Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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67 of 69 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The most beautiful film I have ever seen!, 19 Jun 2000
By A Customer
Nicholas Roeg's second film as director, Walkabout, is truly the most beautiful and incredible film I have ever seen (although I say this at the tender age of fourteen)! It tells the story of a father taking his two children, nineteen-year-old Jenny Agutter and six-year-old brother Lucien Roeg (the director's real-life son), on a picnic deep in the Australian outback, where he suddenly commits suicide and leaves them to fend for themselves. They make their way, bewildered and lost, through the hot, dry desert, having no contact with the outside world and fast running out of food and water, before encountering a teenage Aboriginal boy out on his test of endurance, a 'walkabout'. This walkabout, where a boy leaves the tribe and survives on his own for months, is part of his passage into manhood, and is a part of every Aboriginal boy's life. Having befriended the boy, the white children learn more of how to survive in the outback, while there is growing sexual chemistry in the relationship between the girl and the Aborigine. I won't spoil the rest of the film!Nicholas Roeg's direction and camerawork are simply beautiful. He films wildlife in close-up, sometimes grainy images, and inserts surreal flashback sequences and comparisons between the Aboriginal and Western worlds. The film shows how prim, English Jenny Agutter becomes gradually more dishevelled and natural as she adapts, and the crucial turning point is when she swims naked in a pool. Her relationship with the Aborigine, which has to overcome poignant difficulties such as the language barrier and culture clash, is touchingly shown. The acting is superb, making the story believable and moving. I was captivated from start to finish. The score, by John Barry, is perfect and atmospheric. The scenery, and Roeg's intense use of it and the animals found there, is spellbinding. All in all, the film is just so incredibly beautiful and moving that I felt I had to write a review. It is a genuine must-see.
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31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An unforgettable journey, 25 Mar 2005
By A Customer
Nicolas Roeg is one of the most daring and original directors that British cinema has ever produced. In "Walkabout", a 19-year old Jenny Agutter and her kid brother are left stranded in the Australian outback when their father commits suicide on a family picnic. They wander through the wilderness and meet a young aboriginal man who protects them and develops an unrequited attraction for Agutter... It's a beautifully shot, meditative drama about freedom, nature, innocence and survival. I will say this though, that while "Walkabout" is one of Roeg's most stunning movies, it isn't necessarily a film that you would want to watch over and over again. Though I love it, I tend to watch it once every few years, mainly for the beautiful cinematography... It's a quiet, contemplative film without a lot of dialogue or action, so maybe rent it first and see if it's your cup of tea. But no serious film fan should ignore it. And check out Roeg's other movies, too!
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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A truly remarkable film, 29 Jul 2004
What more can I add to the other reviews of Nic Roeg's spellbinding,unforgettable and cryptic movie? The multitude of memorable visual moments and set pieces are its appeal. When their father inexplicably tries to shoot them and then kills himself, two youngsters are stranded in the Australian Outback, where they are rescued on the brink of starvation by a lone aboriginal boy.(David Gumpilil) Together, they begin the long, arduous trek back to civilisation. It is the combination of sumptous cinematography of a beautiful and frightening landscape, a fantastic score by John Barry (probably his best ever) and Roeg's portrayal of the touching, complicated and ultimately tragic relationship that builds between the protagonists, that makes this work so effective. Jenny Agutter, in a role infinately more faceted and mature than in 'The Railway Children' (which this incidently predates by a number of months) has most of the infrequent dialogue and carries the story along superbly, but it's the final scene, a memory, a flashback to something that may or may not have happened, that stays with you long, long after the final credits have rolled.
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