THE EMU WAR
Australia, 2023, 75 minutes, Colour.
Damien Callinan, Lisa Fineberg, Aaron Gocs, Dane Simpson, Naomi Higgins, Cameron James, Luke McGregor, Ben Russell, Jonathan Schuster.
Directed by John Campbell , Lisa Fineberg , Jay Morrissey
This is a worthy nominee for the title of worst Australian film ever.
It is intended as a broad comedy, as a spoof of history, as a spoof of Australian stances and attitudes. However, it plays as something of an improv movie, the cast making it all up as they went along.
Publicity for the film includes the words: absurd, over-the-top, bonkers!
The 1932 Emu War is historical and alluded to at the opening of this film. However, the idea is to show an Emu war incorporating various aspects of Australian history, opening up with a spoof on Harold Holt making an announcement on radio to the public, want to include a joke about peeing his pants which is not funny at all (and something of this trend continues right throughout the film, including the peeing, unfunny or some crass innuendo humour). Later Harold Holt will be lost in C and suggestions of a submarine taking him away…
Then there is a focus on an ordinary Australian family at a picnic and singing, and a sudden Emu swoop kidnapping the young son who will be brought up by the Emus and eventually confronting his father and his sister.
The basic plot is the campaign against the Emus who are presented with puppetry and voice-over, like an alternate culture of their own sovereign citizens. And, there is a small squad led by Damian Callinan, Lisa Fineberg, his daughter (Lisa) not recognised by him greeting his son, and two pals, one white and paunchy, Aaron Gocs one aboriginal with a sense of humour, Dane Simpson (more than most of the others in the film).
And, there are a whole lot of subplots including stand-up comedians, the widow of somebody killed in the war then disguising herself as an EMU and going undercover.
There are all kinds of sudden terms in the improv plot, some stand-up comedy, some ghostly fantasy, some sexual themes…
There is a presupposition, correct in many ways, that Australian audiences like to poke fun at all kinds of Aussie themes and experiences and that they don’t mind a bit of vulgarity but critic Jim Schembri notes that vulgarity for its own sake (abundant here) is boring.
For an ABC lengthy interview with the filmmakers about their intentions and the making of the film: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-20/the-emu-war-interview-hot-dad-productions/103997622
