After the Deluge

"After the Deluge" has to be the pinnacle of Australian television. Bringing together an impeccable cast which includes Hugo Weaving, Rachel Griffiths, David Wenham, Samuel Johnson, Catherine Clements and Ray Barrett the show seems set for acting brilliance. But Australian productions have brought together amazing acting talent such as this in the past and failed to deliver.

Fortunately, here we not only have brilliant acting but writing talent that defies words. Moving and inspirational comes close. Andrew Knight who has been responsible for a lot of what is good about Australian TV (Simone de Beauvoir's Babies, My Brother Jack, Kangaroo Palace and Sea Change) has brought it all together with "After the Deluge". Here is an intricate weaving together of the lives of three brothers trying to come to terms with their own failures and the destruction of their hopes and dreams, as their father slips further into his past life via the White Rabbit hole of Altzheimers. What they can never know and what the audience is privileged to be allowed to see, is that their father also suffered through the destruction of his hopes and dreams. To them he was just a cantankerous, domineering father who never showed them or their mother any love. But the audience knows the truth and all the characters are portrayed sympathetically despite their faults.

The imagery of water reflected in the title is used to represent birth, death and rebirth. The score is superb. A combination of classical violin and contemporary rock guitar, it reflects not only the musical generation gap represented by the struggle between patriarch Cliff Kirby (Ray Barrett) and his oldest son Martin (Hugo Weaving), but the movement between the eras as Cliff slips in and out of the past.

`After the Deluge' is superb Television and in this era when Reality TV and lifestyle programs dominate the ratings and Australian production companies, it's so good to see quality dramatic television still getting commercial attention. Kudos to Channel Ten for producing what is usually left up to the beleaguered ABC.

A Dad estranged from his three sons, suffers from Alzheimer's and enters a nursing home. As we relive his old memories good and bad, the boys deal with major turning points in their own lives. This is a pretty sad movie and it has it's moments. Overall it has a good cast and they do well.

If you only have 8 reviews of this, I'll add a ninth, just to tell the rest of the world that this is a movie to see if you ever get the chance. A psychological drama full of real people, coping with the real world difficulties of life, with the tragedy of their father's Alzheimers juxtaposed with the dramas the three sons are living through. A terrific cast, wall-to-wall quality performances, with Ray Barrett taking the honours as the old man battling the infirmities and indignities of his helplessness, and clinging on to the memories he most treasures. Rachel Griffiths was also at her best in this one. It's so absorbing, the three hours pass all too quickly. Loved it.

Don't watch a lot of TV, nor bother to rate movies, but this was exceptional.

It's a deep and complex analysis of three brothers, and the effect that their father had on their lives - a warts and all production portraying humanity in its raw form.

Perhaps it spoke to me because I'm sharing the same stage of my own lifecycle with one of these people (guzzling from the corporate trough with my own young family) - but colleagues felt similarly, and its definitely worth a look...

Wow!!! Cannot believe I have not seen this show yet. Is it the actors, director, producer or what that makes this series the best I have ever seen? I watched it now (2011) and thought it was made in 2010, it is so timeless. David Wenham is perhaps my favorite Australian actor actually more like my most fav actor of all time. As usual he is splendid in this as well. To get all the other cast members to be just as brilliant must be a combination of direction and what else? Flawless in every way. Aussies are unique and the best filmmakers ever when given half a chance. We really leave the yanks for dead regarding realism in a story. What a real portrayal of dementia. So sad. Enough said.