A teenaged girl and her young brother are en route to a picnic in the Australian Outback when the car runs out of gas. They decide to have their picnic there and soon thereafter the stressed out father has decided to set their vehicle on fire and take his own life, leaving the two children to make their way in the wild which they manage to do so surprisingly well at first. The girl, prim and proper, takes charge and guides the young boy, who doesn't seem to understand the gravity of the their situation. After a few nights they luckily meet an Aborigine boy who is out on his Walkabout, which as the film explained in the opening credits, is a right of passage into manhood where upon the age of sixteen a boy must journey into the wilderness and make do with nothing. The Aborigine befriends the siblings and guides them along their way. Directed by steady helmer Nicolas Roeg, I would best describe Walkabout as an experimental film as Roeg experiments with different camera shots, angles, styles, different music, sounds, and even themes comparing life on the Outback to domesticated living. Above all it is a beautiful looking film with lush colors and wildlife closeups. This film could easily air on The Discovery Channel and is the kind of film that you let wash over you.
