One of my all-time favorite films now on DVD

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 5/19/10 at 12:42pm

Seriously, guys. If you haven't seen WALKABOUT, you are in for a total treat. It's really in my top-five all time faves. This is from the Onion AV Club:


by Keith Phipps May 19, 2010


Nicolas Roeg’s 1971 feature Walkabout opens with a close-up of bricks and mortar, shifting over to street and traffic. Beneath it blasts the sound of a didgeridoo, a musical instrument of the Australian Aborigines, reminding viewers that the buildings now standing in Australia haven’t always been there. What follows repeats the meaning embedded in that combination of sound and image, and expands it to the human soul. Scripted by Edward Bond, who made some controversial contributions to the London stage, this loose adaptation of James Vance Marshall’s novel follows a teenage English girl (Jenny Agutter) and her young brother (Roeg’s son Luc), playing characters listed only as “White Girl” and “White Boy,” as they traverse the Australian wilderness after their geologist father goes mad and attempts to kill them before committing suicide. Along the way, they meet a wandering Aborigine teen (dancer, musician, and actor David Gulpilil, in the first of many film roles) with whom they strike up a friendship in spite of their language barrier. That relationship allows them to find an Eden in a once-forbidding environment.

Roeg’s film contrasts Western corruption with native goodness, but it’s naïve by design, and ultimately concerned more with the way all innocence passes than with the politics and particulars of any single part of the world. The title comes from a ceremonial rite of passage observed by some Aborigines that sends boys off to fend for themselves before becoming men, and much of Walkabout hangs in the last moments of a state of grace. The children walk untouched through fields of forbidding poisonous creatures and stumble into an Eden. Roeg works less through plot and dialogue than images and editing, and the trio’s journey takes on a hypnotic quality as one lyrical sequence follows another. Gulpilil hunts what he needs to survive as the film flashes on images of meat being processed not far away in Sydney. Or to Agutter bathing as the sexual tension between the English girl and her new friend begins to mount. Or, as the film nears its conclusion, to white hunters carelessly, effortlessly gunning down game they don’t need. (Animal lovers should be forewarned that these sequences are not simulated.) The connections go unspoken, but they don’t need underlining.

In early efforts like Don’t Look Now and The Man Who Fell To Earth, Roeg came close to making films that felt more like dreams than stories. Walkabout comes closer than either, starting as a nightmare, shifting to an idyll, then ending up somewhere else entirely, somewhere that feels like waking up. Toward the end, the two English characters stand at the side of a road. Roeg offers a pregnant pause before they move from dirt to asphalt and take their steps back toward civilization; he treats the moment as both sad and inevitable. It’s a real road, but it’s also the path away from innocence they were always going to have to follow, as must we all.

Key features: A commentary with Nicolas Roeg and Agutter, and an hourlong documentary on Gulpilil’s career.

Whole article here

[D2]

Posted: 5/19/10 at 12:50pm

I saw this film when I was a child during its initial release, and I have never forgotten it. A beautiful film. Thanks, Borstal. I can't wait to see it again.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 5/19/10 at 12:51pm

I think its a great movie for kids, even with the nudity.

[D2]

Posted: 5/19/10 at 12:56pm

I remember being totally absorbed in it - even if I didn't understand some of its subtleties at the time, it has never left me.

It was on a double bill with BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, of all things! Strange combination, huh?

[romantico]

Posted: 5/19/10 at 1:25pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdqwbs8uKwQ

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/19/10 at 1:51pm

I haven't seen it since I was a kid, but I listened to some of the score just yesterday. Absolutely beautiful.

[romantico]

Posted: 5/19/10 at 1:56pm

Simple story and beautifully photographed. They simply do not make films like this anymore.Could they make a movie like this today? Says a lot about our society. Would kid's find it interesting? Unless it has CGI or is a remake of some kind no studio would back it.

[Marquise]

Posted: 5/19/10 at 4:03pm

I've never heard of it but it sounds like s film I can totally get into. It will be next on my NetFlix queue.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/19/10 at 4:13pm

I always get the title of this film confused with Mindwalk. I love Mindwalk (and have been hoping for a DVD release one day), but have never seen Walkabout.

[uncageg]

Posted: 5/19/10 at 6:11pm

Just put it in Netflix. Went looking for the music and it is unavailable on Amazon but they have the samples available and the music is nice.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 5/20/10 at 10:52am

Love me some WALKABOUT, but can't agree that it is good viewing for kids, especially considering that little picnic scene near the beginning.

About kids, certainly. Suitable for kids, well....

[tazber]

Posted: 6/9/10 at 1:45pm

Important information regarding the recent Criterion Walkabout BD

There has been a manufacturing issue with Criterion's Blu-ray Disc edition of Walkabout. From the company's official website:

"We have been alerted to a manufacturing problem with our Walkabout Blu-ray edition that occurs on a limited number of players. The affected players are:

Sony BDP-350 and BDP-360
Pioneer BDP-05FD and BDP-120
Sharp BD-HP22U, BD-HP21U, and BD-HP20U
Memorex MVBD2520
Insignia NS-2BRDVD

The disc will not load in the Insignia and Memorex players, and with the others, about fifty minutes into the feature, the audio and video begin to skip and stutter. We are working with the pressing plant to resolve this issue as soon as possible. If you have our Walkabout Blu-ray disc and own one of these players, please e-mail Jon Mulvaney This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it so that we can notify you as soon as replacement copies become available."

ETA: in the link clicking on Jon Mulvaney will take you to his email address.
Link

Updated On: 6/9/10 at 01:45 PM