After World War II, the cinematic landscape of Australia was desolate.Not that there weren’t significant, or even historical, films from the 1950s and ’60s.1955’sJeddais the first Australian film with First Nations people in leading roles. But there wasn’t a lot, with home-grown cinema releases each year consistently in the single digits and few of them are accessible today. This was when many cultural hubs across Europe and Asiawere experiencing cultural boom periods,many countries going through their New Waves in the mid-20th century; predominantly France, Britain, Japan, Brazil, and Iran. Movies produced outside of Hollywood, which was in the firm grip of the Hays Code, were becoming international hits.Television came to Australia in 1956, just in time for the Melbourne Summer Olympics, and there was a real struggle for a cultural identity outside of being an arm of the now-decimated British Empire.
Enter Prime Ministers John Gorton and Gough Whitlam, whose governments from 1968 to 1975took a vested interest in rescuing the Australian cinema industry from total dissolution.The Australian Film, Television, and Radio School was established in 1972, and they pumped as much money as possible into fostering new talent to put Australia on the map.From the years 1970 to 1985, there was an explosion of new films coming from the land down under, created by the freshest creative minds and starring the hottest new stars, many of which would go on to become legends of the industry. This period will go on to be called The Australian New Wave, and we’re still seeing aftershocks of it to this day, including the brand newFuriosa: A Mad Max Saga.
In a not-too-distant dystopian future, when man’s most precious resource – oil – has been depleted and the world plunged into war, famine and financial chaos, the last vestiges of the law in Australia attempt to restrain a vicious biker gang. Max (Mel Gibson), an officer with the Main Force Patrol, launches a personal vendetta against the gang when his wife (Joanne Samuel) and son are hunted down and murdered, leaving him with nothing but the instincts for survival and retribution.
What Is the Australian New Wave?
Unlike a lot of New Wave movements in cinema, Australia’s wasn’t tied down to a particular style of either storytelling or presentation. The only thing that all these titles have in common is that they felt subversive and fresh, similar to the films Hollywood released around the same time. Many movies of differing styles and genres managed to fit in at the box office and become certified hits with general audiences.
An offshoot of this movement that a lot of people tend to know about, helped byQuentin Tarantino’s endorsement and the documentaryNot Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!, is Ozploitation: The nasty, grimy, messed-up little brother of The Australian New Wave. Tarantino himself stated that theKill Billmovieswere heavily inspired by the films of Ozploitation MVPBrian Trenchard-Smith.Screened in grindhouses and drive-ins, fully taking advantage of the newly introduced R-rating,Ozploitation is the umbrella term for all the wacky, lurid, and action-packed B-movies of this era.These include horrors likePatrickandThe Cars That Ate Paris, raunchy comedies likeAlvin PurpleandThe Adventures of Barry McKenzie, and gritty thrillers likeWake In FrightandRoad Games.
This was the subgenre that birthedGeorge Miller’s post-apocalyptic mega-hitMad Max.Inspired by the chaos and destruction he saw on the roads of rural Queensland in his youth, and seeingthe results of that chaos in goreydetail during his medical education, Miller created the very apex of the car chases and explosions the genre is known for.Mad Maxis a classic story of revenge and a grimy look at a human-induced Armageddon from the perspective of a country rarely seen in the genre.The firstMad Maxis a reflection of the culture of hoon-driving and vehicular recklessness that is still an issue in Australia to this day and was made on a scant $350,000 budget.The original film is a great example of filmmaking “on the cheap,” as Miller puts it in an interview with the Australian Screen Organisation, doing as much as he could with what little he had.
A Brief History of Australian Horror, From ‘Wolf Creek’ to ‘Talk to Me’
From Ozploitation to splatter films, the Land Down Under knows how to scare us.
When the sequels came, they were still nestled in the heart of the Australian New Wave, but the box office of each installment only allowed it to get bigger.Mad Max 2: The Road Warriorgave us the worldbuilding that set up our modern understanding of the Mad Max universe, with insane car modifications and gangs of sadistic marauders. The production value is duplicated again inMad Max Beyond Thunderdome, adding in the Queen of Rock’n’Roll herself,Tina Turner. Despite starring in many Australian New Wave films before it,Mad Maxis what made Mel Gibson a household name. It crafted the idea of an Australian future that has been referenced and copied to this day, fromOverwatchtoRick and Morty,because the very roots of the film, from the filming location to the concept’s inspiration, are Australian in nature.The sustained success ofMad Maxalone shows the reverberating influence of Ozploitation and the Australian New Wave.
The Australian New Wave and Ozploitation Movements Gave Us Many Different Types of Movies
However, the movement was more than leather-clad goons and Thunderdomes, Australia produced its fair share of diverse classics that explored subversive ideas. For mind-bending Australian Gothics, you have films likeThe Last WaveandPicnic at Hanging Rock. If you want early feminist pieces with frank and layered discussions about relationships and what it is to be a woman in the world, there’sPuberty BluesorMy Brilliant Career.Among others, films likeWalkaboutandThe Chant of Jimmie Blacksmithbrought more First Nations people to the forefront of the cultural movement.
With this avalanche of popular Australian films appeared a lot of movers and shakers, actors, directors, and cultural icons.To get the most obvious one out of the way,Paul Hoganplayed the titular character in 1986’sCrocodile Dundee,becoming the outsiders' mascot of Australia up until the popularity ofSteve Irwin. However, the significance of Dame Edna Everage’s(Barry Humphries)international debut inThe Adventures of Barry McKenziecannot be ignored either. Directors George Miller andPeter Weirexploded onto the scene around this time, moving to Hollywood and becoming award-winning successes. The collection of actors came in droves, with Australian New Wave films giving us the debuts ofSam Neill, Mel Gibson,Nicole Kidman, and many, many more.
After the New Wave, Australian Cinema Continues Its Success
The Australian New Wave wasn’t a movement that came to a screeching halt.The hype died down after a while, but the past efforts to give Australia that desired cultural standing paid off.Hot off the heels of the movement was the “glitter cycle” of the early 1990s. Examples includeMuriel’s Wedding,The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, and the introduction ofBaz LuhrmanninStrictly Ballroom.These are the films past the 1980s that are extremely well-known internationally, a slew of new queer and female lead stories that both celebrated Australian culture and gave more volume to underrepresented groups in films.
Now Australia is firmly established with one of the best film and television industries in the world.There are no more movements or single bursts of creativity, there is consistent production on screens, big, small, and handheld. There are hands in every genre, from animationto a world-renowned institution of horror. With more diverse voices being able to shine not just on cinema and television, but online and streaming as well. Not to mention even more actors and directorswho found major success in Hollywood.Mad Max: Fury Roadshowed that decades later, the concepts created during that time still worked, and continues to work with Miller’s continued success in cinema.The Australian New Wave is the best example of why it is so important for governments to fund artistic institutions rather than stifling them.Because when given the opportunity and tools to create, a little country with a dying film industry managed to take over the world across a decade and keep that relevance for decades to come.
Mad Maxis available to stream on Max
