Walkabout (1971)

I've wanted to see Walkabout for a while. Since meeting Exiled and becoming a fan of his, I've been eager to see what Austrailia has to offer for cinema. So, decided to check out Walkabout and enjoyed it.

The cinematography and design of the film was fantastic. The Outback provides a great landscape to photograph. I loved the way the camera frequently longers on the landscape, then zooms in quickly to capture a lizard waddling around, or a bird perched somewhere. Little things like that seemed to help immerse the viewer

Like any who see the film, I couldn't help noticing that the Father's suicide, which is the catalyst for the events, is never explained. Why did he do it in the first place, and why couldn't he have done it alone and not subjected his own children to it and stranding them in the desert? Maybe he was trying to test them, to give them their own Walkabout, but I guess it's just left to interpretation. It really showed the strength of the girl though, who not only had to deal with the grief of her Father's suicide, but had to keep it from her Brother as well as trying to survive out there.

In some ways, this is a fantasy film. Not in the same vein as, say, The Neverending Story or Harry Potter or something, obviously. But, I know when I was younger, I often fantasized about being out on my own, learning survival skills, fending for myself, being self-sufficient, just living off the land. I probably would have never made it on my own, but I guess that's why it was a fantasy in the first place. Not that I didn't dream about flying dragons or magic or things of that nature, but I remember dreaming of living off the land more often.

Now, I'm usually the last person to notice sexual subtext in film. I know that Marian Keane is always quick to explore sexual symbolism in the films of Hitchcok and of others, but I often times never see it, and don't really buy into it after it's pointed out. But, I did notice a whole bunch of sex stuff in the film, like lingering glances between the girl and the Aborigine, which is probably what leads to his dance and concurrent suicide. Also, the heavy amount of non-sexual nudity brings it to mind again, and don't forget the scene of the people studying weather balloons studying the woman's body far more than the balloons themselves. Lastly, one thing that struck me was after they were all climbing on the tree, the camera zoomed in and showed the 'crotch' of the tree branches and I'll be damned if it didn't resemble a vagina. Like I said, I'm the last person to notice this stuff, so it must have been pretty obvious.