D H Lawrence's anecdote about his brief time in Australia in 1922 should have made a better film than this. It has Lawrence's flight from wartime England with his German wife in tow, his near-involvement with a neo-Fascist movement in Sydney and a final, bloody clash between well-organised Fascists, led by their general, 'Kangaroo', and the barely-organised movement for 'One Big Union' among the city's workers. It is, at 105 minutes, a very long anecdote, and the performances of Colin Friels and Judy Davis (as Lawrence and his wife), impresive at the beginning, seem more dogged by the end. Hugh Keays-Byrne's Kangaroo starts as a figure of some menace, but ends perilously close to comic caricature. Tim Burstall's direction shows meticulous attention to period detail and he elicits the best performance in the film from Julie Nihill as an uncomplicated Aussie wife. Finally, however, the film just doesn't grip the interest despite a beach love scene that recalls From Here to Eternity. Well-acted, well-mounted, well-shot, very well scored and, alas, well boring.


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