LITTLE TORNADOES

Australia, 2021, 90 minutes, Colour.

Mark Leonard Winters, Sylvia Colloca, Robert Menzies, Fabio Motta, Minnie Liszukiweicz, Freddy Liszukiwiecz, Julie McGregor.

Directed by Aaron Wilson.

This is a surprising, quiet, almost intimate, visit to a small town in 1971, Tocumwal on the River Murray.

We are invited to identify with the central character, Leo (played by the very versatile Mark Leonard Winters). This is not easy. He seems very introverted, laconic. His wife has suddenly left him to go to family in Melbourne. He is left with his young daughter, Maudie, and son, Jack. He works in a local machinery factory, seems efficient at his job. He has one friend, an Italian, Tony, but Leo keeps to himself, taking the children to school, reading to them, not very friendly with the workers, going to the pub only once later in the film to play pool with Tony.

The radio plays often during the film and so we pick up on the time, Billy McMahon as Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, Leader of the Opposition, the Vietnam war.

For those who remember the time, this is a welcome return, small but a reminder of how people were, the politics of the time, the war – but not expecting the changes that would come at the end of 1972. For those audiences for whom this period is before their time, an opportunity to look at quiet Australians.

The film has a voice-over narrative, in Italian and English, from Maria, explaining how she came from Italy to Australia, memories of her dead husband, Lorenzo, migrant hopes but finding herself in the country town. Tony suggests to Leo, who is not a good cook at all, that Maria might be able to look after the children in the afternoons and prepare the evening meal. Since the children are waiting for a phone call from their mother, they are in initially hostile to Maria. But, in no time, she overcomes the barriers, has some cooking and enjoying her meals (Maria played by Silvia Colloca, who has her own television cooking program on SBS, so not too much of a stretch!), Leo very grateful. But reticent.

The other strand is Leo’s memories of his mother’s collapsing and dying, the visits to her grave – and Maria thinking was neglected and tidying and cleaning the headstone. And there is his father, Robert Menzies, a brief flashback to a Japanese attack in World War II, some moments with his driving the tractor and a paddock, plane flying over and his memories again of the war. Leo visits, takes the children, but if Leo is reticent, his father is taciturn and uncommunicative. There is a telling moment indicating changes in Australia when Leo leaves a container with one of Maria’s meals, his father refusing to eat it – but, hungry, eventually doing so, turning up to turn take the children to school.

There are some momentary groups glimpses of little tornadoes, but they are symbolic of the little tornadoes the blow up in our lives. (Interestingly, novelist and commentator Christos Tsiolkos collaborated with the writer-director, Aaron Wilson, for the screenplay).

1. The title? Literal tornadoes? Metaphor?
2. The town of Tocumwal, the Murray River, the Riverina, the farmlands and crops, the town, homes, the bar, the factory, interiors? The atmosphere of 1971?
3. The radio voice-over, information about the polities, Billy McMahon, Gough Whitlam, the Vietnam war…?
4. The focus on Leo, his age, personality, memories of his mother collapsing, dying, visits to her grave? His father, taciturn, World War II experiences? Working the farm? Leo and his marriage, his wife walking out, his phone calls to her sister, the wife not calling? The two children, love for them, care for them, emergency meals, reading to them, their wanting their mother?
5. Leo as laconic, introverted, at work, doing his job, not mixing much with the workers, his friendship with Tony, lunch together? Tony and his suggestion about Maria, her coming, the children wary, the quick communication, cooking the pasta, the good meals, bonding?
6. Maria, from Italy, her voice-over, Italian and English, her experience, dead husband, hopes, in Tocumwal, appreciating the job, bonding with the children, with Leo, but her leaving?
7. Leo, the visits to the cemetery, with his father, giving’s father the pasta, the father not eating it, refusing, later changing his mind? The father, the memory of the Japanese attack, memories of the planes, keeping to himself, driving the tractor, eating the pastor, coming in taking the children to school?
8. The characters of the children, their behaviour, together, with their father, going to school, the stories, concern about their mother, her phone call?
9. Leo, going to the bar with Tony, playing pool?
10. A glimpse of quiet Australians, the countryside, in that period?