Wake in Fright

A film set in the Australian interior. John teaches in a one-room school in the outback. His contract binds him to the government and he cannot leave without paying a bond. He is going to Sydney for the holidays; on the way he has to spend a night in a town called Bundanyabba. That night he wins at a gambling game in the bar and then loses everything. In the morning he has no money to travel. What follows is five days. Everyone in town buys him a drink; refusing is not accepted. One house, then another, a doctor, a hunting trip. John gets a little more lost at every step and becomes unrecognisable to himself. What the film is interested in is hospitality turning into a form of pressure: nobody wants to harm him, and that is exactly why he cannot get away. The kangaroo hunt sequence contains footage of a real hunt and became the most argued-about part of the film. Gary Bond, Donald Pleasence, Chips Rafferty and Jack Thompson are in the cast. Ted Kotcheff directed. The film was considered lost for a long time. Years later the negative was found in America among cans marked for destruction and it was restored. One of the strongest examples of its kind for anyone who likes Australian cinema and disturbing storytelling. Before you watch, know this: the film contains the killing of animals and its register is suffocating throughout.