Olympics 2012 Film Part 5 - Poland, Romania, Finland, Japan, China & Australia

Australia €“ 432 Medals

Australia, has the privilege of being able to say it made the first ever full length feature film. In 1906, The Story of the Kelly Gang, was released. Coming in at 60mins and measuring in at about 1,200m, it was both the longest film on screen and off it, to exist at that time. With its cinema focusing on films about outlaws or bushrangers, as they came to be known, Australiawas prosperous in the early days of cinema. Films based around Ned Kelly and his gang were prominent, with the legendary status of the story leading to continuous returns throughout the country's cinematic history. However, this prosperous era did not last for long. When British and American production companies took over distribution in the country, Australian films were disregarded in favour of their filmic counterparts. With a strong history influenced by colonialism, this side of Australian history only got explored when the sound era began. However, with the vertical integration imposed by America and Britain, co-productions became the only way to ensure that cinemas would show their films. One of the worst facts in Australia€™s film history, is that thanks to the imperialism and a government which asphyxiated any domestic creativity, no domestic films were made between 1959 and 1966. In the late 1960s however, a change in government meant the arts were slowly being given freedom. With new Prime Ministers John Gorton and subsequently Gouth Whitlam, believing in cinema as a way to express national identity, the cinematic landscape of Australia gained optimism. Thus, in the 1970s, a new wave of cinematic expression occurred with 400 films being produced between 1970 and 1985, a stark positive contrast to previously poor domestic efforts. Since then, Australia has proved itself on the world stage, making films which are both domestic successes and popular globally. The only problem nowadays however, is a universal one; the lure of Hollywood. The majority of popular and successful Australian actors, actresses and directors have moved on to America and rarely do they return to make films in their native land. Bronze €“ Mary and Max (Adam Elliot, 2009) A superb exploration of Asperger syndrome, Mary and Max, is a unique Claymation film, which is depressing, uplifting and funny. It€™s not easy to blend all of those adjectives together, but Adam Elliot manages to with charm and confidence in his characters. It tells the story of two pen pals, Mary, a young Australian girl with a vivid imagination, an alcoholic mother and a melancholic father. Max, on the other hand, is an overweight loner living in New York, he suffers from anxiety attacks, is socially inept and has a merry-go-round of pet fish that die in imaginative ways. After randomly finding his name and address in a phone book, Mary, over the course of her life, writes to him and he responds, both, filling the void of companionship with each other€™s letters. Later on in life, Max wins the lottery, buying a lifetime supply of chocolate, whilst Mary, graduates with a degree in psychology, her thesis based on Max€™s Asperger€™s syndrome, which only works in infuriating Max and creating a rift in their relationship. Mary and Max, was a film that I am proud to admit brought me to tears; such is the power of the relationship of its main characters. Voiced by Toni Collette and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, the way their relationship develops from trivial discussions, to more serious matters, feels completely natural and the companionship, although separated by many years of age, feels completely authentic. Many have criticised the tonal jumps as jarring, but this is a consequence of their pen and paper relationship, which ultimately never truly reaches physical presence. They can never fully discuss their mental problems via letters and even in the physical form, many people shy away from talking about them. Perhaps it is the fact that it is animated that people find it to be jarring, perhaps not use to seeing animation deal with such issues. Either way, Mary and Max, is essential cinema whether animated, or not. Silver €“ Ten Canoes (Rolf De Heer, 2006)

Ten Canoes, is a film which shows an untainted Australia untouched by western forces, focusing on an Aboriginal tale, which was filmed for the first time ever in Aboriginal languages. A story within a story, it tells the tale of Dayindi, a young aborigine, who wants to be with one of the wives of his brother, Minygululu. Fearing that this could be a possibility, Minygululu, tells Dayindi a story about Ridjimiraril, a warrior of great importance, who believed a new stranger to the tribe would kidnap his second wife. With his paranoia in full flow, he accidentally kills a different member of a bordering tribe and the consequences affect, both, the mourning tribe and his own. A brilliant examination of, the otherwise ignored, Aborigine lifestyle, it explores the morals, ethics and politics of their people. The lives of the Aborigines, the indigenous population of Australia, may have been lost eminence over time, but Ten Canoes opens up their heritage for all to see. What's quite beautiful, is how the text doesn€™t allow itself to be constricted by narrative conventions with no real beginning, middle or end and its parable narrative benefits from this. As for the performances, they€™re all tremendously charming and engaging. With the actors playing both the roles of the frame story and the one within it, it becomes an impressive tour de force from amateur actors, which all add to its authentic look at a shamefully forgotten part of Australia's history. Gold €“ Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, 1975) One of the first films to truly impress from Australia€™s troubled cinematic history; Picnic at Hanging Rock, is an impressive film about the mysterious disappearance of a teacher and three of her pupils. On St Valentine€™s Day at the turn of the 20th century, an austere boarding school, goes on a field trip to Hanging Rock. When the teacher and her pupils go missing after entering a rock face, a search party is sent out to find them. Unfortunately, they find nothing and it isn't until one of the pupils unconscious body is found, Irma, that any part of the puzzle is found, but mysteriously, she remembers nothing. It is a haunting film, which by the films end the mystery remains just that, a mystery. In this respect Peter Weir builds a brilliant relationship between the film and its audience, we like the students at Hanging Rock remain oblivious to their whereabouts; we like them are mystified, confused and curious. So when they hassle Irma about what happened, it is a manifestation of the audiences frustration. It is a brilliant linkage, which transcends the screen and connects with the audience. Their frustration however is of course manifested out of the Victorian sexual repression of which they all abide by. I don€™t want to go into the sexual imagery on show at Hanging Rock, with its vagina tunnels and phallic rocks, but the event in which the film is based around has a lingering eroticism which is chilling. Weir has created an Australian Classic which is not so much a mystery film, they€™re normally resolved, but instead is a sexually repressed horror masterpiece.