Kangaroo (1987), Tim Burstall, with Judy Davis and Colin Friels

A bit of an obscurity, an Aussie movie based on a lesser regarded D.H. Lawrence book, ostensibly an autobiographical tome about Lawrence’s own stay Down Under after World War I. The film was critically pilloried as something of a mess, and Roger Ebert mused that the story seemed too inconsequential to be worth the telling. Two decades have passed and we can look at the thing afresh, and I have to say I enjoyed it. The Lawrence fictional doppelganger is played almost anonymously by Colin Friels; Judy Davis spices things up as his more clear-headed German wife. Author and wife find themselves hounded by the authorities in Cornwall during the war, he for his “pornographic” writings and socialist politics and she for being German-born. Rather naively they sail off to Australia with notions of a New World paradise but only find themselves drawn into more complex political and domestic strife during clashes between labor and right-wing fascist elements — the latter to which the author has been drawn due to his strong bisexual attraction to both his Aussie host and his wife. Male love, bonding and loyalty provide the underpinnings of his new politics, and when he can’t bring himself to pledge loyalty to the megalomaniac aristo ogre who heads the local fascisti the whole circle of his friendships fall apart. Davis, oddly at times seems to channel another Davis, Bette, as she reacts incredulously to her husband’s denial of his past and his opportunism and apparent loss of principals in trying to blend "when in Rome-style" into the new landscape. The film is episodic, but the episodes are rich in Australian history. Those looking for typical plot-driven dramatic thrusts will be disappointed. Since I wasn’t looking for those, I wasn’t. Grade: B-