Click to enlarge |
Now, here's what you need to know about Grant: he's educated, cultured and well-spoken, and believes himself very out of place in the rough Aussie outback. When he arrives at the sun-bleached, hard-drinkin', hard-gamblin', roo-shootin' ‘Yabba', he doesn't quite know what to do with himself.
The welcome he receives, though, seems genuine; strangers buy him drink after drink and he finds himself engaging in the local pastime, two-up. Little does he know he is more than a fish out of water; he is a man far out his depth, and morning finds him broke and naked on a hotel room floor, having missed his flight, reliant on the charity of the town's inhabitants.
Click to enlarge |
What was intended to be a one-night stay rapidly devolves into a ghastly spree of debauchery; a descent into hell. "All the little devils are very proud of hell," says ‘Doc' Tydon, whose seemingly objective observation conceals something much more sinister. Grant finds himself stripping his cultured identity in order to be accepted by the locals—and loathing himself more by the minute.
Released worldwide in 1971 and nominated for a Cannes Palme d'Or in the same year,
Wake in Fright was received with critical acclaim. Unfortunately, it was then largely forgotten for decades because the only known print in existence, found in Dublin, was of too poor a quality for restoration. Then, in 2004, a complete print was found in Pittsburgh, and, after five years of restoration, the film was finally released late last year on DVD and Blu-ray.
