THE DISH

Australia, 2000, 102 minutes, Colour.
Sam Neill, Kevin Harrington, Tom Long, Patrick Warburton, Genevieve Mooy, Tayler Kane, Bille Brown, Roy Billing, Andrew S. Gilbert, John Mc Martin.
Directed by Rob Sitch.

The slogan on the poster for The Dish says, 'Houston's other problem'. A neat line if you have seen the film. But it does indicate that the film is about space travel. Well, not exactly space travel. Rather, the technology that NASA had set up for the first moon walk in July 1969 and the means for transmitting the pictures from the moon to television on earth.

Not many people know that those first pictures of 'one small step for man...' depended on a satellite dish in Parkes, New South Wales, Australia. Parkes is no metropolis. Several hundred kilometres west of Sydney, it is an average-to-large country town out in the bush. Even the site of the large tracking dish is rural, with sheep wandering about.

How did it go? Well, we saw the pictures. What was it like behind the scenes? We may never know. But here is a light-hearted speculation on what it might have been like. It is a gently humorous, 'what if...?'

The easy-going dish team consists of Sam Neill as the conscientious, laid-back pipe-smoking director plus a larrikin who enjoys getting up the nose of the American liaison officer (who is a bit stuffy and pompous until unstarched by the Australians) and a young, gawky what might now be called 'geek'. What if they actually made a number of boo-boos like causing a momentary blackout in the town and at the space station, lost the space shuttle for a while and had to improvise to persuade authorities that all was going well? Well, see The Dish and you will find out.

The other delightful aspect of The Dish is the comic portrait of the people in Parkes. You will enjoy Roy Billings as the Mayor, pleased as punch that Parkes is in the news, that the Prime Minister is visiting and the American ambassador is a guest in the town (even though the band mistakes the theme from Hawaii 5-0 as the American anthem). He also has to put up with his socially ambitious wife correcting his manners and deportment all the time, his anti-US 'bolshie'-protesting daughter and her awkward military suitor, his computer smart young son and sundry other eccentric characters in the town.

The makers have shrewdly incorporated actual footage of the journey to the moon as well as the historic walk by Armstrong and Aldrin. It makes a nice blend of humour and profound amazement that in the 60s, human beings could actually achieve such a journey and could record it so that it was seen instantly around the world, a high point of the 20th century.

If you enjoyed The Castle, the story of an Australian family who lived near Melbourne airport and who resisted, right up to the Federal Court, a corporation's eviction notice, then you will enjoy this second film from Rob Sitch and the team showing the funny side of international power encountering what the locals like to call 'little Aussie battlers'.

1. An enjoyable film? Popular in Australia? Overseas audiences enjoying the humour?

2. A picture of Australians and Australian attitudes – from the 60s? Current? Attitudes of Americans? Australian- American relationships?

3. The small budget for the film, the quality cast, a small film but effective?

4. The qualities of Australian humour, laconic and deadpan, larrikin, cheeky and irreverent, anti-Yank, yet egalitarian, learning, even making apologies?

5. Australian ideals, achievement and spirit, doing one’s best – even if it is casual?

6. The 1969 and NASA situation, the collage of history, the historical perspective, the spirit of space exploration, the moon landing and its achievement? An achievement of the United States? The Australian contribution, Parkes and the Dish? The collaboration, televised, the contributions? The effect of Australia’s contribution – and the touch of nostalgia in the film, especially with Cliff revisiting the scene, his reflections?

7. The title and its focus, the 1960s and space exploration, the building of the Dish? The irony of its being in the sheep paddock? The different members of the staff, Americans and the NASA background, the Australians? The small size? Technology, achievement? The weather – and the wind?

8. Cliff and his reminiscences, his age, the young people, remembering?

9. July 1969, the political situation? The portrait of the prime minister, his staff? The prime minister as ignorant, a bull artist? Going to Parkes? His ruthlessness?

10. The mayor, his pride in Parkes? Lee Purvis and his playing up to the mayor? The simplicity of people in the town, niceness? Parkes society, May and her pretensions, Maisie? Hopes, gossip? The dance? The dinners? The plans and the change of moods? The little boy and his knowing what was going on? The daughter, the university – and the cadet type? The ambassador being present, the interactions with the prime minister? The threats? Watching and achievement? - And the mayor having to take his elbows off the table?

11. Cliff and his capacity for work, his wife, enthusiastic, patient? Glenn and the girl, the group giving him encouragement? Mitch and his moods? The clashes with Al? The combined achievement, the wisdom? The decision about going off-line? The fanfare and tour for the ambassador? The wind, the blackout? Yet the dinner and the achievement?

12. The character of Glenn, nice, shy, the girl and the attraction, his slow with the jokes, the build-up to the proposal, the date – and his achievement?

13. Mitch, cheeky, making the mistake? His having to apologise? Faking the connection and the ambassador and others believing it?

14. Al, his working with the Australians, buttoned up? The clashes with Mitch, the taunts about NASA? The ambassador, the reception? His forgoing his antagonism towards Mitch? Helping with the deception? The reconciliation”

15. The technology, the landing on the moon, the walk? The blackout, going off-line? Mitch’s error, the technological ability to find where the space shuttle was, the geometry and maths, the moon as the fixed point, going on-line, the wind and the threat? The pictures and the achievement?

16. The humour, the Australian jokes, characters, low-key and deadpan? Hawaii Five-O and the American anthem…?

17. Australia and its place on the international stage, the background of the cultural cringe towards England and America yet a feeling of independence? The Australians with the touch of being presented as hicks – but nice? Insight into the Australian spirit and character?