Wake in Fright (1971)
Australia/US 114m, Colour
Director: Ted Kotcheff; Cast: Gary Bond, Donald Pleasence, Chips Rafferty, Sylvia Kay, John Meillon, Jack Thompson
Wake in Fright is a dark psychological drama based on Kenneth Cook’s 1961 novel of the same name about John Grant, a school teacher who is contractually coerced to work in outback Australia. Finding himself destitute in “the Yabba” after losing all his money the night before he is to leave for Sydney, John’s life quickly spirals out of control in an alcohol fueled spree of unwanted sexual encounters, debauchery and kangaroo killing. Wake in Fright is an original gritty, dusty and dirty nightmare that explores how individual will can be usurped by mob mentality, no matter how damaging the behavior (Klaus Ming November 2016).
4 comments on “Wake in Fright (1971)”
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Interesting film, the hunting scenes will take a while to fade, I read that the director was/is a vegan which made for a rough nights filming for him. It come across in the final film.
Overall, a pretty memorable film. The hunting scenes were pretty brutal, and while the postscript on the film indicated that the scenes were shot “during an actual kangaroo hunt by professional licensed hunters” – it didn’t make it any easier to watch.
No it didn’t it just makes it more real because it wasn’t staged (not that you can a hunt). I think because it looks staged, how the camera was there to capture each death. We are too used to seeing “no animals were harmed…” to realise what is real and not.
I agree, we have gotten used to being told that no animals were hurt in the making of most modern films. There are a number of films on the 1001 list that portray the abuse and killing of animals – dreadful stuff.