Spotswood

As an American who lived in Australia for about 3 years, I found that this film captured a lot of "Australianisms" that are hard to pinpoint, but are definitely from the Australian culture and different than the US culture. Probably the most noticeable to me was the worker vs management mentality that is so much more exaggerated in Oz. One of the most ironic things I found about their culture was how much they protested that, unlike England, there was no class system down under. But, to me as an outsider it seemed very class driven but instead of upper and lower classes they were blue collar and white collar.

Overall a touching film which I always wonder how much is going right over the heads of Americans.

SPOTSWOOD, which, in American release, is called THE EFFICIENCY EXPERT, is a rewarding movie for those who pay attention. I've watched it three times in the last three nights and liked it more each time. Briefly, Anthony Hopkins plays one of these guys who goes from company to company telling management how costs can be cut. It being Anthony Hopkins, you know he's going to look calm and cool while hating what he's doing. (Think of MEET JOE BLACK.) If you've seen the Ealing comedies from the 50s you'll see that SPOTSWOOD is much in the mode of those. The best part of this movie is its focus on the factory Hopkins visits. The characters are droll, but relatively realistic, and, of course, you don't want Hopkins to cause them the misfortune he seems poised to introduce into their lives. The movie is a bit weak in relating the story of Carey (Ben Mendelsohn), a young machinist who worships the boss's daughter from afar. Given that this is a comedy about workers versus big money, the love triangle almost derails the satire (enter Toni Collete as the saintly factory girl Ben Mendelsohn keeps ignoring.) In any case, even in its weak spots it's so well-acted (dig Russell Crowe as an up-and-coming shark) that it holds your interest. There is a really great scene of pure cinema. This is a slot-car race, filled with suspense and laughter. I have yet to see an Australian movie that didn't have at least one almost impossible-to-film moment. The land that gave us 90-some minutes of almost-impossible-to-film moments (that's THE ROAD WARRIOR, of course) offers a marvelous mini-moment in this scene. There is at least one great sight gag ("Don't turn the key until I tell you...") and some very moving moments led by Alwyn Kurts as the owner of the targeted factory. This is a very well-made, amusing motion picture. Also, check out Hopkins in one scene in close-up, when he's laying down his cynical law to Alwyn Kurts. He's got the back of his hand just under his own jaw-bone, and he's moving it in a sawing action. It reminded me of Brando in APOCALYPSE NOW.

The Australians have always been great with these kind of movies, feel good comedies. Probably more so than the Americans ever have been, and in part, I think it is because any sort of conflict never really appears as such. Somehow, even when things go wrong, the effect is so neutral, or at least not so bad, that you know things are going to work out. Cosi and The Castle are two recent examples that I can think of. And, funny enough, these are movies that Toni Collette usually shows up in.

This is the story of a British efficiency expert (Anthony Hopkins) hired by an Australian shoe maker (Alwyn Kurts) to assess the progress of his Mocassin factory. What initially appears to be a standard job, turns out to be a lesson in compassion and common sense as the efficiency expert befriends the people who have worked nearly thirty years in the factory.

Our subtext is that of a love story when a young man named Carey (Ben Mendelsohn) is eager to date the boss's rather arrogant daughter, Cheryl (Rebecca Riggs), who is not interested, and is in fact, involved with a sleazy coworker (a very young Russel Crowe). Although, it is one of those stories where it is obvious that the fellow is overlooking the perfect girl for him (Toni Collette, who Mendelsohn also co-stars with in 'Cosi').

It is a sweet comedy, and one you'll likely enjoy if you have been satisfied with other recent Australian feel-good comedies. It's quite a nice, funny little film with great performances all around.

Although this film is about the upheavals in Australia in the 60s, it could easily be reset in the mid to late-2000s with the economic upheaval that the US has been having as well. Companies having a person coming in to re-evaluate what they are doing to find the efficiency leaks/breaks that are causing the company to lose more money than gain, based upon 3 rules that he tells later in the movie.

Anthony Hopkins was the bad guy just in 1991, a year before this movie, and he does the same in this film, but less than a resident evil that he did in the prior movie. You can see the struggles his character is having while playing the bad guy at the company and reporting to the head of the company changes that needs to be made. You almost feel sorry for Anthony Hopkin's character to have to make these life-changing decisions that affect so many other folks lives and livelihoods.

Seeing it now in 2014 (almost 25 years later), it's interesting seeing that Anthony Hopkins stays true to form to his classic Anthony Hopkins self. No disappointment there; how could anything go wrong seeing him in the movies?

BTW, their wardrobes are classic 60s and loved the lady in pink (from head to toe), even with the pink lipstick.

I have just used this film to show the effects of a taylorist management style to my year 12 Business management students. Spotswood captures the problems involved in treating workers as just another resource to be exploited, very succinctly. I just loved the employees of this factory. They were all quite typical of Australians of this period, with names I haven't heard for years, like Wendy, Shirley and Cheryl! Their refusal to see the value in the efficiency improvements foisted upon them simply because they were so human, and needed to socialise neatly demonstrated just what is wrong with scientific management practice. I think this movie should be compulsory viewing for all Australians in view of the new industrial relations laws recently passed by the Howard government. Spotswood shows us just the type of community that we are losing as individualism becomes the dominant philosophy in society. In short spotswood neatly illustrated to my students concepts and theories that had been presented in class.