WALKABOUT, 40 years later

WALKABOUT (1971)─Two young children, a boy (Luc Roeg) and a teen-age schoolgirl (Jenny Augutter) are stranded in the Australian outback.  Their father drives them far into the desert, where they stop for what they expect to be an idyllic  family picnic. Suddenly, without warning, their father begins shooting at them. When the two children run for cover, he sets the car on fire and kills himself. The boy and the girl are now completely lost and alone.

 

      By dawn the next day, both children are weak from exposure. Discovering a small pool with a fruit tree, the boy and the girl unashamed, take off their clothes and spend the next few hours blissfully  playing and bathing naked. Next morning, the pool has dried up, just as they are about to despair, they meet an Aboriginal boy on "walkabout," a ritualistic journey where he must leave his tribe, live off the land, and prove his manhood. The young Aboriginal boy (David Gulpilil) and the girl cannot communicate, but across the void they make a connection, a universal understanding of humanity.  With the Aboriginal boy as their guide, the two white children learn how to survive in the outback.

 

      The three children travel together for several days, with the Aborigine boy sharing food he has caught hunting. Together they learn to communicate using words and gestures. These characters have no names, yet in their anonymity, they represent us.  At one point the Aboriginal boy and the girl notice each other’s naked bodies, there is a definite spark of chemistry between them that transcends the 40,000 years of primordial human existence that separates a common English Schoolgirl and the black Aboriginal boy. The girl is naked and the boy watches as she swims in a deep pool.

 

      Walkabout is about many things, but is known for principally only one thing: Jenny Augutter’s nude scenes. Jenny Augutter was just 16 years-old at the time of principal photography was for Walkabout. I think there is something  missing in the discussion when we consider the morality of the depiction of a young girl's naked body. The the film is about the natural world, being naked is a natural state. The two children are dying, dehydrated, the water in the pool represents life. The scene represents the most honest reaction in the world, to take off ones clothes and immerse oneself in the life giving water. A brother and sister naked together?  I for one don't have a problem with that. First of all the human body is beautiful, and secondly lets be upfront and honest, Jenny Augutter is one beautiful girl! The overall undertones of child pornography are nothing more than the egregious western prudery.

 

     Although this is a sound film, and the characters talk to one another, this film has no real meaningful dialogue, it is a purely visual film, yet it speaks volumes.  Director Nicolas Roeg’s (“Don't Look Now”) cinematographic skills are clearly on display, he has a special admiration for the sweeping vistas of Australia’s awesome scenic landscape as well as the sensuality of Jenny Augutter naked body.  The whole effect is embellished by John Barry’s sublimely magical score. This is perhaps the most naked movie ever filmed without a hint of sexuality.

     
Walkabout *** ½