ROMULUS, MY FATHER
Australia, 2007, 114 minutes, Colour.
Eric Bana, Kodi Smit- Mc Phee, Franca Potente, Marton Schokas, Russell Dykstra, Jacek Koman.
Directed by Richard Roxburgh.
Coincidence? Signs of the times? The two main award-winning Australian films of 2007 both centred on migrant stories of the 1960s, both focused on two young boys – both of whom had loving but dysfunctional mothers. One concerned migrants from Asia, the other from Europe. Home Song Stories is Tony Ayres’ autobiographical story of his life in Australia with his mother who could not stay in one place but had a profound effect on him. Romulus, My Father is philosopher Raimond Gaita’s memoir of his father and of his depressive, wandering mother.
At a time when the whole world is experiencing extraordinary shifts of people around the globe, these stories of the 1960s in Australia make for interesting alerts to the contemporary families on the move, families and their attempts to settle in foreign, even alien, new surroundings.
Gaita’s book was a popular success. The same should be true of Richard Roxburgh’s sensitive film, from a screenplay by Nick Drake. It is a credit to Roxburgh, better known as an actor (Doing Time for Patsy Cline, Moulin Rouge, Van Helsing) that he should have chosen this story for his cinema directorial first feature and that he should have made it so insightful and finely emotional.
We are taken back to the towns of central Victoria, Castlemaine and Maryborough, 1960, and to the surrounding countryside where families like the Gaitas (father from Romania, mother from Germany) tried to eke out a living on the land, living in fairly basic conditions. The film looks and feels authentic.
The characters are complex. Eric Bana won the Best Actor award for his portrayal of Romulus, a good man, an upright man, a forgiving man, but a man for whom ‘this bloody place’ became too much. Franka Potente (best known for Run, Lola Run) is sympathetic even though she does all the wrong things by her husband, by her son, by the man she goes to live with, by the daughter she bears. Much of the success of the film depends on the young actor, Kodi Smit -Mc Phee, who plays Raimond around the age of 9-12. On screen for so much of the time, he is convincing as a young boy who could survive such difficulties as a child and still emerge as a celebrated adult academic.
The film keeps moving, short sequences moving into one another, often suggesting so much of what is happening to the characters while they are frequently silent and reflective, the camera focused on them so we do the strong responding. This means that the film is full of minute attention to details of plot and character, including Romulus’ friend and support (Marton Csokas, Best Supporting Actor award), Russell Dykstra as his ill-fated brother.
Bana’s portrait of a ‘new’ Australian trying to find his place in Victoria is well worth seeing. Also, Kodi Smit- Mc Phee, who won an award for Best child performance. There are small clues as to Raimond’s future as we see him interested in books, reading by night at boarding school, listening to his father’s brief reflections on the cosmos and the inner life and meaning of things. But this is, principally, the story of a love between father and son that is finally able to transcend hardships and pain.
1.The film’s acclaim? Awards?
2.Based on a true story? An Australian story, migrants, their life in the 1960s?
3.The re-creation of period, Victoria, central Victorian countryside, the countryside as a character? The land, the seasons? The towns? Houses and shops? The musical score?
4.The film as a memoir, a portrait of a father by a son?
5.The film as a memoir, the portrait of the son himself? Of the relationship between father and son?
6.The framing sequences: the bees, father and son, warming the bees, their coming to life, giving them freedom to fly? The end of the film? The repetition? The freedom for Romulus and for Rai?
7.Romulus’s story? His being called Jack by the people, explaining his name? Background from Romania, the migration? His work, age? A strong man, his marriage to Christina, his love for Rai? The house, its isolation, the detail of their life in the house? Christina and her absence, her arrival, coming and going, the relationship to Romulus, to Rai? His exasperation, his love? A man of principles? His friendship with Hora? Hora’s brother, his relationship with Christina, the tension, the work with Hora, the chooks around the house? The seasons passing, the film’s focus on the summers? The blacksmith’s work, burning the crops, his friends, being alone?
8.The focus on Rai, his age, life at home, with the bees, with the old man and his being inarticulate, the humour of the urine and the eggs? Sharing with his father? Going to school? The strong bonds? His absent mother, his love for her, her coming and going? The meals, the joy at her presence? Making allowances for her? Especially with Mitru? Talking with his father about the mysteries of the cosmos, of life?
9.The character of Christina? Her German background, marrying, migration? Her love for her son, her way of life, leaving the country, going to Melbourne, turning up, the domestic skills when she returned, the sexual relationship, her finding it too hard to stay? Her relationship with Mitru? Going to live with him? Their visit for the meal, the tension, Mitru leaving? In the town, Rai going to visit and stay? Her pregnancy, the birth of Susan? Her being depressed, alienated from the child? Her attempted suicide? The visit, wanting to stay, Mitru’s death? Her own death? A portrait of a sad woman?
10.Hora, his help, friendship, sharing, battering the hens and Christina’s reaction? His staying, caring for Rai while Romulus was in the institution? Going to hard work in the factory?
11.Mitru, his relationship with Hora? Hora’s disapproval? His love for Christina, the visit, the tension at the meal, his leaving, in the house, their way of life, his work, her pregnancy, his love for the baby, his hitting Christina? Rai’s reaction? His death? The cover-up? Romulus explaining later – and the images of his climbing and falling?
12.Rai, the summers passing, getting older, his visits and staying with his mother? The continued bonds with his father? His love for Susan, caring for her, wheeling her?
13.Romulus and the effect of life on him, his grief, angers, wielding the axe, Rai stopping him, going to the institution, the indications of shock treatment, his release and coming home?
14.Wanting to leave, seeing the house and calling it a bloody place? Driving with Rai, the story of Mitru’s death, camping on the cliff, Rai’s apprehension, the collecting of the bees?
15.The postscript about what happened to Rai, becoming the author and philosopher? Romulus and his going back to the land, not dying till 1996?
16.The film as a piece of Australiana, recalling the 50s and 60s, the post-war migration, the effect on the migrants? The next generation?
