Author Robyn Davidson, whose remarkable real-life journey forms the basis of the new film Tracks, said at the Venice Film Festival that the film will resonate with young people who need to get away from modern life.
The theme of solitude as a tool to aid self-discovery is central to American John Curran’s Tracks, one of 20 films in competition for this year’s Golden Lion award at Venice. It is based on the journey of Davidson, who in 1977 walked for 1,700 miles (2,746 kilometres) across the Australian desert aged 27 with just her dog and four camels for company. The film is a nostalgic throwback to a pre-communications age.
The character wanders blindly, naked and increasingly burnt, accompanied just by the sound of the camels’ bellows and Davidson, who is played by Australia’s Mia Wasikowska, told AFP the journey was “transformative in all sort of ways”.
“I came together as a person. On that sort of journey, in that landscape, you go through changes in consciousness,” she said.
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