'Moving Out' presents a familiar theme of Australian teen dramas produced around this time (primarily the 80s, although I haven't seen many from either prior to or following the decade). That is, the difficulty of a young Australian teenager, usually male, who struggles with a sense of identity and place which often translates into the consequences of difficulties with family and authority. Although, the theme need not be limited strictly to Aussie dramas, as I have seen this frequently in films about young Asian teens (where the divide between teens and older generations is probably the most prevalent as it is likely elders had adhered the most to tradition). But in any event, I have yet to see Australian teen dramas (note, that I'm from America, so our supply of the teen-based Australian market is limited to begin with) that do not present an identical or similar theme. And, this film, too, adds investigation into the threats of cultural preservation.
The story is about that of a young Italian teen named Gino (played well by Vince Colosimo). We see the conflict between Gino and his parents is primarily one of identity as he consistently vents his frustration over his parent's refusal to conform (or at least adapt) to the country's language and some of its culture. While his extended family comes to help the family prepare for their big move (I assume to another part of Australia? I was confounded by some of the Italian conversation), we see that they speak only in Italian (which is frustrating for us monolingual audiences for the lack of subtitles which may or may not have been intentional). However, as another viewer commented, we are not given very much insight into persecutions upon Gino's family that would give them reason for clinging so tightly to their cultural heritage (and I further wonder why, if they left Italy to go to Australia because they perceived it as America-lite, they wanted later to return to their homeland). I can only guess that they came with a heritage that, regardless of any persecutions (or lack thereof), they simply wanted to hold on to that as much as they could (you might assume in general that they fear their children dismissing their traditions and heritage past). In any event, Gino doesn't want to make the move.
The part that I couldn't understand is whether the filmmakers were making the link between Gino's frustration (and persistent conflicts with his parents which neither party could fully understand of each other or at least, didn't communicate effectively their reasons to one another) and the trouble he frequently found himself at school or in the general mischief he and his friends frequently participated in. It seemed to me, that these were the results of "boys will be boys" activities, where it was boredom to lead to breaking into a house or disgust with school in general that would lead to a disinterest in his teacher's urgings that learning a particular poem may somehow help him in the future. This part of the plot seems entirely severed from the cultural conflicts between Gino and his family and is also resolved for entirely different reasons.
I was also a little aggravated with Gino's cousin Maria, who later becomes his sort of civilized therapeutic source (as opposed to the scenes of typical teen mischievous), was presented to be like she was some kind of moron. Despite the language difficulties, I doubt cousin Marie could have little difficulty what a "rolling plain" is or why Australia might be referred to as "Sunburn country."
However, despite that and a terrible soundtrack, this, it is quite an enjoyable film and well worth finding if you are craving Australian dramas of the coming-of-age varieties.
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