Cunnamulla (2000) User Reviews

This is truly the end of the line and is as depressing a take on country town life as you could find.

[sshan · 8/10 · 29 December 2000]

One hopes that Dennis O'Rourke's film on backwater Queensland town, Cunnamulla, is a personal view in which he chooses to highlight only negative characters for dramatic effect. If it is a truly representative profile of life and people in the town, then it becomes even more frightening and depressing.

His metaphor of "the end of the line" is played out with devastating effect, as each character tells of their one-way track to nowhere.

The characters have become trusting enough of the director to say things that that they probably oughtn't to have said into the camera. This brutal and embarrassing openness makes for a gruesome and somewhat prurient fascination.

Despite the strong sense of exploitation that comes with this film, it remains a powerful and engrossing statement and probably encapsulates enough essential elements of rural claustrophobia to resonate for many viewers.

Cunnamulla: Deep Inside Down Under

[[e-mail] · 30 November 2003]

Cunnamulla appears to be a dead end in every sense of the word. Deep in the Australian Outback, Cunnamulla is the spot where the Queensland train tracks end as well as a small town overflowing with the bitterness borne of broken dreams, broken hearts and broken spirits.

Seen through the eyes of documentary filmmaker Dennis O'Rourke, both the land and its residents are poor, brutal and unforgiving. While the hopeless young residents try to escape by sinking into sexual promiscuity and drug use, they still follow the example of the older generation, who drink, smoke, fight and curse as easily and naturally as they breathe. They blame the government and each other for their plight.

There seems to be no place for tenderness, thoughtfulness or hope in Cunnamulla. And yet ... even in this place of such desolation, some residents long for beauty, and one or two even manage to find it. This film provides a surprising, engrossing, fascinating look into lives that few outsiders would otherwise know. Definitely worth a look.

I think that Cunnamulla was CunnCrap!

[bunyipsfantasy · 1/10 · 15 May 2006]

I think that Cunnamulla was the worst film made in the entire world and I think that Dennis O'Rourke should be shot. The film maker should crawl back in to what ever crap hole he crawled out of, if he was searching for the real Austrlia and thats what he came up with he has surely got to be locked up for life.

And while being locked up he should take the time to gain some education that might help him to get a real job instead of wasting ABC money on poor films that a two year old is capable of producing. to conclude i would like to state that any further films by Dennis O'Rourke should be put in the scrap bin.

it's not negative. it's a mirror & heroic

[daniel miau · 22 June 2002]

to those of you who think this is a negative movie, i have to disagree.

it's not depressing. it's honest in a way that most people would rather not know. it is "a picture from life's other side" (to quote an old american folk song). another thing: this is not a movie about "losers" though it may appear so to those who hold preciously to middle australia.

for those who view the characters in this film in this manner, i cannot understand you. i admire all the characters in cunnamulla, because they demonstrate spirit despite being dealt some difficult circumstances. to the other "negative" reviewers, whatever happened to your compassion? it is not o'rourke's film which is negative but your judgements on the characters in the film which are.

paul the aboriginal boy in the cycle of crime shows incredible insight and understanding of his plight. but it his attitude moreso than his understanding which i think gives him incredible strength of character. i would go as far to say that he is heroic. in telling us about his plight he says it with such innocence and acceptance. he displays neither bitterness, angst, or self-pity. i was humbled by this, and equally ashamed at the disparity of opportunities society provides to different groups of people.

and who says that dennis o'rourke was not welcome back in cunnamulla? that is not how the bulk of dennis' subjects felt towards him after they saw the film. after listening to what a lot of people say about this movie, it is obvious that people bring their prejudices, presumptions and preconceptions into this movie to interpret it. so the discourse created from this movie reveals a lot about the audience.

i think there is a lot to this film. there are several main characters who for me distill much of the essence of the australian psyche. that is, the deep-rooted skepticism to political and religous authorities. a stoic persona which has no room for sentimentality. yet below that surface there is always a tolerance there i think, and a sense of compassion. and complimenting the skepticism is a fierce sense of independence and the ability to take the micky out of oneself. this is just one small part of cunnamulla and there is a lot more to this movie than this.

i think this film is a mirror in many ways, and therefore being truthful and not prone to flattery. and if there is distortion it is for the sake of humour more than anything else.

much ado about little

[ma_teng · 28 April 2002]

This documentary is to be admired for bringing rare voice and - despite itself - a degree of dignity to the down-and-outs (or soon to be; this is what is implied at least) of a remote-ish Queensland town. But making grand statements about the Australian outback and its ethnically and financially troubled communities is not within the power of this film, however hard it may try. The kind of community and family dysfunction O'Rourke has discovered is hardly unique to rural people. It is also preposterous to focus on one group of troubled or unhappy people and categorise all others accordingly (what else could the title "Cunnamulla" mean?).

In that light the reported anger and sense of betrayal felt by some of Cunnamulla's citizenry upon the release of the film is understandable. Also understandable is the legal action commenced against O'Rourke by at least one of the female minors in the film.

But that's not to say there isn't room for exploring white-black relations or rural poverty in an Australian documentary. If anything, these are problems - a dirty secret - that lie across Australia like a stinking fog. You could make similar documentaries with titles like "Kempsey" or "Wilcannia" and find rich pickings for examining such problems. It's just that "Cunnamulla" hasn't turned out to be the vehicle for it.

For all that there are still many memorable moments. The scenes with the DJ remain with me - wherever he is I wish him the best.

Cold charity in a hot climate

[Philby-3 · 2 December 2001]

Dennis O'Rourke has a reputation for exploiting the subjects of his documentaries (`The Good Woman of Bangkok', `Cannibal Tours' for example), and I can see why he's not welcome back in Cunnamulla. Here, he has picked four or five desperates in a declining south-west Queensland country town, got them to open up and let the camera do the rest. His subjects skewer themselves on the lens as O'Rourke, off-screen, quietly eggs them on.

Actually, there's a bit more to `Cunnamulla' than that. The general atmosphere of the place is well-evoked. We get a concert and a show; it's not all existential angst in the boondocks. People do grow up in such places, and prosper (though often elsewhere). But O'Rourke's main interviewees, the abused teenage girls, the depressed aboriginal boy with a record, and even the local DJ do not face a bright future. There's a bit of humour in the taxi-driver and his chatty wife, the scrap yard man with attitude and the shire dog-catcher who doubles as funeral director, but the overall tone is deep depression.

My real problem with the film is that it doesn't really try to explain how people get to the end of the line or the bottom of the heap like this. Frankly I don't think the director cared very much. It's a well-done piece but with a cold clinical atmosphere - Darwin does Cunnamulla. It seems to me it provides ammunition for the social Darwinists who maintain it's no use helping the losers as that just postpones their inevitable extinction. There are some people who just want to be left alone, like the scrap-yard man, and so he should be. But the young kids need help and could benefit from it. O'Rourke seems to be saying `why bother?' Because it would be good for your soul, mate, if you have one.