Criterion Collection (series)

Walkabout

DVD Features:

• Region 1; USA & Canada
• Keep Case
• Director's Cut
• Letterbox - 1.78
• Audio:

• Additional Release Material:

• Text/Photo Galleries:

• Chapters:
      1. Logos
      2. Credits "Hymnen"
      3. The Wall
      4. Pool by the Sea
      5. Picnic
      6. "Gasoline Alley" Bang! Bang!
      7. Radio On
      8. "It's the Sea!"
      9. Oasis
      10. The Boy
      11. Ancient Camels of the Outback
      12. The Dead Doll
      13. The Limbs of Ghost Gums
      14. Sunburn
      15. The Story of the Boy on the Ladder
      16. The Painting Wall
      17. Heat and Desire
      18. Ecstasy
      19. "Los Angeles"
      20. Plastic 'Roos
      21. Home Sweet Home
      22. Blood Lust
      23. Last Dance
      24. Suicide
      25. The Road To...
      26. In Her Mother's Shoes
      27. "The Shropshire Lad" - Final Credits
      28. Color Bars

Description by OLDIES.com:

Nicolas Roeg's mystical masterpiece chronicles the physical, spiritual, and emotional journey of a sister and brother abandoned in the harsh Australian outback. Joining an Aborigine boy on his walkabout - a tribal initiation into manhood - these modern children pass from innocence into experience as they are thrust from the comforts of civilization into the savagery of the natural world.

Product Description:

Nicolas Roeg's solo directorial debut is a haunting, unconventional narrative film that presents a bleak vision of civilized life as arid and unrewarding. Abandoned in the Australian outback, two young white children (Jenny Agutter and Roeg's son Lucien) stumble upon an adolescent Aborigine (David Gulpilil), who is performing a "walkabout." In this ritualistic six-month journey, the boy must learn to survive by himself in the imposing desert. Communication is a problem, although more for the girl than for her little brother, who still has a child's ability to communicate simply and directly. The two teenagers fail to connect for a variety of reasons, mostly due to the girl's lack of interest in a culture that is unfamiliar and different from her own. Ultimately, the differences become too much to bear, resulting in a tragic conclusion that adds an even more somber denouement to Roeg's already grim vision. Based on the novel by James Vance Marshall, WALKABOUT is a powerful commentary on pastoral simplicity versus cosmopolitan clutter, and features stunning cinematography from Roeg.

Plot Synopsis:

After a pair of British children are abandoned in the Australian outback, they join up with a young Aborigine who is performing his traditional, coming-of-age rite of passage, the Walkabout.

Plot Keywords:

Bucolic | Children | Coming Of Age | Essential Cinema | On-The-Road | Recommended | Self-Discovery | Teenage | Theatrical Release | Wilderness

Production Notes:

• Shot on location in the Outback of Australia.
• WALKABOUT premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 16, 1971.
• The film received a theatrical rerelease December 1996 through February 1997.
• WALKABOUT marked the solo directorial debut for Nicolas Roeg, following his first film, PERFORMANCE, which he directed in collaboration with Donald Cammell.

Cast and Crew: