Walkabout (1971)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Graham J

  
  A beautifully photographed film with the backdrop of the Australian outback.

• Cassandra M

  
  Director Nicolas Roeg's (`Don't Look Now') cinematographic skills and admiration pay especial tribute to Walkabout's powerful combination of Australia's awesome scenic diversity and the sensual Jenny Agutter, and the whole effect is embellished by John… More
  Director Nicolas Roeg's (`Don't Look Now') cinematographic skills and admiration pay especial tribute to Walkabout's powerful combination of Australia's awesome scenic diversity and the sensual Jenny Agutter, and the whole effect is embellished by John Barry's sublimely magical score. I would hasten to add that as well as being very pleasing to watch, enhanced by Roeg's voyeuristic use of the camera, Agutter provides a skilful performance as a prejudiced unworldly teenager, who is naively unaware of the sexuality she exudes whether naked or wearing her high cut school skirt. Although it was a somewhat amusing shock to recently discover that a body double was employed for Agutter in the shower scenes for `An American Werewolf in London', no such deceit was used in this film. Immediately after filming `Walkabout', Agutter reprised her BBC serialisation role of two years earlier as Bobbie for Lionel Jeffries' sumptuous version of Edith Nesbit's `The Railway Children', ensuring her immortalization as an iconographic beauty. She graduated thirty years on into the role of the mother for a Carlton TV production and is currently involved in producing a film script about the life of the author. On a deadly picnic into the desert a father (John Meillon; `Crocodile Dundee') inexplicably snaps, shooting at his two children before torching his car and turning the gun on himself. Now the children, absurdly kitted out in their formal school uniforms, are lost and carelessly lose their provisions, except for the transistor radio with its inane babble being another illustration of how hopeless our technology is against nature. Fortuitously they stumble upon an oasis and find their only saviour in the form of an Aborigine (David Gulpilil; `Rabbit Proof Fence') on a rites-of-passage walkabout. The seven year old boy (Lucien John, the director's son) happily has a child's ability to communicate with the Aborigine despite the language barrier, something his older sister never grasps, deftly demonstrated on their first encounter when she is increasingly frustrated by the lack of comprehension of her demands for water. Roeg crosscuts stunning kaleidoscopic images of the physical landscape and its critters, with the killing of animals and the domestic butchering of joints of meat to give a stark contrast between nature and civilisation. However, given this was his first solo effort, his overworked montages can be a little irritating and confusing, and show off the cinematographer rather than the director in Roeg. The director emphasises the unrealised sexual tension by explicitly marrying shots of both the teenagers with suggestive trees in the form of intertwined human limbs, as well as providing us with a diverting interlude involving a group of meteorologists. The deeply sad misunderstanding of the two cultures gives poignancy to the film that is its strength, especially delineated by the Aborigine's tribal courtship dance for Agutter, which only serves to terrify her and increase her distrust. Her lack of emotion for their former helpmate is staggering. When faced with a dangling corpse the girl asks trivial questions of her brother about his breakfast whilst pointlessly picking ants off the body. The tragic outcome is also indicative of the current state of Aboriginal life expectancy with a higher proportion dying through accident, assault and self-harm than any other Australian demographic group. The failure of her parents to prepare her for the change from childhood may have contributed to the tragedy, and it is only on reflection years later, living the same life as her parents and similarly caged in an apartment block, that Agutter's character senses that maybe she missed her chance. It is interesting to note that the children are deliberately English to highlight the cultural clash between the European settlers and the original inhabitants of this ancient land, and I wonder if similarly white Australians would have had any more understanding of the indigenous customs of the Aborigine boy. `Walkabout' is a far more visual depiction of sexual awakening colliding with alien cultures than that other famous picnic that goes horribly wrong in Peter Weir's `Picnic at Hanging Rock' (which this predates by four years), with its metaphorically implied unease centred on a sacred Aboriginal site that eventually destroys the established order of a Ladies College. `Walkabout' is as relevant today as when it was released in the era of '70's industrialisation with the Kakadu National Park once again under threat from a new uranium mine on its boundary. The Northern Territory's tribe Mirrar is currently involved in this dispute over land rights and excavations, although mining was temporarily ceased on Aboriginal land in the mid 1990's. This is a sensitive issue as Australia's economy relies on the export of uranium in the production of nuclear power, and Aborigines oppose the exploitation of the Earth's resources for profit. The company at the centre of this discord also operates the Ranger mine which is depicted along with the rock band Midnight Oil (well known for their campaigning land rights missive `Beds Are Burning') in eX de Medici's `Nothing's As Precious As A Hole In The Ground', a recent acquisition by Australia's National Portrait Gallery. Despite last year's rush by some of Hollywood's well-known directors returning home to make Aboriginal films, including Phillip Noyce's `Rabbit Proof Fence' (released 21 February) about the 'Stolen Generation', and `Yolngu Boy' which did well at a film festival in Colorado, I sadly suspect very few of us in the UK are likely to see them. Apparently there has not been a commercial success for a black-themed movie since 1955's `Jedda', the first Australian feature to star Aboriginal actors. If the hope of a '70's New Wave style revival is to be realised for Australian cinema, surely it is time for the industry worldwide to wake up to the fact that a wealth of film exists outside of Hollywood, and that the viewing public may actually welcome some variety. With the release of the director's full cut in 1998 both the DVD and the video are unusually available for the UK as well as the US from Amazon.

• Dan S

  
  A hypnotizing, astoundingly shot story concerning a brother and sister who depend on an aborigine to survive in the outback of Australia after their father commits suicide after dragging them out in the desert in a car running on empty. Roeg's handling of relationships in this… More
  A hypnotizing, astoundingly shot story concerning a brother and sister who depend on an aborigine to survive in the outback of Australia after their father commits suicide after dragging them out in the desert in a car running on empty. Roeg's handling of relationships in this movie is a treat to watch, as he effectively convinces his audience that the upper-tier of society can interact and form friendships with the uncivilized. It's a long 100 minutes, and Roeg doesn't necessarily cover all the needed bases (maybe exploring the emotional aftermath of the brother and sister losing their father - they just go on and act like nothing happened really), but his use of music and confidence in his settings are fully displayed. His blatant damning of modern civilization is also impressive, and it makes for one tragic ending. While it's not for everyone and it's a film that definitely takes its time, it still makes for an interesting, offbeat survival tale that definitely deserves a view.

• Cindy I

  
  A "walkabout" is rite of passage ritual for 16-year old Australian Aboriginal boys. As part of their entrance into manhood, they wander into the Outback and try to survive for months at a time. In this film, that concept is expanded to include two siblings -- a teenage girl… More
  A "walkabout" is rite of passage ritual for 16-year old Australian Aboriginal boys. As part of their entrance into manhood, they wander into the Outback and try to survive for months at a time. In this film, that concept is expanded to include two siblings -- a teenage girl and a small boy -- who are forced to cross the desert after they are left alone in the wilderness when their father has a tragic break with reality. These children are NOT aboriginal, but rather English (with the implication of civilization), but yet they take a similar path and learn and grow and survive in much the same way. A traditional walkabout is also demonstrated when they meet up with an Aboriginal boy on his own quest, who shows them survival skills such as finding water. But surviving on one's own is not the only facet of becoming an adult. There is also a sexual awakening, which the girl and the Aborigine experience as they observe and interact with each other. This awakening also ends in tragedy, as so many love affairs do. This film is beautiful to look at, as it was filmed on location in the Australian Outback. But I know now that is not what has turned this film into a cult film. That honor goes to Jenny Agutter. The beautiful then-18 year old who plays the girl (never named) was filmed in a very voyeuristic way -- peeks under her schoolgirl skirt, shots of her long bare legs (this girl looks like she's about 8 feet tall!) and scenes of her in bra and panties -- and the camera gets more and more intimate until she is finally shown fully nude gracefully swimming and diving in a desert pond, and then walking around nude in the desert. Besides this obvious content, there is also more subtle ways of suggesting sexuality in the way the trees, water and so on are filmed. I was confused a few times by how the action seemed to jump so that a clear sense of time is never established. There's no way of knowing how long they were lost. However, the ending of the film explained away this issue, and I found it not so much of a bother. There is also a sense that the filmmakers (Nicholas Roeg et al) were making a point about how civilization may not be all it's cracked up to be. A film definitely more than the sum of its parts.

• Stella D

  
  mesmerizing, magnificent looking and deeply saddening if a bit 70's artsy at times. that said, i'm afraid this beautiful film would be difficult to make today due to nudity/sexual themes with underage actors, which is a shame

• David L

  
  An urban, slightly sleazy father takes his two public school children into the outback for a picnic. He's in a suit, and has brought some paperwork. His kids are in their stiff school uniforms. Clothes, demeanor, action and the Volkswagon Beetle all jar with the hostile desert… More
  An urban, slightly sleazy father takes his two public school children into the outback for a picnic. He's in a suit, and has brought some paperwork. His kids are in their stiff school uniforms. Clothes, demeanor, action and the Volkswagon Beetle all jar with the hostile desert location. Something is wrong. We find out what when Dad starts shooting at his son, before blowing his brains out. Sister and brother barely survive a trek through the desert, before crossing paths with a teenage Aborigine on walkabout. It is a rescue of sorts, but danger still stalks the three youngsters. Walkabout is a disturbing film, a difficult piece to get to grips with. It isn't Swallows and Amazons, but nor is it Lord of the Flies. Like the interpersonal relationships between the characters, the film itself is frustratingly unknowable. Images of Australian wildlife snarling, spitting, preying on each other, or just staring disinterestedly, provide the undercurrent of tension between the human sojourners. Jenny Agutter takes a utilitarian approach to her rescuer, the supremely impressive David Gulpilil. She cares for her brother (though little else) in that stilted, clipped, emotionally stunted manner that British public schools cultivate. Her brother seems bizarrely unaware of events, notwithstanding his lack of years, but adapts better than his sister, forging a bond and rudimentary communication with the Aboriginal boy. The rescuer remains inscrutable, benevolent but uncomprehending as he tries to take Agutter for his own in an ill-fated courtship ritual that does not cross the cultural boundary. The woman is as functional to him as the kangaroos and lizards he hunts, though less easy to snarl. Roeg's vision may be a bleak one. Ultimately, he seems to say, we can never know each other. To have human contact is to be hurt, perhaps brutally so. The film ends with Agutter many years later in urban suburbia, apparently as estranged from her be-suited, mustachioed husband as she was from the Aboriginal. And yet there are glimpses of hope. The playful climbing of the tree, the clowning around between the two boys, could be mere lulls in the tedium and brutality, or a sign that we can make a go of things. Most optimistic of all is the upbeat ending, the three children bathing naked in a water-hole, carefree and lacking any of the sexual tension that made the teenagers' relationship so charged. An idyllic illusion, perhaps? Walkabout is challenging, provocative, and despite those clunky 1970s transitions, stands out as an all-time classic. It defies categorisation. Experimental and uncompromising, it is a film that demands re-thinking with every repeat viewing

• xGary X

  
  Thoughtful coming of age drama set in the Australian outback, featuring an unusually sensitive take on culture clash. Intelligently done, but rather lacking in drama.

• Kevin M

  
  Slow at times and the older boy's behavior becomes weird and unexplainable at the end, but it's a good survival tale and shows how even in bad times, good things can come out of them. Although, the young brother is not supposed to understand the dire situation that him and… More
  Slow at times and the older boy's behavior becomes weird and unexplainable at the end, but it's a good survival tale and shows how even in bad times, good things can come out of them. Although, the young brother is not supposed to understand the dire situation that him and his older sister share, the older sister never seems to reflect emotionally or realistically on their rather unfortunate situation. I've never seen a film with this kind of setting or filming style, but that's probably because it's from the early 70's. Back then it was probably a masterpiece. I'm not saying Walkabout is a bad film, it's pretty good actually. Just dated.

• t h o m !

  
  Exceptionally intriguing, keeping you engaged and interested. This film serves a great purpose of not being an overly cliche of the reality of diversity between humans (though it does display a somewhat resonating factor), but rather the harsh reality of life happening in a blink. A… More
  Exceptionally intriguing, keeping you engaged and interested. This film serves a great purpose of not being an overly cliche of the reality of diversity between humans (though it does display a somewhat resonating factor), but rather the harsh reality of life happening in a blink. A wonderful wandering tale with strong emotional themes.

• Emily B

  
  I knew I had come across this film before. I remember bits of it from watching it as a child, and being confused (and slightly disturbed) by the father shooting himself and setting himself and the car on fire. Watching it again now I can understand and appreciate the film for what it… More
  I knew I had come across this film before. I remember bits of it from watching it as a child, and being confused (and slightly disturbed) by the father shooting himself and setting himself and the car on fire. Watching it again now I can understand and appreciate the film for what it is, a beautiful, strange and engaging piece of cinema. The story centres on a brother and sister who are left to fend for themselves in the Australian outback after their father kills himself. Just as it seems there is no hope for them help comes in the form of a young Aborigine boy on his "Walkabout" (a traditional Aborigine ritual). Things go well for a while, although there are difficulties communicating (especially between the girl and Aborigine boy) the three characters survive through the harsh landscape, with the two olders members taking on almost Mother and Father roles to the young boy. Eventually, after weeks of walking, the boy leads them to an empty house, here we see the end of the Aborigine. I won't go into too much detail as I don't want to ruin the film for anyone. This film is filled with beautiful scenery of the Australian outback, which is one of the reasons this is so engaging seeing as there is limited action and dialouge. Most of today's generation would probably find this boring, but I recommend everyone to see this excellent film.

• Barry L

  
  Strong film and very beautiful scenery.

Read all 11 featured audience ratings