Metrograph

Having fled into the Outback after their father has a psychotic episode that threatens their very lives, two Sydney-bred adolescent siblings (Jenny Agutter and Luc Roeg, the director’s son) meet an Aboriginal teenager (David Gulpilil, in his debut role) on his traditional “walkabout”—a rite-of-passage journey, undertaken in solitude—who aids them in adjusting to the apparently harsh, unforgiving landscape around them, a landscape that, as Walkabout progresses, is heavily romanticised, revealing an Edenic splendor lurking beneath its sun-baked surface. A foundational text of the Australian New Wave and a film of genuinely awe-striking natural beauty, shot by cinematographer-turned-director Roeg himself.

Distributor: Janus Films