Wake in Fright - film review

It's a high season for machismo at the movies. Wake in Fright, an oldie reissued as a goldie, is a restoration drama from Australia: by which I don't mean persons in frilly cuffs flouncing about saying "La!" These would be shot dead in "Bundunyabba". Hard-drinking, male-bonding, kangaroo-slaughtering Aussies, awash in amber fluid, take a young English teacher (Gary Bond) under their wing. Result: a moral and spiritual buddy-gangbang, horrifying and hilarious, set in the outback.

Unpopular with Australian audiences in its 1971 release year - no one wants to look in a mirror and see an ugly face - the film vanished from screens for three decades. It was restored and shown at Cannes in 2009, where celebrity ravers included Nick Cave and Martin Scorsese. Funny and scary, it boasts a collector's performance from Donald Pleasence as the doctor you wouldn't want for your GP. The nocturnal kangaroo hunt scene, hideously violent, has gathered a coterie notoriety. The hunt was witnessed, not staged, by the filmmakers. They were so horrified they finally caused a power outage - no lights, therefore no more gunfire - to end it. The movie is sometimes hard to watch. Once watched, hard to forget.

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