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Walkabout - Criterion CollectionRating:
Release Date: 05 May, 1998 Retail Price: $29.95 OUR Price: $26.99 You SAVE: $2.96! Cast: Complete Cast (5 total) |
Walkabout - Criterion Collection Reviews
Walkabout
I've viewed only the restored director's cut on VHS, so I haven't heard the commentary by Roeg.
I agree with "Jeepers" that certain kinds of people will be predisposed to disliking this movie. I also agree that this has some things in common with other 70's films--a bias (or hatred) toward civilization, a benign view of the noble savage.
However, this shouldn't be compared with bad films like Easy Rider. Nor should it be compared with Elephant or Last Days simply because Walkabout has long shots with little action at times. Those latter two films are basically nihilistic. Walkabout is anti-civilization, but only to a point.
It also very definitely has a story, direction, and a script. That's *dialog* the little boy is speaking--he's not ad-libbing.
All the blurbs speak of the tragic effect of the girl's indifference on the aborigine boy--without giving too much away, I'm simply not sure. Look closely at his face in the last scene: despite his crucified-like posture....
In the cut I viewed, the nudity is not especially sexual, but other montages are. But they are NOT pornographic.
The soundtrack is all over the place in a way only possible 30 years ago, when there was a spirit of experiment without music effects being as codified as they are now. The music is reflecting *location and theme*, NOT action or character or mood so much. So there's lush (inappropriate) string orchestra bordering on muzak, Stockhausen's Hymnen, other radio noise, didgeridoo, and more--a very rich combination that works maybe 80% of the time. A real pleasure, even if a bit hit or miss.
The mix on my VHS copy was somewhat erratic--I kept having to turn up the sound to hear the dialog and turn it down during some of the loud cues.
The story affected me so powerfully that I almost couldn't watch the end--I was rooting for the Aborigine. It is really quite simple and clear: This is really not an avant-garde movie that dispenses with plot. There's at least two plots: Boy meets Girl, and Lost and Found. What could be more clear than that?
I'm only taking off a star because Roeg's view of Civilization versus The Land of Lost Content (emphasis on second syllable as in the adjective "contented") is so absurdly biased against Civilization that this isn't very interesting on the thematic level...
Wonderful film.
Ab Original
This really fine film deals with itself on its own terms and does not try to answer all of its own questions. For example -- the death and position of the native boy in the tree reflects the way the father ended at the beginning and suggests the same sexual passion for the girl -- which explains her attitude toward her Dad and perhaps his immolation. Some innocent nudity toward the end. Well worth it.
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