Published 2017 on Down Under Flix
Director: Henri Safran
Director: Henri Safran
Starring: John Ewart, John Howard, Nicole Kidman, Manalpuy, Mark
Spain, James Wingrove, Peter Sumner, Vineta O’Malley
Bush
Christmas is
not, as its title implies, a film about how George H.W. and George W. spend
their Christmas vacation. Rather, it’s another entry in Australia’s modest
canon of cinematic yuletide yarns. Last year, David Swann’s Christmas
comedy Crackers got
the Down Under Flix seasonal treatment (read our review here), and this year Henri
Safran’s family film goes under the spotlight.
The
Thompson family – father Ben (Peter Sumner), mother Kate (Vineta O’Malley), and
children John (Mark Spain) and Helen (Nicole Kidman in her feature film debut)
– are on the brink of losing their farm to the bank, but stand a chance of
holding onto their property if their thoroughbred wins in the local races.
However, a few days before Christmas their horses are stolen by crooks Bill
(John Ewart) and Sly (John Howard). Helen and John, along with their cousin
Michael (James Wingrove) and Aboriginal farmhand Manalpuy (Manalpuy), embark on
an outback journey in hot pursuit of the horse thieves.
This
1983 film is the second onscreen iteration of this story: the first Bush Christmas, directed by
Ralph Smart and starring Chips Rafferty, was released in 1947. On that timeline
of 36 years between films, I’d say we’re due for a third iteration around 2019.
While that sounds like a dig at the recent wave of remakes of catalogue
Australian titles (e.g. Wake
in Fright, Picnic
at Hanging Rock, Blue
Fin, and director Safran’s own Storm Boy), I actually
think Bush Christmas is
precisely the sort of film that would benefit from a remake. It’s a fun little
tale with a certain timeless quality that makes it ripe for revisiting, and
while it’s a solid film, the 1983 version has some imperfections that could be
ironed out in another iteration.
It’s
probably unfair to compare Bush
Christmas with Storm
Boy, but both films share the same director, and Safran’s Christmas
concoction suffers in comparison to his earlier film. Where Storm
Boy brought some New Wave aesthetic and thematic texture to its family
friendly story, Bush
Christmas is more of a generic kids adventure film, replete
with cheap slapstick courtesy of Bill and Sly’s odd coupling (reminiscent of
Sherriff and Junior from Smokey
and the Bandit). There’s also a frustratingly blasé attitude –
sadly symptomatic of many films targeting younger audiences – towards
rudimentary logic. For example, at one point in the film Kate, a woman who’s
seemingly lived and toiled in the outback her entire life, goes looking for her
children in the scorching heat without water or provisions. Meanwhile, the
Thompsons’ horses are peculiarly compliant towards the strangers and imbeciles
that steal them in the dead of night and attempt to ride them cross-country.
Even
so, there’s much to like about Bush
Christmas. The story is engaging, outback Queensland is nicely
shot, the cast both young and old acquit themselves well, and following
Safran’s exemplary work with David Gulpilil on Storm Boy, the director, writer Ted Roberts, and
one-time actor Manalpuy craft another positive, affirmative portrait of an
Aboriginal character onscreen (albeit one in subservience to a porcelain white
family). I’m not sure how it plays to today’s younger audiences, but for those
of a certain vintage Bush
Christmas is pleasant enough seasonal viewing.
Merry
Christmas, thanks for reading, and see you in 2018…