Cinema Nova, 06/09/2010
Status: Behind by 4 films
It’s taken a bloody long time for John Marsden’s beloved (if stupidly titled) book to get to the big screen. I was in high school when it first came out (seventeen years ago, for crying out loud) and still remember the story vividly.
Seven year eleven students go camping for a week deep in the bush while Australia is invaded by an un-named coalition army. Occupation happens very, very quickly and by the time the kids get back their small town is overcome and everyone is imprisoned at the showground. They become reluctant guerillas.
It’s a fairly literal adaptation of the book, although some of the flaws that the book takes time to explain away are less convincing on screen. While some elements are done very well (particularly the action set-pieces), others are not so good - mostly the scenes with talking in them. Either the dialogue was awfully done, or awfully delivered - maybe both - but at one intensely emotional point one character actually says - I shit you not - “she’s our mate, y’know. Our mate.” Inspiring stuff, no doubt.
If I wasn’t carrying around the memory of the book as I watched the film, I think I would have gotten very angry with some of the decisions made by writer/director STUART BEATTIE (who I'm already angry with for writing Australia). A major point of the book is the moral question about whether or not the invasion is justified. Australia is an enormous country with many resources - what are our responsibilities to our impoverished and densely populated near-neighbors? The film, however (set in a post-9/11 world where the books were not), quickly establishes that Invasion = Bad and Invaders = Bad Guys. It’s lucky Marsden told the story first, otherwise I would be very angry indeed.
