Monday, February 20, 2012

MOVIE REVUE - Red Dog

This film has been out for a while in Australia and I have been debating with myself whether to review/ promote it here.
My reluctance stems from the image of Australia that it portrays.
It seems that people see these films set in the Outback and think that the whole of Australia is like that, which of course is quite wrong.
 

It's a story about a red kelpie dog and is based on fact.
It is set in the 70s in the Pilbara region of Australia - a remote region of North Western Australia where huge mines (usually open cut) remove some of Australia's huge deposits of iron ore.
Life in those mining camps was hard with few facilities and comforts in a very difficult climate, yet it appealed to people (mainly men) who hated city life and loved the freedom that can still be found in these remote places ( and the pay was/is very good too !!).
 Into this setting came a red kelpie dog that soon won the hearts of almost everyone in that Outback community.
It's another of those stories that have been documented in the form of a children's story then made into a film that appeals to all ages - a bit along the lines of " War Horse." ( My Year 6 class loved the story under the name of "Broome Dog")

Tony and I loved the movie.
(The sound track is not bad either.)
Hope you have a chance to judge it for yourselves.

Cheers.

6 comments:

  1. Hubby and I really enjoyed the film and I bought the DVD, something I rarely do. Glad you enjoyed it.
    Anne xx

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  2. Must let our daughter know about that one - she was working in the outback in mining towns in Western Australia for some of her time in Oz and it would be interesting to see if it is portrayed as she saw it.

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  3. Not playing here yet but will keep an eye out for it.

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  4. We saw a trailer for this recently and I thought it looked good but was put off when Dave told me he knew the story and it has a sad ending?!

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  5. It looks as though it's a comedy which of course War Horse wasn't. That main man character is a bit of a hunk, isn't he?
    I went to my bookshelf and there I see I have 'Red Dog' by Louis de Bernieres. This was written after the author visited the area, saw the red dog statue and collected some stories. I couldn't get into it but maybe I should give it another try.

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  6. I had a black and tan Kelpie, best dog I've ever had.

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