WILD THINGS
Australia, 2020, 90 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Sally Ingleton.
Wild Things is an energetic documentary focusing on environmental issues, especially in Australia. It has a strong subtitle: A year on the frontline of environmental activism.
2020 and coronavirus caused something of a hiatus in widespread environmental campaigns throughout the world as Well Is in Australia. With diminished air travel, you are vehicles on roads because of lockdown, there was cleaner air in the environment. But, governments were preoccupied with the pandemic, the health issues as well as the economic consequences.
This documentary has footage from 2018-2019. It has a strong point of view, shows the protests and campaigns of environmental enthusiasts, does include some moments of counter-protest, like the families of loggers in Tasmania attacking the environmentalists, and a Parliamentary moment with the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, especially in his condemnation of the teenage protesters at the end of 2019, urging them back to school and less activism in the schools.
However, this is strongly counterbalanced by the young people themselves and a lot of the footage shows them, aged about 14, from Castlemaine and Victoria, conscious of global warming, the threats for the future, encouraged by Greta Thunberg, the campaigner from Sweden, to make demonstrations, first of all in their own town, then moving to Melbourne, swelling numbers, enthusiastic young people articulating the issues clearly, campaigning outside the office of Bill Shorten, later meeting with him in Canberra. One of the messages of Wild Things would be that there is a growing consciousness in younger people, taking responsibility for their future, about to find their place in the adult world and its crises.
There is a lot of footage from key areas in Australia – along with some footage from demonstrations from the past, especially with Bob Brown and others in the Franklin River in Tasmania, the Tarkine forest in Tasmania, other rainforests in Tasmania and in northern New South Wales.
Of course, a great deal of attention is given to coalmining, some glimpses back into the development of mines by settlers in the 19th century, the prevalence of coal and, of course, the developments in the Galilee Basin of Queensland, the plans of Adani. There are details of the various protest camps, interviews with those staffing them, sequences of scuffles with the police, huge trucks driving through the protest…
There are some authoritative talking heads including Bob Brown, but a focus on a GP, Dr Lisa Searle and her partner, present in the Tasmanian forests, climbing the trees for occupation (and for some lights and decoration).
One of the difficulties with this kind enthusiastic documentary is that it can be seen as preaching to the converted. The glimpse of the unconverted, logging protesters, parliamentarians, indicates they are not even close to conversion. However, for audiences who do have concern about the environment but have not become involved, there are enough images, stirring speeches, to give make them consider environmental issues more seriously.
