Cane Toads: An Unnatural History

This is one of the most enjoyable films I have ever seen. I saw it many years ago in the theater. I'm pleased to see it is being reshown by the Sundance channel. I'm looking forward to seeing it again. Check it out.

"When you look at our imports, what we brought into Australia, this must have been a great country long before the white man came to the joint. We brought in foxes and hares and then to cap it all off, we bring this monstrous thing called a toad in."

Great footage of these fascinating creatures breeding and eating, informative, and another tale of mankind mucking around with the natural order of things without proper consideration, to disastrous effect. The hubris of believing in the simple fix prescribed by entomologist Raquel Dexter at a conference in Puerto Rico in 1932 to help the sugar cane industry, and the long-lasting consequences, are depressing to consider. It's also ironic that the cane beetle problem was not addressed in the slightest in this importation of a new species, and was later handled with pesticide. While it's interesting that many of the residents of Queensland view the toads as friends and live harmoniously with them (like Elvie Grieg, that elderly woman who feeds them and says that if anyone tried to hurt one around her, there "would be a lot of noise, and they would realize I wasn't a lady"), the clear-eyed views of others, pointing out that native species die off from the deadly toxins emitted by the toads, is sobering. As predicted, the situation has gotten worse in the 35 years since this film was made. This one packs a punch in its 49 minutes.

Woah, population explosion of giant poison toads invades Austrailia! No, it's not a late-night 70's B sci-fi, it's real life eco-bizarrity complete with mad scientist wielding a v.w. bus. This is perhaps the funniest piece of celluloid ever to give you the shivers about the seemingly limitless expanse of human stupidity. It traces the history of the cane toad in Australia from the seemingly innocent introduction of forty individuals into an eastern pond to the hopping copulating frenzy that now covers something like a third of the country. This movie gives you the works; their life cycle complete with in depth look at their, shall we say, unique sex lives, a magnetically grotesque interview involving doll clothes, and charming soundtrack integrating late-night 70's B movie effects with bouncy bluegrass. (An extra treat for all you Crowed House fans will be Neil and Tim Finn's piece sung from the point of view of the great cane toad himself.) Some people keep them as pets, put out bowls of catfood, and toad-watch for pleasure, others hate them with a white hot rage. Hear the facts, see the toads, and decide which side of the fence is for you. Either way, nicely paced, scientifically interesting, and well shot; Cane Toads is a feindishly hilarious black comedy of documentary, sure to please.

I ignored this title for years at my local whacked-out video emporium. When I finally broke down and rented Cane Toads, for the first thirty or forty minutes I watched politely as Mark Lewis unfolded his little story of toads, Australians, and Holdens of every year, color, and condition swerving to avoid/hit one of God's little jokes on the open road. I mean, it's OK, but why has this thing been in print for a decade and a half?

Then about 2/3 of the way through I got the giggles. This is DESPERATELY messed up. If you hang out with any biology majors, Cane Toads is absolutely required reading. If you don't, just think how wrecked you'd have to stay on Foster's before you'd let your terminally cute four-year-daughter play Barbies with a creature from Hell itself that comes pre-loaded with 10cc of hallucinogenic toxins in its skin.

Cane Toads is what Fast, Cheap and Out of Control should have been. Proof that sometimes it's a lot more effective to speak quietly than yell.

The unnatural history of the introduction of cane toads into Australia is a hilarious documentary about what is certainly one of the most foolish of history's human attempts at changing their environment for their own advantage. It is almost sickening to consider the sheer numbers of these hideous creatures that were crawling all over north eastern Australia, as well as the absolute, unfiltered stupidity that led to their being brought into Australia in the first place. There does not appear to have been much more thought put into their introduction onto the continent other than they share part of the name of the pests that they were brought to eradicate.

I doubt very much, for example, that anyone looked much deeper into the nature (most importantly the feeding and mating habits) of the cane toads before they were brought over. Mating habits is something that most certainly should have been investigated, as the cane toad's sex drive is proven to be so strong that they are willing and able to attempt to mate with everything from a shoe to a human hand to a squashed and VERY dead cane toad. It's almost as though the people who brought these things into Australia said `CANE toads, CANE grubs. Of COURSE!!'

From the frightening shot of the little girl early in the documentary lovingly playing with one of the ridiculously unattractive toads to the other little girl playing with one of the ridiculously unattractive creatures near the end of the documentary, Cane Toads is a testament to the sheer extent of the human capacity for stupidity. It's amazing to me how friendly some people became with the creatures, which seem to be some of the most resilient creatures on earth, due to their ability to eat just about anything smaller than themselves and their almost total lack of any predators (except, of course, for the speeding tires of fed up Australians). Resilience, however, does not equal aesthetic appeal, as the cane toads are some of the most repulsive creatures I've ever seen.

Cane Toads takes a natural approach to looking at an environment plagued by a pest that was destroying a certain crop, and then takes a strange turn when it introduces the fact that humans introduced another pest in hopes of reducing the problem but succeeded only in greatly increasing them. It's an extremely unusual documentary, and it shows the perspectives on what I can't escape calling some of the more backwards specimens of the human species. Definitely an entertaining documentary, just remember that one of the natural rules of life requires that you do not look at a cane toad while you're eating. I only tell you this because I wish someone had told ME that before I watched the movie!