Tracks

Robyn (Mia Wasikowska) arrives in Alice Springs, determined to make the 1,700 mile journey to Australia's west coast on foot across the desert, accompanied by camels and her dog. This film tells of her preparation and the outcome of her journey.

Despite the fact that it is often leisurely in the telling of Robyn's true story and that Robyn is, for much of the running time, the only person on screen, it is never less than engaging. We get some idea of what drove Robyn to undertake this project (although there is no glib, clear explanation of her motivations), and we meet some of the people she encountered (and one of the enjoyable elements in this film is the development of National Geographical photographer Rick (Adam Driver) - truly annoying when we first meet him, by the end he is much more in tune with what Robyn's objectives have been).

Mia Wasikowska is very good in this gently moving film, but the real stars of this beautifully photographed story are the Australian desert and the camels.

There is a small amount of dramatically justifiable bad language and some animal upset involved.

Tracks is a film that was over 30 years in the making with actresses like Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts being attached to the project. Lead by Mia Wasikowska, Tracks is an interesting, thematic character study.

In the mid-seventies, Robyn Davidson (Wasikowska) is a determined young woman who leaves the big city behind for Alice Springs in the middle of Australia. She plans to raise money and gain skills before attempting to cross the Australian deserts to the Indian Ocean: a journey of 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometres). With sponsorship from National Geographic, she sets off with her dog and four camels and meets American photographer Rick Smolan (Adam Driver) at various points on her journey.

Wasikowska gives a fantastic, compelling performance as a young determined woman who puts herself through a massive physical and mental toll. She is a character who is uncomfortable with modern society, and everyone she meets, from her friends to hardened outback men, think she is mad for wanting to take such a dangerous journey.

Robyn is a character who has to negotiate for everything she wants to complete her journey and she is determined to do it her own way. She is in the shadow of her father who was himself an explorer and disappeared in Australian wilderness. Robyn is haunted by her past as she has flashbacks during her journey about the various tragedies of her life.

Some of the best moments in Tracks are when Robyn is all alone in the wild, giving Wasikowska a fantastic opportunity to show off her a talents, as she goes through the emotional stresses she endures. She is believable as she treks through the hostile environment, battling for survival and doing for her the unimaginable, including shooting wildlife and having to discipline her camels.

As she progresses on her journey her sense of reality is questioned, affected by both her isolation and the hot, physical environment. This is amplified by the direction of John Curran, who adds to the surreal nature of these sequences and the fantastic cinematography by Mandy Walker, who truly highlights the beautiful landscape while still showing it as hot, dry and harsh.

The main focus of Tracks is Robyn's personal journey yet it still looks at some wider issues particularly the treatment of Aboriginal people. This theme is prevalent throughout the film, starting early as one Aboriginal person suffers racial abuse, and keeps going as Aboriginal people are seen living in poverty or gawked at by tourists. Even people who have good intentions are disrespectful of their traditions. Robyn ends up being a character who has more affinity with the Aboriginal people and fellow loners and outsiders than with mainstream society.

Tracks is in keeping with films about outsiders looking for a purpose in their lives, like Into the Wild. It is a brilliantly acted film blessed with excellent visuals and themes to easily sink your teeth into.

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To be honest at first this movie didn't seem like it would be interesting to sit through for almost 2 hours. A girl walks across the desert with her camels, what's interesting about that? Well if you go into this movie thinking that, you'll come out pleasantly surprised.

At every turn there is something new and unexpected that happens. The challenges that Robyn faced on her journey were incredible. This film was based on a true story and was adapted from a book. Mia Wasikowska's acting was superb, it really took you on a journey. From start to finish this film was visually spectacular. The vast Australian outback was stunning and amazing to see on screen.

I would recommend this film to anyone is up for an inspirational story. 7/10.

Tracks is the true story of Robyn Davidson, a 27 year old woman from Brisbane who in 1977 decided to embark on a 1,677 mile trek from Alice Springs to the Indian Ocean, crossing the Australian outback. She did it mainly alone, aside from four camels and a faithful dog. She was helped a little by a photographer who organised financial backing for her trip from National Geographic magazine and with whom she had brief romantic involvement on her trip, while she was also assisted on the way by some Aboriginals who guided her though sacred lands of theirs. The trip in total took nine months.

This is one of those movies where the adventure itself is used as a means of the lead character exploring themselves as well as the more literal physical journey. Davidson endures both physical and psychological hardships along the way. While she never really goes into any detail as to why she is impelled to embark on her journey, we understand from various dream-like flashbacks that her mother committed suicide when she was an infant and this event has gone some way into shaping her the way she is. She is a loner and very self-contained but her subsequent adventure makes her realise more fully in the importance of others and that relying and respecting other folks is no bad thing and her own personal goals should at the very least be offset against these aspects.

Mia Wasikowska is very good as Davidson, she is quite believable in the role in a way that a lot of other actresses would not be, while Adam Driver also makes a mark as the photographer who is a little annoying but essentially a good person. The dramatics are fairly sparse here though because ultimately this is a film about solitude to a large extent. Consequently, a lot of the focus is on the landscape, terrain and animals. The excellent photography is very effective here in capturing both the beauty but also the harsh arid nature of this world. And the camels and dog are elevated to important and lovable characters and are also photographed very well. It should also be pointed out here that Wasikowska really seems to have put herself in some danger with her up and close interactions with some pretty scary mouth-frothing camels. This is clearly a role she committed herself to fully.

I always think that the Australian outback is such a cinematic place and its long flat horizons are particularly well suited to the widescreen frame – think Walkabout (1971), Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) or the more conventional recent Mystery Road (2013). It's specific combination of untamed nature, enigmatic indigenous people, functional isolated settlements and the western world close but so far away is a concoction that is unusual and ensures that Australian films set in the outback do often have their own unique feeling. Tracks is another in this type and it is appealing for all of these reasons. It, of course, has the added advantage of being a true story which always lends something extra. I'm not sure if you could exactly describe it as a travelogue picture though, as aside from brief sequences featuring the likes of Uluru, its landscape is far more harsh and arid and not precisely what you would describe as beautiful. Because of this, it feels like an authentic depiction of the real event. It's a quite minimalistic example of the biopic and a very good one.

I had been very excited about this movie after seeing the trailer. The story is exhilarating and after watching movies like "Into the Wild" and "127 Hours," I was waiting to see what was in store. As I sat down in my seat to see this at the San Francisco Film Festival I decided to erase all anticipation of the movie and just sit. The lights dimmed down, the audience shuffled into comfortable positions, and then began the movie. Almost two hours passed, and the film's credits began. The audience sat in their seats, myself included. We were mesmerized by John Curran's adaptation, Mia Wasikowska's tremendous performance, and Mandy Walker's impeccably/beautifully captured imagery. What stood out to me the most, though, was the perspectives of isolation and companionship. Marion Nelson did a fantastic job at taking the elements of the autobiography that gave us those perspectives, and as we watched Mia struggle through the desert with her four camels, dog, and occasionally the photographer (played by a genuine Adam Driver), we all began to understand her points of views in life as well as ourselves. So much motif was done with the desert, which I have to applaud John Curran for doing. I will be seeing this film again when it is released, and I hope you will too!