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| Walkabout [1971] | ![Walkabout [1971]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41PCXYCNERL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Nicolas Roeg
Actors: Jenny Agutter, Luc Roeg, David Gulpilil, John Meillon, Robert Mcdarra
Studio: Uca
Category: DVD
List Price: £9.99
Buy New: £5.92
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (20 reviews)
Sales Rank: 7598
Format: Pal
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Media: DVD
Running Time: 96 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
UPC: 044007805824
EAN: 0044007805824
ASIN: B00004YA8Z
Release Date: November 3, 2008 (In 66 Days)
Theatrical Release Date: June 1971
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
Very few films achieve subliminal greatness with cross-cultural impact, but Walkabout is one of those films--a visual tone poem that functions more as an allegory than a conventionally plotted adventure. Considered a cult favourite for years, Nicolas Roeg's 1971 film centres upon two British children who are rescued in the Australian outback by a young aborigine. Through exquisite cinematography and a story of subtle human complexity, the film continues to resonate on many thematic and artistic levels. Just as Roeg intended, it is a cautionary morality tale in which the limitations and restrictions of civilisation become painfully clear when the two children (played by Jenny Agutter and Roeg's young son, Lucien John) cannot survive without the aborigine's assistance. They become primitives themselves, if only temporarily, while the young aborigine proves ultimately and tragically unable to join the "family" of civilisation. With its story of two worlds colliding, Walkabout now seems like a film for the ages, hypnotic and open to several compelling levels of interpretation. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
Special Features
English
Region 2
Synopsis
After a pair of British children are abandoned in the Australian outback, they join up with a young Aborigine who is performing his traditional, coming-of-age rite of passage, the Walkabout. A commentary on pastoral simplicity versus cosmopolitan clutter, this haunting film marked Nicholas Roeg's directorial debut. Based on the novel by James Vance Marshall.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 15 more reviews...
 Walkabout August 18, 2008
"Into my heart a air that chills from far yon country blows"...... a most beautiful film, visual poetry a sumptious feast from Roeg, we are taken with Agutter and a young Roeg Junior across the Australian Outback when the two siblings are abandoned by their Father's suicide and botched attempts to kill them. They are befriended and saved by a young Aborigine and together they experience their own rites of passage. The most vivid and memorable scene is when later Agutter now an adult has a flashback over her husbands' shoulder and we are taken back to that lost land of innocence and freedom one to which she can never return as can none of us
Deserves to be seen by all April 1, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Walkabout portrays the exact opposite cultures of modern British civilization and Australian aboriginal society in a film of unusual depth and beauty. It is based around a child and a teenager who become reliant on an aborigine man-child for survival after being 'abandoned' by their father.
While I wasn't expecting much from Walkabout (I purchased it because it was on my Amazon recommendations and it was cheap), I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with the film. The first-rate acting from all is brilliant and helps to create very real characters with a sense of innocence and helplessness. The film is very artistic in showing the exquisiteness yet harshness of the Australian landscapes as well as its diverse wildlife. The impact of the photography and the good visual imagery is what makes this film such a pleasure to watch and I enjoyed the exploration of the cultural differences and rather sad undertones. Walkabout also has a good soundtrack throughout with further enhances the entertainment value.
The film does have a rather slow pace but personally it didn't bother me as I didn't become bored, in fact it was quiet relaxing not to be on the edge of your seat for a change and just being able to sit back and enjoy a film that's not laced with special effects. By the end of it you are left with a few unanswered questions, but in this case, it's forgivable. I should point out that Walkabout does have some strong nudity, while it's not sexual in its context, and has been done tastefully, some viewers (or parents) may find it 'inappropriate' considering the films 12 classification.
But overall an impressive and absorbing production that makes you think. Walkabout deserves to be seen by all.
not always subtle, but still poetic January 10, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The symbolism of this film is not exactly subtle: the noble savage is contrasted with such emblems of civilization as ridiculous school uniforms, full ash-trays, high-rise buildings and trivial office politics. But it is still a magnificent film. The issues it addresses are important, the acting is superb, the photography is magnificent. And the final nostalgic scene IS more subtle, because it is a fantasy, and does not relate to the girl's actual experience in the outback. This is one of my top 20 films.
It is a pity that the producers of (some versions of) this DVD have chosen to use Jenny Agutter's naked body as a selling point. While not entirely irrelevant, it accounts for a few seconds of the film. (And for those who want to see JA with nothing on, there are plenty of other opportunities.)
Based upon the novel by the same Author of THE ISLAND AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD (The Lost Ones) January 9, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Donald Gordon Payne (born January 3, 1924 in London) is an English author.
Using James Vance Marshall as a pseudonym, Payne has written such books as A River Ran Out of Eden (1962) and White-Out (1999). His most famous book is probably Walkabout (1959), first published as The Children and later made into a movie starring Jenny Agutter.
Payne has also used Ian Cameron and Donald Gordon as pseudonyms. As Donald Gordon, he has published, among others, Riders of the Storm (2002), an official history of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. As Ian Cameron, he has written The Lost Ones (1961), later dramatized by Disney as The Island at the Top of the World, as well as The Mountain at the Bottom of the World and The White Ship (1975).
He has also edited several Reader's Digest volumes such as the Travels & Adventure series.
He lives in Surrey, England, and has four sons and one daughter.
Subtle but Powerful Social Commentary July 16, 2007
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
Walkabout is introduced in the film as an important period in the life of an Aborigine. A time at the age of sixteen or so that the man-child must survive in the bush by himself for six months. If he survives he is a man, if not...well he really isn't anything because he's probably dead. Going into the film my understanding of Walkabout was sort of a break from white society into the traditional Aboriginal lifestyle for a period of time. The other use of Walkabout that I have heard is in reference to a British Monarch or some higher level of person walking around greeting folks in the public. Director Nicholas Roeg seems to understand the various uses of this word as well and ties them in with the maturation of the film's core characters. The parallels make for some very exciting social commentary and the film subtly layers itself and it's characters further and further. For that, Roeg's film in perspective can be seen as two very different kinds of films and split it's audience enormously. One crowd may say that Walkabout is extremely slow and boring while the other crowd will hail the film as a fantastic artistic achievement. Understandably so for both sides I suppose, but I do count myself among the latter group.
Walkabout follows two young English kids, one a fourteen-year-old girl and the other a six-year-old boy (I think) as they are abandoned in the middle of the vast Australian outback. The abandonment itself is quite perplexing and I was fairly confused as to how it was handled, but you'll see that addressing those unanswered questions is not what Roeg's film sets out to do at all. Placing these children's survival in the arms of a 16 year old aborigine during his Walkabout is the stage that needs to be set to allow for some far more interesting questions that the audience can ask themselves about how we are all living. To paraphrase Lucas Haas in Tim Burton's "Mars Attacks", I wish we could all just live in Tee-pees...it would be better that way. Who doesn't wield an idealistic anarcho-primitivist message deep in their hearts? It also makes some outstanding observations on maturing into manhood and womanhood. Anyway, let those inquiries enter your brain how you like, but know that this is a smart film that calls for some patience in exchange for it's great rewards. I'm getting a little fuzzy here and I really don't want to urge my own observations on you.
There are aspects besides its pace that will turn some viewers away. Firstly, the violence against animals is real and pretty hard, so PETA activists beware. Secondly, it was PG when it came out but the nudity shown here from Agutter is actually too graphic for R ratings today. Thirdly; again, this film is not exactly box office gold with its lower budget and slower pace, so if you find yourself unable to sit through films that don't contain explosions or CGI then you should pass as well.
In a simple concluding scene that hits hard for me, the girl is now older and married, and she remembers back to when she didn't understand the things she knows now. It's a simple, melancholy and I believe universal feeling that's part of growing up. Perhaps she loved the aboriginal boy that saved her life and she couldn't understand his advances as a child. Perhaps she would now be willing to cross into that culture as she sees the truth now. Then again, maybe she was just reflecting on what is no doubt a very unique and significant experience to her. Something those who surround her in adulthood could never fully understand. It's a wonderful film and Roeg pulls no punches to give us everything he has and everything he intends to show us.
Many celebrate Walkabout for it's cinematography, and deservably so as its among the most beautifully shot films of it's time...but it's a lot more than that. Walkabout is sad, compelling and thoughtful. I'm glad to see Criterion recognize it with this DVD.
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