This week on Fabulous Film and Friends we are pointing our compasses southward to the land of doom and gloom:
Australia!
Don’t be fooled by the likes of Paul Hogan, Yahoo Serious and Thor, underneath that loopy, whimsical Australian charm, lies an unparalleled grim and sober yet prophetic outlook about life on Earth as evidenced by 1971’s Walkabout directed by Nicholas Roeg, though full disclosure: he’s an Englishman who shepherded Jenny Agutter, Luc Roeg, David Gulpilil and John Meillion to cinematic prominence, then 1982’s The Road Warrior aka Mad Max 2 directed by George Miller and starring Mel Gibson, Bruce Spence, Kjell Nillson, Max Phipps, Vernon Wells, Mike Preston, Arkie Whitely, Viginia Hey and Emil Minty then topped off with The Road directed by Australian native John Hillcoat and starring Viggo Mortenson, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Charlize Theron, Garrett Dillahunt, the late Michael Kenneth Williams, Guy Pearce and Robert Duvall.
My guests today are once again the series regulars who have both the stomach and gloomy disposition to take solace in rewatching these films back-to-back-to-back, Roseanne Caputi and Alex Robertson.
Okay before we go on a walkabout of our own, the synopses:
In Walkabout, a perfectly ordinary pair of upper-class English siblings get lost in the Australian outback after their father takes them for a picnic then tries to murder them. They look to be perfect candidates for either heat stroke and/or vulture food until they are rescued by a young Aboriginal teen out on his Walkabout.
The Road Warrior/Mad Max 2 raises the stakes of the original Mad Max and picks up the story with ex cop Max Rockatansky travelling the barren, hellish, post-apocalyptic highways and stumbling upon an evil road gang led by a brute named Lord Humungus. Humungus is hellbent on invading a compound belonging to a group of civilized and intelligent settlers who have built an oasis around the last of the oil wells and have running lights and supplies. Losing numbers and their morale under the constant attacks of Humungus, the settlers hatch a plan to escape the vermin on wheels and flee to the coast with their oil in tow. With the help of Max and a pilot called the Gyro Captain, the settlers are given a slim chance to survive.
In The Road a Man risks all to protect his Boy and teach him survival skills in another bleak and nightmarish future where all plant and animal life is gone and the dominant humans subsist through murder and cannibalism.
Which film is king of the outback/queen of the end times?
Find out!