Review of Wake in Fright (1971) by Tad T — 29 Jan 2011

This is a great film but not enjoyable at all maybe as any art should be. It is confronting on any number of levels and that is to a viewer in 2011. It would have seared the minds of any viewer in the 70's.

I am old enough to have seen the the tail end of the Australia depicted in this film and it is maybe why I am often accused of an Australian cringe but this is no caricature: my uncle had that car and hunted and had a greyhound which he 'blooded' as shown in the film.

What this film does do unlike almost all Australian films is to show the imprisonment of the outback: its too large to get your head around it, too hot, too desolate. This is an existential landscape both within the cast and the viewer. It is almost supernatural in that the teacher depicted in the film trying to break free is drawn back like a magnet again and again to the "Yabba" (obviously Broken Hill for those who know Australia).

The landscape serves as numerous prisons: one of distance but also of society - of the drinking culture, men and women, working and middle class and the nihilism that could erupt at any moment into complete and utter anarchy.

The acting is fantastic across the board but none braver then Donald Pleasance as "Doc". Utterly brutal and if you appreciate great acting some of the choices he makes are startilingly original.

The film is so viscereal you almost start to smell the off meat, warm beer and the reek of the men as the sweat through anything they wear in mere minutes.

One final note about the stupendous Kangaroo hunting scene which is haunting not only for the hunted but the hunters is that this is the type of scene which should be shown. This scene does more for anti hunting then any other normal opposition.

If you can withstand the barrage this is an Australian classic for all time.