Wake in Fright (Kotcheff, 1971): Prince Charles Cinema, 3.15pm
This screening is the theatrical English premiere of the new 4K Restoration, courtesy of Arrow Video.
Chicago Reader review:
Ted Kotcheff (First Blood, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz)
directed this forgotten Australian masterpiece (1971) about an arrogant
Sydney schoolteacher (Garry Bond) who's slowly driven mad after a
prolonged stay in the Yabba, a desolate mining town in the middle of the
Australian outback. After gambling away every dollar he has, Bond
succumbs to the aggressive hospitality of the locals, and they condition
him to their brutish lifestyle, which seems to consist mostly of
constant drinking, random fistfights, anarchic destruction of other
people's property, and kangaroo hunting. A Conradian parable of a man
succumbing to the wild, the film is remarkable for its raw, pointed
depiction of human behavior. Push a man too far, Kotcheff suggests, and
you'll find the beast concealed behind the mask of propriety.
Drew Hunt
Here (and above) is the trailer.
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