Based on the novel by Kenneth Cook, with a screenplay by Evan Jones and directed by Canadian Ted Kotcheff, this is a disturbing, slow-paced meditation on the veneer of civilisation and how barbarity lies buried just below the surface. John Grant (Gary Bond) is a young indentured teacher working in a small town deep in the Australian outback. When the school breaks for Christmas he travels to Bundayabba (the "Yabba") to catch a flight back to Sydney and his girlfriend. He pops into a pub for a quick pint but quickly finds himself sucked into a session, where he loses all his money gambling. Descending into drunkenness with the locals, including the alcoholic Doc Tydon (Donald Pleasance), Grant rapidly descends into degenerate depravity.

"Wake in Fright" is a strange, baffling film directed with an almost documentary eye by Ted Kotcheff. The film works on a deep psychological level, with Kotcheff managing to make absolutely everything look uncomfortable - the heat, the isolation, the locations and the people. There is a tangible feeling that anything might happen and that anything might go wrong at any moment; no doubt assisted by the non-stop boozing that happens throughout. The dialogue is sparse and the hyperbolic macho, mateyness has a feel of menace; indeed much of it has an underlying feel of gay panic (which becomes disturbingly overt at one stage) The vast vistas are astounding and brilliantly captured by cinematographer Brian West, while the music by John Scott adds a dislocating background thrum. The lead actors are very good - Gary Bond cleverly handles John's rapid descent (with some sharp editing helping us get inside his head) while Donald Pleasance is brilliant as the drink-sodden, philosophical doctor. There are points in the film, however, where Pleasance appears to be having too much fun and getting a little too deeply into the spirit of the thing. The rest of the cast have a real authentic feel about them that adds to strange atmosphere of the film.

Although hugely thoughtful and "enjoyable" (if that's the correct word) "Wake in Fright" is a film that is difficult to know exactly what to make of it all on a first viewing. More than one watch appears essential to get into all the nuances of this strange, disturbing film. ( )