Monday, August 24, 2009
NO CONNECTION
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Nicholas Roeg's
This is a film with a hard, hard message and the message is delivered with great beauty and grace. In a way it is a "people are no damn good" tract but underneath there is a different kinder message albeit pessimistic.
What a paradox, huh?
On the surface we see a couple of kids abandoned by their crazed dad in the desert way outside Adelaide, Australia. A full Volkswagen tank of gas far out.
The kids wander aimlessly until they connect with an aboriginal walkabout. A young man who is earning his adulthood by wandering alone for months across the wilderness.
The beauty of the desert, the grace of the young man, the story of their attempts to breach a vast cultural and spiritual gap are explored. This is not a noble savage kind of thing where the walkabout transforms the white kids. He fails quite miserably.
Civilization is spotted from time to time in this context and found wanting. There are many levels of meaning in this fine film. You are left to make your own conclusions.
I did not like the killing of animals which was not faked. I know. I should take visual and visceral responsibility for my fellow human animals. Sorry.
Roeg directed another film which has stayed with me forever, Don't Look Now with Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie. It will make you jump right out of your seat.
There are others. I will have a Roeg Fest in a few months.
For now, mark this down as a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
