WALKABOUT (1971)
Label: Umbrella Entertainment
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: M
Duration: 101 Minutes
Audio: English DTS_HS MA 2.0 Mono
Video: 108-p HD Widescreen (1.77:1)
Director: Nicolas Roeg
Cast: Jenny Agutter, Luc Roeg, David Gulpilil
In survival-thriller Walkabout (1971) a geologist father (John Meillon, Wake In Fright) takes his teenage daughter (Jenny Agutter, An American Werewolf in London) and adolescent son (Luc Roeg, We Need To Talk About Kevin) for a picnic in the Australian outback. While he sits inside his VW Bug sorting through geological reading materials the kids are having a picnic, Jenny playing happy homemaker while the younger brother plays with his toys among the rocks. Suddenly gunshots ring out, the father has inexplicably snapped, turning murderous, firing his revolver at his own children without explanation. The son thinks it's all a fun game, but the wiser sister snatches her brother and they run for their lives. The father calls out for them to return but when they fail to do so he douses himself and the car in gasoline, shoots himself in the head with his revolver, and both he and the vehicle go up in flames.
Many miles from anywhere the girl and young boy find themselves travelling the Australian outback with very few resources at their disposal, they're not dressed for survival, and have very little food and water. They find a small oasis under a tree with a small spring bubbling up beneath it, but the next day it disappears, and the teenage girl begins to realize that they're in quite a pickle. Luckily for them they are happened upon by an aboriginal boy (David Gulpilil, Mad Dog Morgan) with whom they travel with, neither speak the language of the other, but the young boy does manage to form a rudimentary form of sign language with the aborigine boy, enabling very basic communication.
The film is largely wordless endeavor, a visually stunning slice of filmmaking that captures the gorgeous yet inhospitable terrain of the Australian Outback, exploring themes of communication and human connection, and also underscoring the disharmony of modern man and nature. I fragmented narrative is punctuated by dichotomous scenes of the aboriginal teen hunting and slaughtering animals while intercut with scenes of a modern butcher, as if to say it's not that much different, though scenes of a kangaroo and other animals being killed might still prove to be offensive to some viewers, but no less offensive than scenes of modern hunters shooting large quantities of water buffalo with rifles and slaughtering them.
The young cast here is quite remarkable, Gulpilil is an engaging presence, always chatting away in his native tongue despite the fact that his words are lost on his new found white friends. Agutter as the maternal older sister looks after her younger sibling, protecting him from the hard truths he's too naive to really ponder, he seems carefree, actually enjoying his extended picnic in the outback throughout the film with all the curiosity of a rambunctious child, never quite aware of how precarious and dire thing really are.
Audio/Video: Walkabout (1971) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Umbrella Entertainment utilizing what looks to be - based on the Janus Films logo and a quick comparison - the same 2K restoration used by Criterion for their Blu-ray, framed in 1.77:1 widescreen and presented in 1080p HD. The image looks very good, there's a bit of softness at times inherent to the source, but colors generally are strong, blacks are deep, and grain looks natural without looking manipulated.
Audio on the disc comes by way of an English DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0 track that is crisp and clean, the atmospheric score John Barry floats nicely in the mix, unfortunately there are no subtitles.
While the A/V is on par with Criterion's Blu-ray release this release is lacking virtually all the extras from the Criterion release. The only extras on this disc is the audio commentary with director Nicolas Roeg and
actor Jenny Agutter, who were recorded separately back in '96 for the original Criterion DVD release. It's an excellent listen, Agutter speaks about her experience as an actress on the film, including some scene specific stuff, while Roeg gets very cinematic with his discussion of filmmaking, the most interesting aspect of it being his observations about his time working with aboriginal actor David Gulpill.
The single-disc Blu-ray is labeled as region B locked but played just fine on both my Sony Blu-ray and LG 4K players. The release comes housed in an oversized Blu-ray keepcase with a reversible sleeve of artwork, both sides featuring what looks to be the original British movie poster artwork with new David Gulpilil element added, one side featuring the Australian ratings logo, the other without, the same artwork is featured on the disc. I love the artwork, the only niggle I have of it is how the title Walkabout is split into two words, but that's exactly how it appears on the vintage British poster as well, and it's a very minor complaint all things considered.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with director Nicolas Roeg and Actor Jenny Agutter
With each subsequent viewing of Walkabout I pick-up on things that escaped me during past viewings, the film is rich in emotion and themes, so it's the sort of film that long after the first watch will offer new discoveries. On purely a surface level the film is chock full of visual splendor, from the sun-burnt landscapes to a deep natural spring it's a thing of beauty.