Walkabout [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Nicolas Roeg Nicolas Roeg

Overview

The contrast between modern, urban civilization and life in the natural world lies at the heart of Nicolas Roeg's visually dazzling drama Walkabout. In broad outline, the plot might resemble a standard fish-out-of-water tale: two city children become stranded in the Australian outback, and struggle to find their way back to civilization with the help of a friendly aborigine boy. But Roeg and screenwriter Edward Bond are concerned with far more than the average wilderness drama, as a shocking act of violence near the story's beginning makes clear. This is particularly true in regards to the relationship between the white children and the aborigine boy, who ultimately develops a troubled romantic attraction towards the older sister. Obviously intended as a statement on the exploitation of the natural world and native cultures by European civilization, the film nevertheless maintains an evocative vagueness that usually -- but not always -- favors poetry over didacticism. Most importantly, the film's justifiably acclaimed cinematography is likely to sway even those who find fault with the film's narrative and message. The shift between the sterile city images and the truly stunning, beautifully composed Australian landscapes provide the film's single best argument, making the film a vivid and convincing experience.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/21/2010
UPC:	0715515058018
Original Release:	1971
Source:	Criterion Collection
Language:	English
Time:	1:40:00
Sales rank:	4,254

Special Features

Audio Commentary featuring Roeg and Actress Jenny Agutter; ; Video Interviews with Agutter and Actor Luc Roeg; ; Gulpilil-One Red Blood (2002), an Hour-Long Documentary on the Life and Career of Actor David Gulpilil; ; Theatrical Trailer; ; Plus: A Booklet Featuring an Essay by Author Paul Ryan

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jenny Agutter	Girl
Lucien John	Brother
David Gumpilil	Aborigine
John Meillon	Father
Peter Carver	No Hoper
John Illingsworth	Husband
Barry Donnelly	Australian Scientist
Noelene Brown	German Scientist
Carlo Manchini	Italian Scientist
Luc Roeg	Actor
David Gulpilil	Aborigine
John Barry	Composer

Technical Credits

Edward Bond

Nicolas Roeg	Director
Edward Bond	Screenwriter
Max L. Raab	Executive Producer,Producer
Si Litvinoff	Producer

Editorial Reviews

Arguably director Nicolas Roeg's most enduring success, Walkabout is a complex, poetic cinematic experience. Roeg's overactive sense of symbolism is well-suited to the films themes of loneliness, alienation and social consciousness. Walkabout retains the director's offbeat style -- very little dialogue, shifting points of view, graphic, often shocking images, and an almost misanthropic world view -- but has a coherence and emotional depth missing from much of his later work. Though film's plot is often fascinating, it is Roeg's use of the camera -- both in broad strokes and minute observations -- that propels the film. He treats his characters as just one aspect of the sumptuous beauty and horror at play in the Australian outback.

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