User Reviews

Australian films and filmmakers often possess high attention to detail because they are not bound by genre constrictions that force them to sacrifice realism. Verisimilitude was pivotal in telling Australian Robyn Davidson's story about her journey across the desert from Alice Springs to the Indian Ocean. This journey in the 1970s is said to have been a 2700km trek. It took Davidson two years of training beforehand to learn how to work with camels. She walked four of them with her, along with her dog Diggity. Davidson was just twenty-seven when making the trip. Two years later, she wrote about her experiences in her book Tracks, from which the film is adapted. She is now sixty-five and has resisted a film version for years, which highlights the importance of the project's authenticity.

Reading the troubled history of bringing this story to the cinema, it's apparent as to why she was hesitant. At one point during the early 1990s, the film was going to be an American production developed by Disney and starring Julia Roberts but the deal fell through. Perhaps this is what would later become Roberts' own star vehicle Eat Pray Love. Tracks now has an American director at its helm but it's not someone who is foreign to the story or country. Director John Curran (The Painted Veil) was working in Manhattan before he moved to Sydney in the 1980s. He had previously made the Australian film Praise here. He is a strong choice for a film primarily about landscapes and terrain because he studied illustrations and design art at Syracuse University in New York. To prepare for the design of this film he considered the work of Australian artists such as Fred Williams and Sidney Nolan, both of whom focused on crafting images and paintings of the dry outback landscapes.

The technical elements John Curran has implemented here are the standout. The film is at once strikingly beautiful but also hot, arid and dangerous. It was photographed by cinematographer Mandy Walker (Australia) on location in the South Australian deserts and in the Northern Territory. The landscapes offer a contrast between being both isolating and peaceful but physically damaging. Curran captures this through two cameras, using overhead shots to photograph beautiful sunsets and the tough sand, while moving the frame in tighter to specify images, like the terrible sunburn on the top of Robyn's shoulders. Davidson herself is said to have a great memory for tiny details that she can recall long after the journey. The film is dedicated, to a fault, to preserving these images. It needed more editing. As glorious as it is to look at, the film is self-indulgent. It lingers over its most beautiful qualities, sometimes at the expense of the narrative, particularly in the saggy final quarter.

First time screenwriter Marion Nelson's script emphasises facts and characterisation over tight plotting and wins on authenticity. The film's representation of Robyn Davidson is true. She was said to be bitter, angry and unfriendly, particularly to the American photographer Rick Smolan. He helped convince the National Geographic Magazine to sponsor her journey and it was him to whom she shared a brief romance. She was also reeling from her mother who had hung herself when she was just eleven. The film intercuts flashbacks to Robyn's home life, presenting the suicide as fragmented, fleeting memories of grief. Robyn Davidson has stressed the journey was about independence and freedom, which is understandable and admirable for a woman in this period. Yet death in the film seems to be as big a motive for Robyn even if it's not underlined. The story isn't too dissimilar to the story of Christian McCandless, memorably examined in Sean Penn's film Into the Wild. Out of an unhappy home life and looking for adulthood and independence, both removed themselves from materialism and social conformity to engage with the wilderness.

After a range of differing Hollywood films Mia Wasikowska shines with a powerful performance, one of her best, playing Robyn as extremely brittle and antisocial. "How do you tell a nice person to go die in a hole?" she says. Both her face and voice work in tangent to stress her emotional fragility, like her desires to be alone, so the character is balanced to make us care. Adam Driver (Girls, Inside Llewyn Davis) as Rick brings an effortlessly funny and likable charm, regardless of his character's persistence. The inevitability of Robyn's character development might seem conventional but the episodes are true. She did meet an Aboriginal man named Mr. Eddy (played by his relative Rolley Mintuma) who guided her around the desert. Although she demands to be alone, her reassimilation with people, mostly marginalised Aborigines, presses her into respecting their beliefs instead of her own desires. One example is that she cannot open dead animals because it's not a set gender role for her according to Aboriginal traditions. I was invested in these vignettes because Mia Wasikowska convincingly embodies Robyn's angst and growth, even though she takes a while to get there.

This is the story of Robyn Davidson who treks across Australia from Alice Springs to the Indian Ocean. From her time acquiring camels as carrier beasts, the obstacles on the journey like sandstorms and wild camels, to culture shocks against the native people and the hospitality of the remotely located farmers. Robyn develops a relationship with a photographer, Rick, who checks on her from time to time as part of her sponsorship. After going through hallucination due to dehydration, losing her dog to some stray poison, avoiding overbearing reporters, Robyn finally reach her destination the Indian Ocean. Among all these events the movie gives flashbacks to Robyn's childhood.

The basic premise is another average one, though it's an appealing human interest subject. The development is nice, including cultural elements. The pace built is a bit too slow for me, yet it's quite helpful that the mood of having the desert's restlessness is maintained well all along the movie, even at the earlier camel ranch scenes. But overall, in between the significantly dramatic or critical events, this movie feels quite sleepy.

The movie also shows real life tricks of faring treks, like Robyn ordering her dog to go home when she's lost after her compass broke down. Yet it also shows the real dangers of it like the stray poison can and also the desert wildlife.

Yet to read the book, I must admit the dramatization of the cultural touch is greatly done in the movie. The cultural piece covers both the native people of Aborigins and also the outback farmers of European descent. On the focusing of the Aborigins, the movie depicts both the positive side of having a good togetherness, and also the negative side when Eddie springs up asking money to the tourists.

On the focusing of the settlers, the positive side is depicted by the farmers' hospitality, and the negative side is shown by the earlier scene of the camel rancher. For me, I think the best take on cultural touch in this movie is when Robyn hallucinated about Eddie prohibiting her to do the cutting of the dead kangaroo.

Playing the focus role, Mia Wasikowska acted nice in this movie. She succeeded in articulating a soft Australian accent that is stable along the entire movie. Adam Driver also contributed nicely In portraying a rather annoying photographer.

As good as this movie is getting to, I think it's not going to receive greater acceptance. The final say from me is a 6 out of 10 for this movie. A recommendation is a rather no from me, unless you're curious about Australia or the desert.

Every now and then, a person -- more often than not, a youth -- gets fed up with the mundane existence of civilization and seeks to find their roots and awaken a spiritual cleansing in the wilderness. Unfortunately, there are many instances of such experiences ending tragically. The stories of Timothy Treadwell and Christopher McCandless are prime examples, emphasized by the films depicting their final days. But in the end, it isn't about how they died, but rather, how they lived.

Even though her journey does not end in heartbreaking sorrow, it almost comes off as the endgame for Robyn Davidson, the young adventuress depicted in John Curran's latest film, Tracks. Played with no-nonsense, salt-of-the-earth wisdom by Mia Wasikowska, Robyn's ambition is to follow her father's footsteps and trek across 2,000 miles of Australian desert. Where Treadwell sought to connect with the animals he so loved and McCandless attempted to discover his own identity, Robyn sets off on her journey for no reason other than the hell of it. She first shows up in a middle-of-nowhere town called Alice Springs, seeking to procure some of Australia's feral camels for her journey. She spends the better part of a year learning to train the beasts, showcasing just how focused she is on her goal.

Lighting out for the territories is a common feeling we've all shared at one moment or another, and Wasikowska -- who has always come off as a very sheltered soul -- epitomizes the sort of loner that would seek to go out on such an excursion. She insists on setting out alone for the majority of it, with no radio or a weapon. The only human contact she intends to have will be scattered checkpoint stops with an American photojournalist chronicling the expedition (Adam Driver), and even then, she has no real desire to even do that. "You wanna die out there or somethin'?" one character asks her, and she all but acknowledges this as her ultimate goal.

Director John Curran emphasizes the feeling of forced loneliness in this film. Wasikowska's Robyn steadily severs ties with any and all people she comes across in her journey. Her desire to be truly alone is made abundantly clear, especially in regards to the barren isolation of the Australian outback. However, I think that Curran's film feels a bit too intimate and not nearly as sparse as the subject matter would require. There is a wonderful moment where Robyn stumbles onto a homestead, almost like an alien, not reacting to the farmer's words of welcome. In her wanderings, it's almost like Robyn had forgotten the basic rules of human interaction. Shame that this wasn't further explored.

Indeed, Tracks does seem to meander with no real compass or, indeed, idea of why or where it's going. In this regard, it's like its protagonist. However, Robyn's journey ends in some small triumph. This film ends on a more worrisome "what was the point?" note.

Despite having heard of the movie for years and reading praise from fellow IMDbers I for some reason have never got round to seeing this unique-sounding title.Taking a look for what has been added to Netflix UK,I spotted that the film was being listed for being removed from the site the next day!,which led to me finally following the tracks.

The plot-

1970's Australia:

Remembering the walks that her dad took around Africa, Robyn Davidson decides that she is going to take 4 camels (and a faithful dog) on a 1,677 from the Alice Springs to the Indian Ocean.Gaining the camels from various camel ranches,Davidson decides that she needs some funds in order to survive her adventure. Writing to National Geographic magazine (NG),Davidson is delighted when NG say that they will fund the project,on condition that a photographer comes along.Meeting NG photographer Rick Smolan,Davidson finds herself put off by Smolan's chatty nature.Pushing Smolan's to the side,Davidson gets the camels and the dog,and beings to follow the 1,677 mile tracks.

View on the film:

Following Davidson on every step she and her animals make,the screenplay by Marion Nelson superbly uses brief flashbacks to give a psychological depth to what Davidson is trekking over,which never over powers the spiritual and personal discover that Davidson is making on the tracks.Largely taking place in the desert, Nelson avoids things drying up by crossing Davidson's solo walk with intersections which take Davidson out of the self-imposed wilderness,as a sweet bond of friendship builds with Smolan,and Davidson learns of a completely different culture from the aboriginals.

Bringing Davidson's journey across the screen,director John Curran & cinematographer Mandy Walker make the full weight of each footstep Davidson and the animals take fully felt,as stylish shots across the landscape gives the movie an excellent heft. Floating in Davidson's self-discovery,Curran brings an extraordinary beauty out of the Aus desert,by drinking up lush blue waves and fanning the heat of the desert onto the viewer with dried browns and yellows.

Joining Davidson at "stop points" Adam Driver gives a terrific performance as Rick Smolan,whose eagerness to get Davidson talking, Driver gradually trims,as Smolan starts to get caught up in Davidson's spiritual search.Walking into the real shoes of Davidson, Mia Wasikowska gives an excellent performance,thanks to Wasikowska displaying a remarkable delicacy over opening the spiritual side of Davidson,whilst also threading a gritty determination,which grows as Davidson crosses every track.

"Tracks" tells the story of a young woman that decides to travel across Australia with a track of camels. On her journey she has to overcome multiple obstacles and meets both interesting people and life-threatening dangers.

Without doubt the story that this film is based on is an exceptional one and invites producers to make a film out of it. The result is not bad but somehow misses a little something to achieve greatness. Maybe it is exactly the length and silence of this journey that is hard to portray in a movie. On top comes a strange love story that almost feels abusive but nonetheless seems to be a center-piece in the film. What remains is still a very decent movie with a fascinating story and solid acting but it seems to pretend to be more special than it really is and that's sad.

All in all I still recommend this film for the story behind it is skilfully made into a feature film. However, I think that a lot of potential still is within the story and could be unleashed.