<<Movies of My Childhood List
Frog Dreaming
The movie that brought
Australia into the mainstream better than any before it, was and always will
be, "Crocodile Dundee". First released in 1986, it was purely
Australian, but done in a way where Americans could get the jokes. After its
huge success, Paul Hogan starred in a series of commercials promoting Australia
as the premiere tourist destination across the world.
Following this boom, all eyes
were on Australia, with a thirst for films that showed the country’s sprawling
landscape, unique culture and beautiful wildlife in an interesting story with
characters true to the culture. But also released in 1986 and taking advantage
of this new found fascination with our country, filmmaker Brian Trenchard-Smith
had just made a small flick starring a then very young and unknown Nicole
Kidman, that wasn’t received well in it’s time but would go on to become
something of a cult classic. “BMX Bandits” told the story of two expert BMX
bikers and their friend Judy (Kidman) who stumble onto a carton of walkie
talkies, then become the targets of bank robbers. It was made on such a small
budget, but pulled off well for what it was, that its director proved he could
make big concept stories on small budgets. “Frog Dreaming”, also known as “The
Quest” and “The Go-kids” internationally, would continue his signature style of
film making. The director envisioned a story straight from the stories of
Aboriginal history itself, and to pull off this unusual tale, would need a well
known face who could draw in the kids, locally and overseas.
After “E.T. the
Extra-Terrestrial” was a massive hit in 1982, most of its cast seemed to
disappear from screens, save for Drew Barrymore who would go on to make some
racy teen flicks and a string of personal problems before cleaning herself up.
But E.T.’s main star, young Henry Thomas, would be offered the opportunity to
play the leading role in a small Aussie film called Frog Dreaming. Thomas was
the main draw card of the film, coming off the massive success of E.T and after
arriving in remote Victorian towns such as Woods Point and various parts of
Healesville and the Mornington-Peninsula, he must have been the superstar of
the shoot, playing along side a string of amateur Aussie actors. The kid proved
he could act in E.T., playing the passionate and juvenile Eliot, but his
brilliant performance can also be attributed to the directing duties of one Mr.
Steven Spielberg. He does reasonably well in Frog Dreaming, but the amateur feel
and look of the film can distract from the fact that his character Cody, is
well thought out and compelling, but the young actor wasn’t in the hands of an
actor’s director. Now onto the story…
The films opens looking out
onto the deep, murky waters of an uncharted lake, where something sinister
awaits. First, bubbles start to appear on the surface, slow and small to begin
with, then stronger and louder. As the surface of water changes, a dark,
grotesque shape materialises, rising above the surface to take whatever so
happens to be floating on the surface. An absent minded man in a small fishing
boat cannot escape the power of the beast coming from beneath him.
Young Thomas plays Cody
Walpole. Moving to Australia from the United States after his parents died,
Cody lives in a small country town where he spends his time inventing things
and breaking as many rules as he can to see those inventions realised. We meet him
as he’s about to embark on one of these elaborate stunts, where he’s fitted out
his BMX with an engine and wheels that can attach it to the nearby rail tracks.
Whizzing along the tracks, with no regard for whether or not a train could come
along and flatten him at any second, the whole town turns out to watch Cody. He
completes his silly stunt without a scratch, but not without getting a telling
off from the local chief of police.
On one of his local nature
hikes through Devil’s Knob National Park with two girls in tow, Cody just so
happens to stumble upon the previously mentioned lake. It is an eerie place in
every sense of the word, but also strangely beautiful. Brown muddy water is
towered over by tall yellowstone cliffs and rugged trees that could only be as
old as the land itself. Always with a sense of adventure, Cody ventures to a
cliff top and jumps into the water. Fun and excitement soon turn into fear, as
there is clearly a presence lurking not just in the water, but all around the
lake itself. A rusty old windmill starts to spin, with no breath of a wind to
help it, and objects are seamlessly pulled towards the centre of the lake. Cody
and the girls get away, but as any fourteen year would, Cody must get to the
bottom of the truth of what he saw, even if that means venturing into the
bottom of the lake itself.
He asks around the local
town, but no one seems to know this waterhole exists, as it doesn’t show up on
any maps. Turning to some of the local Indigenous peoples, Cody hears about the
truth behind the mysterious lake. He is told there is something down there, and it’s known to the
Aboriginal locals as “Donkegin”. Whatever, or whoever, enters its territory
will not live to tell the tale. However, the fearless and enterprising Cody isn’t
phased by this and will discover the truth of the legend of Frog Dreaming,
whatever it takes. But before he can, he will first have to Dance with the
Devil himself.
This film stands out for me
as one of the most memorable and unique childhood films I came to discover.
There is something alluring about its premise that appeals to every kid, and
the kid within us. At some point, we’ve all wandered off into the bush (or at
least wanted to), stopped to play in some creek or lake and always wondered… is
there anything down there? With water that is too hard to see through, we can
only imagine that aside from a few fish, tadpoles and frogs, a creature of some
kind swims around in there. Like the mystery of the Loch Ness monster, playing
with the question of “Is it there, or is it not there?” Frog Dreaming toys with
this idea as well, and has a lot of fun with. The director builds up a great
sense of atmosphere throughout the film, that is both tense, mysterious and
foreboding. Cody is probably a little too curious and daring for his own good,
and even goes as far as to rig himself an underwater breathing apparatus out of
a fishbowl and oxygen in barrels he creates from pressuring water – seriously,
this kid is smart and can make anything out of just about anything. Again,
another appealing aspect of this film to me as a kid. Remember the times in
your own backyard when you thought how cool it would be just to invent
something? Or wondering if you could sneak into that old junkyard, pick out a
few parts and build something cool? I might have attempted that as kind at some
point, nothing to rival the technical skills of young Cody.
Although small in scale and
amateur in its production, Frog Dreaming is still effective in it’s stronger
parts and continues to hold up today almost thirty years later as a great
family film. It pays respect to the legends and ideas it toys with, and
although not everything is as it seems in the lake as Cody discovers, there is
surely a spirit there of some kind; connected to the Dreamtime, which the
Aboriginal people’s speak of and protect, with only a select special few,
including Cody, coming to know the real truth of Frog Dreaming.
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