Burke & Wills

25 years on, this movie is even more interesting than it was when first released. Some things haven't changed - the performances by Jack Thompson and Nigel Havers are still first rate, and Greta Scacchi is still gorgeous (and sings beautifully - it is her own voice). And the outback footage shot on location is just as stunning. But now there are whole generations of people, not to mention immigrants to Australia, who weren't taught about Burke and Wills in primary school, so the story of the explorers and what happened to them is new. This was one of the first Australian movies to have a large number of indigenous people involved and it is interesting to see how in 1985, the film makers contrast the struggle that the Europeans have with an environment in which the indigenous people lived quite comfortably, and also show that their communication systems were better! Definitely worth a look and hopefully it will be released on DVD some time soon.