Kangaroo

There's something vaguely half-assed about the proceedings. Maybe it's because Colin Friels is uncompelling. Maybe it's Tim Burstall's flat direction or Dan Burstall's equally dull cinematography. "Kangaroo" is a very literary film, lots of thought and talking and personality conflict. It's just too bloody hard to get into, really. Too grey and dull on the surface.

Judy Davis is what makes this film worth watching. Better yet, she IS the film. She plays a character of sensitivity and life, surrounded by people who are about as charismatic as sawdust. To have so many so utterly inept male characters populating one single film, it's quite hard to swallow. It reaches the point where acting quality doesn't apply, only annoying stupidity.

Displaced from the UK because of their suspicious proximity to the Cornish coast during WW1, novelist Richard Somers and his German wife Harriet go to Sydney where Richard gets caught up in some improbable Fascist politicking by the eponymous 'Kangaroo'. Colin Friels is too like Alan Bates for comfort, but his wife Judy Davis, with an impeccable German accent, is delicious as the sceptical Harriet (based on DH Lawrence's wife Frieda). John Walton is also excellent as their new neighbour. There are so many good actors from Oz - Kidman, Rush, Blanchett, Crowe, Sam Neill - but surely la magnifique Davis heads the field.

D.H. Lawrence's novel "Kangaroo" is a thinly-veiled self-portrait of the relationship between himself and his wife. The story concerns Richard and Harriet Somers, a married British couple who are persecuted for the husband's sexually explicit writings. Deciding to get away from the difficulties in their homeland, they voyage to Australia. The couple meet a group of fascists who take them in as friends, but later try to force their political opinions on them.

In adapting the novel to the screen, the makers of "Kangaroo" failed to create much interest in the lead characters. Colin Friels is made to look perfectly identical to Lawrence, but he hardly captures the writer's radical, philosophical, and slightly arrogant traits. (For a better characterization of a Lawrence self-portrait, take a look at Alan Bates in "Women in Love".) Judy Davis, one of my favorite actresses, manages to liven up the film as Harriet, and even somewhat resembles Frieda Lawrence, but her character ultimately comes off as one-dimensional. John Walton, however, gives his performance as the fascist who befriends Richard the fiery intensity it needs.

Director Tim Burstall provides a good look at the political atmosphere surrounding the time and place, yet there is no real driving force behind the story. It was too difficult to become involved with the characters caught up in the social conflict. There's no doubt in my mind that there were many good intentions going into the production of "Kangaroo." Unfortunately, few of them made it to the screen.

As a sidenote, Friels and Davis are a real-life couple.

D H Lawrence never fitted in - to his own class, to Britain, the modern world. He married a foreigner, making him even more of a misfit. In this film, based on his book, a writer - more or less Lawrence - objects to the war (WWI) and is suspected of spying, so he and his wife pack off to Australia. Fascinating to see depictions of Sydney in early 1900s. We're there really communists and fascists in this sleepy land? The acting is fine, and I liked the photography and music, but wished the script made characters a bit clearer. In the end, the film seems to have the same lack of commitment that it's hero has: he has one foot out of Australia the entire time, and leaves without any resolutions. This is disappointing, yet ultimatel more like life. Things end badly or not at all.

Kangaroo, in many senses a forerunner to Lawrence's The Rainbow and Women in Love, is not a novel that reads as if it could be adapted to the screen; the book projects a brooding intensity as the Lawrence-character struggles to define his masculinity in his relationships with both men and women, and in doing so, confronts elements of his sexuality.

It is a slow-paced, introspective novel yet not without moments of comedy, astute observations (and beautiful if laborious) descriptions of the Australian landscape, recalling Thomas Hardy.

This film version is a treat - the director is faithful to the sense of the novel, and his lead characters imbue the film with life. As the Freda Lawrence character, Judy Davis displays a fine range of acting, moving from being understated to displaying those fine moments of fiery temper.

In all, an excellent film, lovingly choreographed and orchestrated, bringing to life a minor and overly-neglected work of D H Lawrence's.

Hats off to all.