definition digital transfer, made from a newly minted 35 mm interpositive and approved by director Nicolas Roeg (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
Audio commentary featuring Roeg and actress Jenny Agutter
Video interviews with Agutter and actor Luc Roeg
Gulpilil—One Red Blood (2002), an hour-long documentary on the life and career of actor David Gulpilil
Theatrical trailer
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by author Paul Ryan
Haven’t had a chance to check out any of these special features yet. I actually haven’t had a chance to watch any Criterion’s this week, this essay is one I wrote for assessment at school. Hopefully I can check them out over the next week. The documentary on David Gulpilil looks very interesting. I can say however that as always the essay in the booklet is very insightful, and really helped me gain another perspective of the film.
Both of these films are available via DVD and Blu-Ray in the Criterion Collection.
Click here for Walkabout.
