Review of Walkabout (1971) by Kellen V — 03 Aug 2010

Nicolas Roeg's 1971 film 'Walkabout' tells the story of a brother and sister in Australia who are abandoned by their father and must fend for themselves in the harsh surroundings. The two are nearly dead when they meet a young Aboriginal boy who helps them to survive.

The film is chalk full of symbolism throughout, for instance there is a shot of the tribal boy hunting, then killing a wild animal. As he is cutting the animal the film cuts to a shot of a butcher chopping up meat for a customer.

Another instance is when the tribal boy is battling a wild buffalo and is about to kill it but he is interrupted by some white hunters who steal his catch, and then proceed to shoot a bunch of animals while he watches.

The final sequence of the film is beautiful, it essentially is the same as the butcher shop sequence I spoke of earlier, but this time the school girl is living in her own house cutting meat waiting for her husband, while she is cutting the meat we flash backwards to when the tribal boy is killing the buffalo.

Jenny Agutter fits her role so perfect she is so beautiful and just fits in with the picture so well, I really don't know what it is about her. The film is wonderful because it makes you think about how much harder your life would be without all of the technology/helpful things that you've been accustomed to having.

The greatest thing in the picture is the cinematography which is simply astonishing, we see shots of everything from local wildlife to beautiful sunsets to empty farmhouses. Every single shot is wonderfully framed by Roeg and his crew.

That shouldn't come as a shock either because Roeg started his career has a cinematographer and obviously he has his fingerprints all over this film. Once again the criterion collection comes through with another classic and proves why they're one of the best at providing/saving great pictures.