THE ROVER
Australia, 2014, 104 minutes, Colour.
Guy Pearce, Robert Pattinson, David Field, Scoot Mc Nairy, Gillian Jones.
Directed by David Michod.
In more recent years, there have been many futuristic films set to some kind of apocalyptic crisis, films like Oblivion and Edge of Tomorrow, again with Tom Cruise and aliens attacks and combat. There have been other futuristic films with bleak-looking countryside which has been devastated, like Book of Eli and The Road. Guy Pearce appeared as a character in the latter. He now wanders the Australian countryside in The Rover.
The catastrophe which is background to The Rover is not quite the apocalyptic disaster of previous films. And it is not explained except to say that it had happened 10 years earlier. We don’t know what has happened in cities because all the action is in the South Australian countryside and the Flinders Ranges, houses in the small towns, stores with limited good, goods, and petrol and other stocks barricaded behind guarded small openings. There is not a great population, most people just sitting around, wary of strangers, ready with guns.
The Rover is the second film of celebrated director, David Michod, hailed for his initial film, Animal Kingdom. He doesn’t choose easy subjects, or comforting subjects -definitely not here.
We first see Eric (Pearce), driving out to this desolate land. The Rover relies very strongly on Guy Pearce’s screen presence, intense and rugged, furrowed face, straggling beard, often staring into the middle distance while the camera stays on him for quite a long time, giving the audience the opportunity to try to read his mind and feelings. While his character remains fairly mysterious, the amount of time we concentrate on him means that we identify with him.
While Eric is trying to buy something in the store, a group of three men whom we have seen bickering with each other in a truck, argue and crash outside the store. They quickly steal Eric’s car and drive off. Eric takes their truck and goes in pursuit, to little avail.
Eric tries more peaceful confrontation but is bashed and left by the roadside where he is discovered by a strange character, Rey (Robert Pattinson far from his Twilight vampire existence), the brother of one of the men in the truck who have left him wounded and for dead.
The two go on a quest to find the men and the car. On the way they meet just a few people, a friendly doctor who takes care of Rey’s wounds, a strange settlement where a young boy teenage boys seems to be available for passers-by, pimped by his stern grandmother, sitting knitting in a rocking chair. Some of the people they pass are trigger-happy, some not, and many of them do not survive. There is a store selling petrol, a precious commodity barricaded under the counter with a demand for American cash rather than Australian notes.
As the two travel along, there is some kind of communication, but it soon emerges that Rey (an American with an accent that is sometimes hard to decipher) is mentally handicapped, shrewd but slow, with Eric wary of him, but supporting him.
Ultimately, the pair catch up with the trio and it does not spoil the film to say that there is gunplay.
In so many ways, this is a very pessimistic film, grim about human nature, picturing a survival, not so much of the fittest, since so many are not fit at all. But, there are some emotional moments at the end of the film, with Eric and his response to Rey and the revelation of why he came out into the desert in the first place.
This is not a crowd-pleaser. Rather, it is a film for those who admire cinema, engrossing plots, interesting characters – and touches of the unexpected.
1. A grim future film? Pessimistic, with a touch of nihilism?
2. The director and his work, the impact of Animal Kingdom? Expectations of this film? Characters, situations, tone?
3. The information of 10 years after the collapse? No explanations given? The look, poverty, fear, the military and authority, the presence of guns, violence?
4. The introduction, the focus on Eric, the long close-ups, his look, Guy Pearce’s performance, especially through the intensity of his face, audiences trying to understand his mind and feelings, the audience supplying for him? Taciturn, a survivor? The later background story of his farm, his wife and her lover, killing them? The mystery of why he was driving in the desert? The end and the dog in the boot of the car, burying the dog?
5. The terrain, the desert, harsh? Travelling, the cars? The store, what was able to be bought, money and American dollars, Australian dollars? Eric in the store, the group in the car, the crash, taking Eric’s car, his anger, getting their truck, pursuing them, the men with guns? On the road, their attack on Eric after his confronting them, leaving him?
6. The group in the car, the American, the old man, the man from the Pacific, their mission? The story about Rey, his being shot, their leaving him? His brother and his concern, anger, the clashes, the stances of the old man, upset and the crash, the decision to steal the other car, on the road, the pursuit, the violence?
7. Rey finding, Eric’s suspicions? Interactions between the two?
8. Rey, American, his accent and lack of clarity speaking, his response to his being shot, the dismay at his brother shooting him and leaving him? His slow-wittedness? The deal with Eric?
9. Going to the doctor, her equipment, in the outback, treating the wounds, helping? Eric and his suspicions, shooting of the man? Reasons?
10. The store, the brutality, the teenage boy, the grandmother offering him? Her talking, sardonic, Eric’s reaction, the gun? The reaction of the other people, the shootings?
11. Trying to buy the petrol, the storekeeper and everything barred? The issue of money and cash?
12. Travelling, Rey and his reactions, Eric beginning to understand him?
13. The arrival at the house, the men in bed, the very old man and his just sitting and watching? The confrontation with the old man, the Pacific Islander? Rey and his brother, Rey and his anguish, his brother shooting him, Eric and his reaction, comforting Rey?
14. Rey’s death, burial, Eric getting back in the car, the dog, the burial?
15. The human condition in dire circumstances, bringing out the worst in people, any hope?
