You’ll never want to drink alcohol again. Unless you don’t already, in which case, good for you.
Peter O’Toole, excuse me, Garry Bond stars as restless teacher John Grant who is embarking on a Christmas trip to Sydney. Forced to work in the one-horse town of Tiboonda as part of terms of a government deal he is looking for some rest-bite from the teeny town with a trip to Sydney. Before he gets there though there is a stop over at the town of Bundanyabba (“The Yabba” as locals call it). Deciding to get himself a quiet drink he winds up getting drunk with a policeman (Jock Crowford), introduced to a simple came called two-up Mr. Grant sees a way out of his financial strangle hold but shockingly things don’t go his way and he ends up loosing what little money he had. Hungover and essentially stranded he takes to another local pub where a man in look of conversation offers to buy him a drink, thus continuing what ends up being a five day cycle of being hungover, drinking, getting into ridiculous situations and repeating until John finally breaks.
For anyone who has lived the cliched life of a uni student, been on an extended drinking holiday or has even faced alcoholism they is much that will be uncomfortably familiar and something nostalgic about the films treatment of booze. The title Wake in Fright seems to be a comment on the action itself. Suddenly coming to in a panic about where you are and what you’ve done the night before. The trajectory of teacher John Grant from well spoken and well-to-do to abject misery is quick but never feels rushed. He quickly falls down the rabbit hole of despair all brought on the inviting locals who all just want to drink.
If you’re the sort of person who feels ill at ease meeting new people, especially if your a bookish type being introduced to confidant sporty types the uncomfortable first meeting is perfectly summed up in the films unsure meetings between Grant and the locals, you can talk to anyone when you’re smashed. The film runs with a constant feeling of unease. Every time Grant finds himself in a new situation with a different person, who eye’s him up to get the measure of him, there is always a sense that violence is not far behind. It’s that underpinning theme that have led some people to label Wake in Fright as a horror. A social horror film absolutely. Instead of avoiding a killer’s blade though Bond has to avoid an inviting beer.
The unrelenting heat of the Australian outback sizzles through every frame. Every sip of a first quenching beer, every dry gulp of a sick inducing hangover beer is perfectly realized. The photography is beautiful. The opening shot reminiscent of the opening of Once Upon a Time in the West, a train track, a saloon and nothing for miles around. In all seriousness Garry Bond could be Peter O’Toole’s brother in both look and voice. He manages to convey Grant’s frustration, struggling dignity and eventual collapse with aplomb. Donald Pleasance, everyone’s favourite go-to crazy from the 1960/70’s plays crazed alcoholic this time round. A constant reminder to Grant that what he could become if he let’s himself go to drink. Pleasance is amazing as a doctor and and intellectual who has simply given in and accepted that he is an alcoholic. One moment eloquent, the next destroying windows whilst screaming for no reason.
Their are graphic scenes in the film of an extended kangaroo hunt that some may find problematic. To be honest I got a little tired of seeing kangaroos getting bullet riddled for real and the general treatment of them seems to go to far. Story-wise it shows Grant’s increasingly messed up surroundings but did so many kangaroos have to die on film? That aside Wake in Fright is a lost gem that has finally and thankfully been unearthed. Terrifying, funny, well acted, well shot. It could very well be the Film of the Year so far, made in 1970.
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