‘I don’t suppose it matters which way we go...’
I often wonder how much someone’s perception of a film depends on the mood they are in at the time when they watch it. I went to see The Amazing Spider-Man 2 at the cinema on my birthday once, and in that moment, the film felt like a masterpiece. I’ve never returned to it because I don’t see how a second viewing could possibly live up to the experience I enjoyed first time around. Now, Walkabout from iconic British director Nicolas Roeg (Don’t Look Now, The Witches) is widely considered a classic. But I watched it late at night after a long, dismal day at work, and while I can see why it is so beloved elsewhere, on this occasion, it just didn’t chime with me…
Jenny Agutter and Luc Roeg play an unnamed teenage girl and her much younger brother who become stranded in the Australia outback after their father goes mad and tries to murder them before turning the gun on himself. Half-starved and out of water, the siblings are saved when they meet a young Aboriginal boy (David Gulpilil) who guides them to safety.
My issue with Walkabout is that the plot synopsis I describe above is over and done with inside the first 40 minutes (which I admittedly thoroughly enjoyed). From there, I found the second half of the film to be much more meandering and ultimately unsatisfying. While I understand that film is a visual medium, as an English teacher and lover of literature, my favourite films tend to be very dialogue heavy. This film is emphatically not that (understandably seen as the siblings and the boy don’t share a common language). That being said, Roeg’s spellbinding photography is as assured as ever, as is the editing, and both Agutter and Gulpilil deliver a pair of mature and layered performances that bely their young age. Indeed, the film is often linked to the idea of a loss of innocence, and Agutter demonstrates this concept perfectly.
Maybe the next time I watch Walkabout, I might be more open to what it has to offer, but on this occasion I found it to be a mostly frustrating but occasionally awe-inspiring experience.
