Culture

Rating: A

Tracks is one of the most powerful films I have seen. The cinematography is breathtakingly beautiful, as is the expansive and dangerous Australian desert.

Normally, I don’t love journey films; or films about endless and repetitive landscapes such as deserts, oceans and space. I find them tedious and repetitive. John Curran must be one of the few directors who knows this about his audiences because although Tracks is, for all intents and purposes, the story of a really long walk, it was so much more than that.

Mia Wasikowska (you may know her as Alice in Wonderland) is an Australian born actress who carries the film with grace. She is portraying the true story of a woman, Robyn Davidson, who in 1977 trekked with four camels and a faithful dog from Alice Springs to the west coast of Australia, a distance of over 2,700 kilometres. Within the film, as well as in real life, Robyn’s journey was documented at several stages through photographs taken by Rick Smolan, played superbly by Adam Driver. As the credits role you are shown the real photographs of that colossal journey, and it is then that you really understand just how well this film was wrought. From casting to costumes to sound track, I think that Curran achieved something stellar.

With relatively minimal directing credits, five features and one short, I did not know what to expect from Curran. I can now confidently say that he has my utmost trust and respect. This film was beautifully realised, nominated for Best Film at the London film festival, a Golden Lion at the Venice film festival and Achievement in Cinematography at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. There is a delicate quality to the balance of honesty and sentiment in Tracks.

This film asks, what do we really need? The answer is explored through triumph and tragedy, isolation and companionship, determination and self-discovery. If you can sympathise with the need to be alone sometimes, the difficulties of trusting people, the desire to finish something. If you’re human, you will find this film inspiring.