Jenny
Agutter and her little brother (Luc Roeg) are abandoned by their father in the
Australian outback. Hopelessly lost,
they make their way across the harsh desert landscape. They cross paths with an Aborigine boy (David
Gulpilil) who is out on his “walkabout” (his tribal coming-of-age ritual) who teaches
them how to survive in the outback.
On
the surface, Walkabout is a tale of survival, but it also acts as mirror of two
vastly different societies. Director
Nicolas (Performance) Roeg contrasts the life of the young city folk with that
of the Aborigine teen. When Gulpili is
hunting for dinner, spearing kangaroos and lizards, Roeg deftly edits in shots
of a butcher cutting up meat for a customer.
It’s
a beautiful looking film with the vast landscapes seemingly going on
forever. The shots of animals roaming
around and eating each other are a bit reminiscent of Mondo Cane, but Roeg’s
eye is unjudgmental and uncynical. They’re
just doing what animals do. If anything,
these shots show just how out of place Agutter and her brother are.
Speaking
of Agutter, she is excellent as the sister who is forced to act as mother cub
to her brother. She also spends a lot of
the movie naked as a jaybird, which certainly helps. Though Gulpilil takes notices her (and she
notices him too), there is an innocence about the whole thing that makes it
sweet.
Walkabout
goes on a bit too long and drags in some spots.
I guess any movie that features as much walking as this one is bound to
bog down somewhere. However, it’s still
worth watching for the strong performances and the gorgeous cinematography.
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