Mad Max

Mad Max (1979)

Mad Max is set in an occurring apocalypse where the world is starting to run out of resources and crime is one the rise. It shows a world that is rapidly deteriorating and where violence is common. Mad Max is a prime example of the Australian new wave, the movie (all though not violent for todays standards) stood out from movies of the time by being a lot more violent and sexual than them. The film still influences films of today from the world that was created for it. The film itself was filmed all in Australia and took inspiration from the American film industry. The film itself is hard to understand if you don't pay much attention meaning that you must be an active viewer to understand what is going on. To modern film viewers the film is kind of confusing as mad max is remembered as action film, a trend which i believe occurred after mad max 2 and isn't consistent of the identity that mad max 1 creates. The film uses explicitly Australian actors to create its world and doesn't give you any information about the setting of the film. 

Gallipoli (1981)

Gallipoli is a film about the Gallipoli campaign against the Ottoman empire by commonwealth forces. It shows the devastation of war and provides a dramatic view of the war from Australian eyes. The movie creates a lot of disapproval towards the British officers for forcing Australian soldiers to their inevitable demise while creating a great amount of love for the Anzac forces who give their lives heroically for almost no gain. The movie is quite brutal in its depiction of the great war and expresses it's dislike of the loss of life quite clearly with the ending scene. 

The odd angry shot (

The odd angry shot focuses on the Australian involvement in the Vietnam war and echoes a similar message to Gallipoli that the soldiers shouldn't be there. The movie is quite brutal during the action scenes which is a staple of the Australian new wave but also shows how boring the down time between conflicts. The film almost questions itself with if they don't fight then what else are they going to do. A common trend with the Australian films is that they do not critique the meaning in the Vietnam war as much as American films did, that's not to say they didn't critique it.