The Castle
Director: Rob Sitch.
Starring: Michael Caton, Anne Tenney, Stephen Curry, Anthony Simcoe,
Sophie Lee, Wayne Hope, Tiriel Mora, Eric Bana, Charles 'Bud'
Tingwell, Robyn Nevin.
I finally got around to seeing The Castle. I'd intended to
see it at the movies but my sister saw it before me and warned me off,
especially emphasising how bad it looked on the big screen. So I did
the next best thing and waited till it was out on video.
The basic premise of the story is that Darryl Kerrigan (Mr. Michael
Caton) and family live right next to the airport and some company
wants to forcibly buy their property from them in a plan to expand the
airport. The rub is that the Kerrigans love living next to the
airport and don't want to leave.
On video (and a small television) The Castle looks fine. The
performances are quite solid although there were times when Mr. Tiriel
Mora as Dennis Denuto did some unbelievable things; even a small time
lawyer with little court experience wouldn't behave like that.
Also, moments are
very funny, my favourite being in the high court when in response to
some legal jargon, Darryl Kerrigan responds quite loudly "We did not"
and then mutters to his lawyer "well, we didn't." Unfortunately, I
have serious problems with this movie.
Mostly it's just a really, really nasty movie. It doesn't matter how
much the makers of The Castle are interviewed (and I will say
up front that Frontline, the Australian one, is about the
only reason I can see
for owning a television), there is no way out of this. This is not a
humorous look at slightly simple people, or a kindly exploration of
people who's ways are different from ours. This is a condescending,
mean-spirited portrayal of dumb people.
Yes, it's about good triumphing over evil, about the little person
taking on big business but the Kerrigans are too stupid to win on
their own: they need to be helped along by a kindly benefactor. Ok,
maybe they are shown as being genuine, nice people but only because
they're too dense to know any better.
As a result, while The Castle made me laugh, I felt bad
laughing: I was laughing at these people.
At times, it made me cringe. Being a huge fan of the
people who made this movie, it's hard to give a bad review.
Ultimately, however, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth. I think I'll
go off and watch a dozen or so episodes of Frontline to
cleanse the palate.
Rating: P
© Nikki Lesley 1997