By Anne Maria Nicholson

As the Nigerian author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie says, “single stories are dangerous” because they can lead to very wrong ideas about people and their lives. If you trawl the internet, you’ll find Australian films described as dismal, depressing, joyless, violent, crass, etc. But that would just show that you haven’t seen enough Aussie movies to learn about the country’s many stories.

Australians have been producing films for over a century. People say that the first feature film was made in Australia: The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906). But it wasn’t until the early 1970s that a new generation of filmmakers, with the help of the Australian Film Commission, changed the way Australian movies were made.

Movies in the Modern Era

It wasn’t until the early 1970s, when a new generation of Australian filmmakers was given funding by the Australian Film Commission, that the country’s cinema was transformed.

People around the world paid attention to these movies, which were termed the “Australian New Wave.” Over the past few years, First Nations Australians, who have been marginalized and persecuted for far too many years, have been given a voice in films produced in Australia.

When you think about how many movies have been made in Australia since the 1970s, it’s hard to choose just 3. One small change: I didn’t include Jane Campion’s The Piano (1993), which was made with Australian money but takes place entirely in New Zealand.

In films like Dirty Deeds, you can see heavy influences of gambling and sports betting. Australians are known to love Australian gambling and sports betting movies since it resembles their love for gambling. Sports betting in Australia is very popular since it has been a tradition there for ages. If you are interested in Sportsbooks in Australia gathering some important info about AUS betting sites can help you increase your winnings and make sure that you bet on a safe and regulated platform.

Best Aussie films

Picnic at Hanging Rock

Peter Weir’s critically acclaimed film is based on Joan Lindsay’s novel, which is falsely considered to be a true story. On Valentine’s Day in 1900, a group of girls from an all-girls boarding school in Victoria, go to Hanging Rock for the day. Following a period spent at a picnic, a select group of pupils, guided by an instructor, makes the decision to climb the rock. Only one scared girl from this small group comes back. The rest disappears completely.

Picnic at Hanging Rock‘s mystery lacks answers or simple resolutions. It’s more about growing up as a girl in Victorian-era Australia, which was very strict. But the story and its ideas will always be relevant. Hanging Rock, a spiritually sacred landmark for First Nations Australians, is also mentioned in the story. In the end, the most memorable things about the movie are its spooky setting and spellbinding music. The movie was one of Australia’s first to be a big hit all over the world.

Mad Max Film Series

In the Mad Max Film Series, George Miller had the innovative idea to reimagine the enormous Australian desert as a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Mel Gibson played the title role in the first Mad Max trilogy, which was made as a result. Several dystopian-themed sequels [Furiosa is currently in production] followed in the footsteps of the first trilogy’s success. The first movie in the series cost only $400,000 to make, but it went on to earn $100 million.

Mad Max: Fury Road began development in the early 2010s, after years of rumours of a fourth installment. The film’s unique use of realistic effects, special effects, and top-notch make-up helped it to become one of the best action films of all time. Fury Road was a great action movie, but it also talked about women’s rights and the environment in a very nuanced way. You can watch the Mad Max trilogy on Netflix.

Wake in Fright

Wake in Fright by Ted Kotcheff is without a doubt the scariest movie about Australia. Scorsese called it a “deeply, and I mean deeply, unsettling and disturbing movie” after seeing it at the Cannes premiere. Boorman’s Deliverance, a film about city-bred males getting into problems in a rural town, came out the year before this one. Wake in Fright isn’t put together in a clear way like Deliverance. However, it is a more terrifying journey into the realm of primal horror.

The plot centers on an elementary school educator named John Grant. He despises his rural school teacher job and wishes to visit his lover in Sydney during the Christmas holidays. But when people drink all night, everything goes crazy. Even though Wake in Fright is sometimes cheesy and exploitative—it’s a classic of the subgenre called “Ozploitation”— and a serious look at violent masculinity. The Australian outback is also a character in its own right because of how big it is, how isolated it is, and how hot it is.