PURE S

Australia, 1975, 95 minutes, Colour.
John Flaus, Anne Hetherington, Carol Porter, Gary Waddell.
Directed by Bert Deling.

Pure S is the work of writer-director Bert Deling. He made Dalmas in 1973, a strange film of the drug scene, Melbourne way of life, theatre and art. He employed something of the same techniques, the slice of life with improvised action, in this feature about the Melbourne drug culture. It tells of a group of characters looking for drugs on one night. It captures the frantic atmosphere, the deals, the desperation, the rip-offs. It is in the vein of the road pictures. The film was greeted with acclaim as well as great disdain on its release. It has since been praised and seen in the light of subsequent successful films about Melbourne life, Mouth To Mouth and Hard Knocks.

1. The work of the writer-director? His view of life? Particular interests? Style and treatment? Underground film-making, non-commercial tone? The audience for which it was made?

2. The atmosphere of Melbourne, colour photography, improvised acting and dialogue? Hand-held camera work? Car movement etc.? The use of night? The blend of documentary and avant garde styles? Sounds, the range of music, dialogue? The nightmare tones of the film?

3. How well portrayed were the characters: their being quickly presented, roughly sketched in, seen in hurried situations, desperate interaction in search of drugs, naturalistic dialogue? The audiences observing and discovering the characters for themselves? Eagerness, youth, rage, language?

4. The focus of the title, the emphasis on drugs, the '60s and the emergence of the drug culture, the world of the '70s? The users and their range from all walks of city life, drug peddling and moneymaking, the types of personality involved in the drug scene? The preoccupation with drugs? The film's structure as a literal trip for finding drugs? The changes of the drug scene over the '70s? Into the '80s? The accuracy of social observation of the 1970s?

5. The pros and cons presented for drug-taking, peddling? Presenting the drug scene as it is? The reactions of '70s audiences - caution, revulsion, support? The significance of the details and close-ups of injections, presentation of drug trips - satisfaction, illness, death? The importance of death and its background in this world? The hassles. for getting the drugs? The final mocking of therapy with the doctor on television and his own institute? The presentation of the police - mockery? The overall unsettling effect for the audience about this drug culture?

6. The information given about drugs, their use, contacts, money? The overall effect of drug-taking? Bad trips and vomiting, depression, death? The need for robberies - for drugs and for money? The interchange of money?

7. The effectiveness of having the screenplay consider only one night, a nightmare and search? Leaving the characters at the end of the night? The picture of the characters and their work, relationships, responsibility, facing the future? The place of law and order in this world?

8. The initial picture of the girls and their work in the restaurant, the contacts? The atmosphere of the shoplifting and the taking of the toys the symbolism of the toys as well as the robbery? Getting away with it? The cars and the continued driving? The illustration of the various contacts? The men and their knowing one another, friendships? Gary Waddell and his intensity and drive? Phone calls, visits, set-ups? The American girl and the restaurant scene and the discussion about giving up drugs, her boyfriend and his scepticism? Friendships, lovemaking, deaths and calling of ambulances? The attention to detail, the audience applying their response to the various types? Authentic people?

9. The highlighting of death and the calling of the ambulance, the robbing of the chemist shop and the two groups, the police? The car-wash sequence? The raid on the home?

10. Gaol sequences and law and order, penalties?

11. The purpose of the television sequence and the mockery of the doctor? The hospital and the farcical aspects of these sequences? The comment made on society?

12. A glimpse of the sub-culture in an Australian city without explicit moralising comment? The audience constructing its own view of the film and discovering the characters, their significance, interactions, goals? How satisfying is this kind of feature film?