I'm not going to do a very deep review for this. I'll be honest, I saw this movie in a $3.99 bin at a grocery store and read the synopsis, and I had to buy it to see if it was as ridiculous as it sounded. Basically, Freedom Deep is the story of Liam, who, under the guidance of his mentor "Kurt Cobain" (yes, THE Kurt Cobain. The heroine addict lead singer of Nirvana who killed himself), begins to create a new religion based on his teachings. The story follows Liam simultaneously through the year 1998 as a 10 year old kid and in the year 2018 as a friggin idiot. As a kid Liam is shown beat up and neglected. He and has a revelation one night as he hallucinates the image of "Kurt Cobain" (!) at a hippy party. From that moment on Liam knows his purpose in life, though I'm kind of glad he didn't really share it with the audience. In 2018, the world has gone through an apocalypse and Liam is ready to journey to the last remains of civilization to spread the word of Kurt Cobain. And through facing difficult obstacles he does just that! Go Liam! The music is trippy, the acting is great considering there's no dialog, and the film processing attempted to have a fresh hip look, but ended up being annoying. I didn't even get the laugh I was hoping for.
10 Reviews
Decent Music
cjgrayso22 October 2015
That's about all I want to say regarding the "director's cut" version of this movie. Sorry Mr. Stevenson. It is not very good I'm afraid. But the music's alright.
And the comparison to ELI (on Amazon Prime) was rather misleading and not at all accurate. I love ELI so my hope was this would be close. NOPE.
Then there is the fact that I inadvertently paid for this (as a Amazon Prime member it should be free).
The music is Goya's Child which is a band I'd not heard of before. So I guess I got something for my $2.99.
Additionally, I'm expected to fill up 10 lines of text or my review will not be posted. Am I back in high school? I enjoy reading/writing succinct reviews. This is just not fair.
And the comparison to ELI (on Amazon Prime) was rather misleading and not at all accurate. I love ELI so my hope was this would be close. NOPE.
Then there is the fact that I inadvertently paid for this (as a Amazon Prime member it should be free).
The music is Goya's Child which is a band I'd not heard of before. So I guess I got something for my $2.99.
Additionally, I'm expected to fill up 10 lines of text or my review will not be posted. Am I back in high school? I enjoy reading/writing succinct reviews. This is just not fair.
As Australian post-apocalyptic movies go...
stevemains12 August 2007
Warning: Spoilers
...I'd rate this fourth out of the four I can think of. As Australian post-apocalyptic movies featuring Kurt Cobain's ghost go, Freedom Deep is A-number-one!
So I watch bad movies for fun. That's my excuse. After reading the back of the DVD's packaging, which contains the phrase "we see how his talents are nutured (sic) and developed under the guidance of his spiritual mentor - 'Kurt Cobain,'" how could I not buy it? I could not not, that's how. There's another misspelling in the quote above I'd love to reproduce, but IMDb automatically corrects it every time I try.
Freedom Deep takes place mostly in two time periods, between which it alternates: 1998-ish and 2018, with a little bit of "much later" as well. The nineties bit concerns a young boy named Liam, who has trouble at home and trouble with the other children at school. And, come to think of it, trouble with his teacher at school, a fact which is revealed in an inadvertently hilarious scene. The other prominent timeline focuses on an adult Liam (who, it should be noted, looks absolutely nothing like young Liam) who basically wanders around the desert a lot. To spice things up, sometimes he wanders through the snow. At one point, in a radical narrative departure, he manages to wander in a boat.
Not sold on it yet? Just wait. The best part is that no incarnation of our protagonist, not young Liam, adult Liam or even old Liam, speaks a single word. Not because they're mute, but because it's, y'know, artsy. There's some voice-over here and there, but even that's sparse. I believe it was 28 minutes into the movie before *any* main character actually spoke a word to someone else, and that was through a headset to an unknown party. It's all about as enthralling as it sounds.
Freedom Deep is a mess. It's Gordian's Knot, and I have no idea why anybody tied it. So there's this woman. She's a bounty hunter. Or an assassin. Or a government agent or something. I guess it's possible she's from the future of the future. I couldn't tell you. It's 2018, civilization's presumably in crumbles, and for completely unknown reasons she's been tasked with finding Liam wandering out in the desert. Liam's probably wandering the desert to get away from the society that wronged him, except I think that society has been destroyed for close to 20 years at this point. Maybe whatever society sprung up in its place picked on him too. Liam's had it rough. Anyway, she shoots a camel, finds her quarry, has a confusing wireless conversation, burns her headset, rapes Liam at knifepoint (!), they fall in love, and he never says a word. Your typical boy meets girl, really.
All the while, she reads through the pages of a book Liam has written. It's the same book Liam started writing back in the 1998 timeline. One would hope that's a helluva book. And clearly it is, as she decides to spare his life because of it; she's convinced it must reach civilization.
Meanwhile, young Liam runs away from home and manages to find a surrogate family in the form of a gay couple, half of which is a transsexual "mother" and the other half of which really likes heroin. Liam escapes his troubles, as he always has, through his love of plaid shirts, a horrendous hair-do, Kurt Cobain, and lots of music that sounds nothing like Kurt Cobain's. Music rights cost money. Soon he finds another outlet for his pain (pain best represented in voice-over by the heartfelt words "heal my wounds"). Poetry!
The movie states that young Liam's story starts in 1998; we're told no more. Liam endures school and home life, escapes from it, finds an odd replacement family, takes up writing, gets in a series of publications, and becomes well-known enough to get into a meeting with corporate bigwigs who'd like to put his column in their magazine as a regular feature, all by March 12th of 1998, the movie tells us. Even assuming the rest of it started on January 1st, that little dude can move.
I have no idea what to make of this movie. I didn't mention how Kurt Cobain really fits in because, well, he doesn't. Why does anyone care what a pubescent mute thinks, at least enough to publish him? Who is sending someone to catch and possibly kill adult Liam? Why? Who does our almost-assassin talk to on her headset? Why does she burn the thing afterwards? Are there wireless towers or satellites after the nuclear holocaust? What the heck happened with the cliff scene? Why does the word "prophet" keep popping up in reference to this movie? If Liam arrives at what looks like a fully intact city at the end, was it really harmed in the first place? Is he just some nutjob wandering around the desert for years and all the rest is his hallucination? Why did the writer-director think he could get away with three versions of a main character who never utters a word? I'm baffled.
It's not the worst movie I've seen (I've given out a whole lot of one-star ratings), but it's bad. And it might not be the most confusing movie I've seen, but it's at least top five. As bad movie fare goes, it's entertaining and maybe worth a watch, but isn't a must-see crappy flick experience.
In conclusion, let me present a condensed version of what the experience of watching this movie was like:
Me: Wait, what?
Roommate: I dunno.
Me: Rewind it.
(Rewind.) (Watch it again.)
Together: What?
(Repeat.)
So I watch bad movies for fun. That's my excuse. After reading the back of the DVD's packaging, which contains the phrase "we see how his talents are nutured (sic) and developed under the guidance of his spiritual mentor - 'Kurt Cobain,'" how could I not buy it? I could not not, that's how. There's another misspelling in the quote above I'd love to reproduce, but IMDb automatically corrects it every time I try.
Freedom Deep takes place mostly in two time periods, between which it alternates: 1998-ish and 2018, with a little bit of "much later" as well. The nineties bit concerns a young boy named Liam, who has trouble at home and trouble with the other children at school. And, come to think of it, trouble with his teacher at school, a fact which is revealed in an inadvertently hilarious scene. The other prominent timeline focuses on an adult Liam (who, it should be noted, looks absolutely nothing like young Liam) who basically wanders around the desert a lot. To spice things up, sometimes he wanders through the snow. At one point, in a radical narrative departure, he manages to wander in a boat.
Not sold on it yet? Just wait. The best part is that no incarnation of our protagonist, not young Liam, adult Liam or even old Liam, speaks a single word. Not because they're mute, but because it's, y'know, artsy. There's some voice-over here and there, but even that's sparse. I believe it was 28 minutes into the movie before *any* main character actually spoke a word to someone else, and that was through a headset to an unknown party. It's all about as enthralling as it sounds.
Freedom Deep is a mess. It's Gordian's Knot, and I have no idea why anybody tied it. So there's this woman. She's a bounty hunter. Or an assassin. Or a government agent or something. I guess it's possible she's from the future of the future. I couldn't tell you. It's 2018, civilization's presumably in crumbles, and for completely unknown reasons she's been tasked with finding Liam wandering out in the desert. Liam's probably wandering the desert to get away from the society that wronged him, except I think that society has been destroyed for close to 20 years at this point. Maybe whatever society sprung up in its place picked on him too. Liam's had it rough. Anyway, she shoots a camel, finds her quarry, has a confusing wireless conversation, burns her headset, rapes Liam at knifepoint (!), they fall in love, and he never says a word. Your typical boy meets girl, really.
All the while, she reads through the pages of a book Liam has written. It's the same book Liam started writing back in the 1998 timeline. One would hope that's a helluva book. And clearly it is, as she decides to spare his life because of it; she's convinced it must reach civilization.
Meanwhile, young Liam runs away from home and manages to find a surrogate family in the form of a gay couple, half of which is a transsexual "mother" and the other half of which really likes heroin. Liam escapes his troubles, as he always has, through his love of plaid shirts, a horrendous hair-do, Kurt Cobain, and lots of music that sounds nothing like Kurt Cobain's. Music rights cost money. Soon he finds another outlet for his pain (pain best represented in voice-over by the heartfelt words "heal my wounds"). Poetry!
The movie states that young Liam's story starts in 1998; we're told no more. Liam endures school and home life, escapes from it, finds an odd replacement family, takes up writing, gets in a series of publications, and becomes well-known enough to get into a meeting with corporate bigwigs who'd like to put his column in their magazine as a regular feature, all by March 12th of 1998, the movie tells us. Even assuming the rest of it started on January 1st, that little dude can move.
I have no idea what to make of this movie. I didn't mention how Kurt Cobain really fits in because, well, he doesn't. Why does anyone care what a pubescent mute thinks, at least enough to publish him? Who is sending someone to catch and possibly kill adult Liam? Why? Who does our almost-assassin talk to on her headset? Why does she burn the thing afterwards? Are there wireless towers or satellites after the nuclear holocaust? What the heck happened with the cliff scene? Why does the word "prophet" keep popping up in reference to this movie? If Liam arrives at what looks like a fully intact city at the end, was it really harmed in the first place? Is he just some nutjob wandering around the desert for years and all the rest is his hallucination? Why did the writer-director think he could get away with three versions of a main character who never utters a word? I'm baffled.
It's not the worst movie I've seen (I've given out a whole lot of one-star ratings), but it's bad. And it might not be the most confusing movie I've seen, but it's at least top five. As bad movie fare goes, it's entertaining and maybe worth a watch, but isn't a must-see crappy flick experience.
In conclusion, let me present a condensed version of what the experience of watching this movie was like:
Me: Wait, what?
Roommate: I dunno.
Me: Rewind it.
(Rewind.) (Watch it again.)
Together: What?
(Repeat.)
This rambling apocalyptic movie covers the life of Liam who writes and survives to deliver his "sacred text" to a needy world.
fwh472822 January 2007
This is probably the worst movie I have ever seen. I actually watched it all the way through to see if it could get any worse than it was at the beginning. It did! It appears to be 2 separate movies spliced together. The only thing interesting about it was the fact that some, if not all of it, was filmed around Melbourne, Australia, where my son attended Veterinary School. If it weren't for the opportunity to pick out recognizable landmarks, this movie would have been unbearable to watch. It was extremely painful to view anyway. It is difficult to tell if the people who put this movie together were serious in their intentions or were just trying for an oddball campy look. In any event it came out badly.
Possibly the worst movie ever to come out of Australia!
alansmithee0428 July 2008
Take "Six-String Samurai," suck every last bit of humor and talent out of it, set it in Australia and it STILL wouldn't be as awful as this unwatchable mess of self-obsessed celluloid.
Not so much a movie as it is a horrendously long, mind-bendingly pretentious music video - "Freedom Deep" may very well qualify for Legendary Bad Movie status. At the very least it has to be one of the most toxically self-indulgent train wrecks since "Lisztomania" - which is an achievement of sorts, I suppose.
The film's story, such as it is, concerns the efforts of Liam to bring the holy word of Kurt Cobain (!) to a suffering, nuke-ravaged humanity. Interspersed with this epic quest are flash backs to Liam's youth when he was a pudgy, abused kid who looks abso-tootly-ootly nothing like his older self.
If the plot of this film sounds even mildly interesting - it's not. It's tedious and trite by turns and the film's only saving grace is that there's no dialog. Indeed, I can't even begin to imagine how teeth-grindingly awful this mis-begotten mess would be if we had to listen to these characters speak.
Not so much a movie as it is a horrendously long, mind-bendingly pretentious music video - "Freedom Deep" may very well qualify for Legendary Bad Movie status. At the very least it has to be one of the most toxically self-indulgent train wrecks since "Lisztomania" - which is an achievement of sorts, I suppose.
The film's story, such as it is, concerns the efforts of Liam to bring the holy word of Kurt Cobain (!) to a suffering, nuke-ravaged humanity. Interspersed with this epic quest are flash backs to Liam's youth when he was a pudgy, abused kid who looks abso-tootly-ootly nothing like his older self.
If the plot of this film sounds even mildly interesting - it's not. It's tedious and trite by turns and the film's only saving grace is that there's no dialog. Indeed, I can't even begin to imagine how teeth-grindingly awful this mis-begotten mess would be if we had to listen to these characters speak.
Freedom Deep Directors Comment
johnranko19 August 2008
Having read the reviews here both positive and negative I would just like to point out that Freedom Deep was a very low budget, independently financed Austrailain feature film shot on 35mm virtually stolen from the producers by 1st Miracle Pictures (Menahem Golan etc) before it was properly finished. Back in 1998 we were young, naive, without legal representation, and seduced by these 'Hollywood Producer/Distributors' who then exploited the film selling it to international DVD and Television markets. We were essentially ripped off, saw no profits or returns and had to wait for the rights to expire to complete the picture the way it was intended. This is being explored in a documentary currently in production.
FREEDOM DEEP (Final Directors Version) is completed and will be released in late 2008 on Amazon.com.
This version is 50-60% different in content and superior on every other level (aka The Samsara Chronicles). It has now been in production since 1994 and has received positive feedback, encouragement and contribution from a variety of film makers (such as Wim Wenders) that has helped shape its development.
www.freedomdeep.com Freedom Deep FDV is not intended to be taken too seriously, it is a piece of pop culture with many references to contemporary cultural icons and broader world issues such as Sept 11, the war on terror etc. The narrative includes visual imagery, music, poetry, and a sense of broad stroke unbiased prophecy to tell what is ultimately a very humanistic and uplifting tale. The audience is invited to think a little and draw their own conclusions from the clues given or they can just sit back enjoy the music and be inspired by the cinematography of Karl von Moller.
Aaron Stevenson (21st August 2008) "If a stranger should fall from the sky to the ground, tell me what would he think when he looked around?" Liam 2018.
FREEDOM DEEP (Final Directors Version) is completed and will be released in late 2008 on Amazon.com.
This version is 50-60% different in content and superior on every other level (aka The Samsara Chronicles). It has now been in production since 1994 and has received positive feedback, encouragement and contribution from a variety of film makers (such as Wim Wenders) that has helped shape its development.
www.freedomdeep.com Freedom Deep FDV is not intended to be taken too seriously, it is a piece of pop culture with many references to contemporary cultural icons and broader world issues such as Sept 11, the war on terror etc. The narrative includes visual imagery, music, poetry, and a sense of broad stroke unbiased prophecy to tell what is ultimately a very humanistic and uplifting tale. The audience is invited to think a little and draw their own conclusions from the clues given or they can just sit back enjoy the music and be inspired by the cinematography of Karl von Moller.
Aaron Stevenson (21st August 2008) "If a stranger should fall from the sky to the ground, tell me what would he think when he looked around?" Liam 2018.
A Low budget Pink Floyds the Wall influenced by Nirvana with a touch of El Topo and the Road Warrior
NateManD23 February 2005
A bizarre Aussie film that I discovered by accident. I was at a pawn shop, and I found this on DVD for $4. Although it was very uneven, I still found it entertaining. A young boy is neglected by his parents and is out casted by society. People pick on him, he looks up to rocker Kurt Cobain for inspiration. The ghost of Kurt Cobain returns from the dead to tell him to become a prophet. The boy writes down his observations, is later adopted by a gay couple (one of the man a drag queen) His futuristic prophesy is ignored until 30 years later. Sound Confusing, that's because the story is somewhat lacking. Maybe the plot would of been better if the main character was visited by the ghost of John Lennon. But anyways this film has an interesting experimental look to it. The style is similar to The Wall, because it uses imagery and music to tell a story. There is not much dialog and it has an apocalyptic sci-fi feel to it also. Some of the elements look like they were influenced by Jodorowsky. Example being the dark costumes juxtaposed against the desert scene. It definitely was inspired by the Mad Max films. Sometimes you just have to ignore a weak plot, and enjoy a film's bizarre imagery; this is one of those films.
a cybergrunge journey set in the future!
astevenson723 April 2005
This is one of those flicks with great visuals and soundtrack that ya can just sit back and take in. There's some serious undertones and bulk references to pop culture that are just under the surface. A bit like Pink Floyds THE WALL meets HIGHLANDER. The look is also a little MAD MAX. The soundtrack by Goya's Child keeps the momentum and pace. I particularly liked the flashback sequences to the past that are presented in a washed out grainy sort of look that contrast well with the future high tech 35mm scenes. The themes raised touch on religion, homosexuality, parenthood, victimization, ambition, mythology etc. The stars appear to be new comers i.e Peter Benson, Lorelei Garner, Oliver Dutton, Charles Wood, Ross Simmons but performances are solid throughout. The premise concerns an assassin hunting down a prophet poet in the future across the wasteland. We don't really find out exactly who sent her and an uneasy alliance and eventual romance of sorts develops..... A grungy voice over lends an unsettling presence and is the last performance by Harold Baigent the narrator of MAD MAX 2 The Road Warrior.
Weird but wonderful
annette71718 October 2013
I just stumbled across this movie online and I had to watch it twice to take it all in. I can see how some people wouldn't like it, but I found myself strangely drawn to it and I couldn't turn it off. I remember in Australian film history in the 80's and 90's there was a heap of very meaningful post apocalyptic art type movies, and this is one of them. But it's so much different than all the others. Certainly kept me thinking. The soundtrack drew me in and took me on a journey with the actors to a deep and dark place where our minds dare not go. I've got to say though, you wonder if the writer of this movie may have had a bit of influence from an illegal substance. I would certainly be interested in checking out more of their work.
Smells like teen 90's angst on mescaline
slouchingpoet-952-72522126 July 2015
Having just this second finished watching this movie for the first time, then reading the profusion of negative reviews here, I wanted to add my two cents.
The only real problem with Freedom Deep is the baffling description its makers have attached to it. I suppose you could suss out the details if you were looking for them, but without any real dialogue the official synopsis sounds like a far fetched fan theory. That doesn't mean it's a bad movie, though. If you expect a torrent of near-psychedelic images that dances somewhere between Richard Stanley and Pink Floyd's The Wall, you'll be more than pleased. That Aaron Stevenson compares it to the Book of Eli is not only inexplicable, it doesn't do the movie justice.
As an aside, the DVD copy I watched had some sound artifacts on it. I don't know if this is in all prints or I just got a bad one. Checking online I found that the soundtrack is by Goya's Child, of whom I'm now a huge fan. So I guess that's a silver lining to bad audio.
Anyway, don't believe the wildly harsh reviews. Just know what you're getting into before you pop in an hour long surreal music video while expecting Mad Max.
The only real problem with Freedom Deep is the baffling description its makers have attached to it. I suppose you could suss out the details if you were looking for them, but without any real dialogue the official synopsis sounds like a far fetched fan theory. That doesn't mean it's a bad movie, though. If you expect a torrent of near-psychedelic images that dances somewhere between Richard Stanley and Pink Floyd's The Wall, you'll be more than pleased. That Aaron Stevenson compares it to the Book of Eli is not only inexplicable, it doesn't do the movie justice.
As an aside, the DVD copy I watched had some sound artifacts on it. I don't know if this is in all prints or I just got a bad one. Checking online I found that the soundtrack is by Goya's Child, of whom I'm now a huge fan. So I guess that's a silver lining to bad audio.
Anyway, don't believe the wildly harsh reviews. Just know what you're getting into before you pop in an hour long surreal music video while expecting Mad Max.
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