(Madman)

Lost Oz classic in beautiful digital restoration

An uncompromising study of the near-ritualistic lifestyle of the Australian outback male, Wake In Fright was believed lost, before being restored by Australia’s National Film and Sound Archive. Following a renewed cinematic run, the film now appears on DVD including a book telling the story of the film’s restoration. The DVD itself is also packed with special features, including interviews/commentaries from the film’s Canadian director Ted Kotcheff and related segments from The 7.30 Report and Ozploitation doco Not Quite Hollywood. But the real cherry is the film itself, possibly an even more disturbing movie now than when it first appeared in 1971. British actor Gary Bond portrays rural schoolteacher John Grant who finds himself in the rough outback town of Bundanyabba, where he is supposed to spend overnight before catching a plane to Sydney and spending time with his girlfriend. After quickly being caught up in the local culture of beer, gambling and more beer, he finds himself broke and trapped in the ‘yabba. From here, he temporarily boards with an alcoholic doctor (played by Donald Pleasance) and, in the film’s most graphic segment, takes part in a drunken roo hunt. The film unflinchingly shows how a “civilised” man can be reduced to a despairing, animalistic creature when immersed in an oppressively macho culture. This portrayal of a society that bases its life around drinking, fighting and shooting takes the Australian mateship image and distorts it into something grotesque – which is probably why the film originally did better business overseas than it did domestically. It appears Australian audiences were not yet ready to face the dark side of outback communities. In 2009 as our nation is at its most urbanised and generically globalised, Wake In Fright becomes even more startling for its uniquely Australian portrayal of isolation, boredom and self-loathing. It’s also a rattling blend of gothic horror and black comedy to boot.

*****

MATT THROWER

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