Walkabout

Released in 1971, Walkabout was Nicolas Roeg's second film, shot in Australia, and telling a very popular Australian story. That he was English and making a film about Australian culture rankled some, but the Aussie film boom hadn't happened yet, so he took the opportunity.

The story is something of fairy-tale, like Hansel and Gretel but in the Outback. Two children, Jenny Agutter and Lucien Roeg (the director's son) are abandoned in the Outback (I won't say how, suffice it to say their dad won't be getting any World's Best Dad coffee mugs). Completely on their own, they struggle to find food and water.

Then they come across an Aboriginal boy (David Gulpilil) who speaks no English. He is on a walkabout, a kind of coming of age ritual, much like the vision quest in native American culture. He is happy to help them, as he is quite handy with a spear (those who don't like to see animals being killed should steer clear--a couple of kangaroos get skewered).

The three travel and are very happy together. The children, who are English and dressed like the Banks children in Mary Poppins, let their hair down. Agutter takes to swimming nude, and there is an Edenic quality to their existence.

As with his other films, Roeg utilizes a lot of cross-cutting, which is again almost subliminal (maybe some of it is for all I know). He also includes many shots of wildlife, often of one kind of animal eating another. Snakes, spiders, ants, maggots, lizards, you name it, Roeg includes it. But the children are never threatened by an animal. One shot shows Agutter just chilling while a snake hovers above her, and she is oblivious.

Some of it made no sense to me, as there are scenes that seem to come from other movies, like a clip of some weather researchers and their balloons. But overall Walkabout was a heart-warming movie, as the children and the Aborigine harbor no ill will against each other (the only bit of conflict is when Gulpilil paints himself and does some kind of dance, and Agutter feels afraid. Chalk it up to culture shock).