March 15, 2005

Fatal Shore, Cont'd

Fatal ShoreBen posted something in the previous reading group comments that I'd like to bump up for discussion:

I remember a conversation I had with one of my sister-in-law's college friends in Perth. She commented on how the defining focus of Australian movies was the underdog. Forgetting my manners, I blurted "Odd, I thought that was the main theme of American movies." Much later I realized that what she was talking about was movies where the underdog doesn't win in the end.

Posted by Martha Bridegam at March 15, 2005 09:35 PM
Comments

Doesn't sound like Muriel's Wedding ...

Posted by: Alan Allport at March 15, 2005 10:53 PM

I'm not sure I can come up with any examples to back up my observation, myself.

Posted by: Ben Brumfield at March 16, 2005 05:46 AM

I suppose Gallipoli might fit, though that film annoys me so I'm not sure if I want to talk about it.

Posted by: Alan Allport at March 16, 2005 07:09 AM

OK Alan I'll bite, why does the movie Gallipoli annoy you? (I remember feeling the publicity material was pretty condescending "From a place you have never heard of, a movie you will never forget" but what is it about the film?)

Paul Stables

Posted by: Paul Stables at March 16, 2005 08:12 AM

Basically the film is more about 1970s Australian nationalism than it is the First World War.

Posted by: Alan Allport at March 16, 2005 10:50 AM

Isn't there a similar film about the Boer War?

Posted by: Ben Brumfield at March 16, 2005 07:38 PM

Boer War - probably Breaker Morant
see: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080310/

Posted by: Paul Stables at March 17, 2005 01:11 AM

The real story of Breaker Morant (who incidentally was British) is a fascinating one, and the movie has its redeeming qualities, but it slips too often into "salt-of-the-earth Aussies downtrodden by The Man from 12,000 miles away".

Posted by: Alan Allport at March 17, 2005 04:30 AM

I should add that Peter Weir has for me absolved himself of his Gallipoli sins by making the astonishing Master and Commander.

Posted by: Alan Allport at March 17, 2005 04:32 AM

Peter Weir made that? Hm. He had a lot more than Gallipoli to atone for. He's the one who made Fearless.

Posted by: Alan Hogue at March 17, 2005 08:18 AM