Wake in Fright

Tiboonda schoolteacher John Grant is en route from the tiny outback town to Sydney for summer holidays when he stops over in the mining community of Bundayabba. Drawn into “the Yabba’s” world of drinking and gambling, he drinks too much and loses all his money in a game of two-up. He misses his plane and the next day he is befriended by jovial Tim Hynes and his mates Dick, Joe and the inscrutable Doc. While the other men knock back the beers, John takes a stroll with Tim’s adult daughter Janette. After a failed seduction attempt, John passes out and awakens the next morning in Doc’s squalid hut. John joins a brutal kangaroo hunt with Doc, Dick and Joe. Their car hurtles through the bush to a pub where they drink until it is dark enough to trap kangaroos in the car’s headlights. Many beers and roos later, John crashes for the night at Doc’s place. Next morning, confused and violated, John escapes and hitches a ride out of town only to find himself accidentally back in “the Yabba”. Desperate, John attempts suicide and ultimately resigns himself to returning to his isolated schoolhouse, alone but wiser for the experience. –Cannes Film Festival