Tracks (2013)

• Year: 2013
• Released: 06 Mar 2014
• Country: Australia
• Adwords: 2 wins & 19 nominations
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2167266/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/Tracks
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/tracks
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English, Aboriginal
• MPA Rating: PG-13
• Genre: Adventure, Biography, Drama
• Runtime: 112 min
• Writer: Marion Nelson, Robyn Davidson
• Director: John Curran
• Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Adam Driver, Lily Pearl
• Keywords: biography, based on true story, based on a true story, desert, australia,

	7.1/10
	78/100
	43% – Audience

Tracks Storyline

In 1977, a young Australian woman named Robyn Davidson set out from Alice Springs to trek across 2,700 kilometres of harsh desert of Western Australia to reach the ocean. Accompanied only by her dog and four camels, Davidson had no other purpose than to reach the ocean and find herself on a journey of self-discovery.

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Beautiful trek

In 1977, Robyn Davidson (Mia Wasikowska) travels from Alice Springs across 1,700 miles of Australian deserts to the Indian Ocean with her dog Diggity (Special Agent Gibbs) and her camels. Her father was an explorer but he disappeared during a trek across Australia. Her mother committed suicide. She works to try to come up with the money and camels to do the trip. Her sister brings along talkative photographer Rick Smolan (Adam Driver) who suggests getting a sponsor. National Geographic funds the trip with Rick Smolan taking pictures whenever they meet up along the way.

It’s a mysterious human desire to be alone. Mia is able to portray this convincingly. Her conversation with Glendle is so telling. The dusty Australian outback looks beautiful. It’s a pleasure to the eyes and a wonder to the soul.

“Tracks” is far off the track

You may be familiar with director John Curran if you have seen his work “The Painted Veil”. Screenwriter Marion Nelson has not worked on any well-known projects so far, but that does not have to mean something as many new writers often launch their career with a truly great effort. Unfortunately I would not call “Tracks” the above. Maybe it is just me, but just the way I do not like mountain climber movie, I am also not particularly fond of desert-themed movies. Robyn Davidson’s approach here falls for me under the “higher-faster-further”-concept that I do not approve of. I find her approach hypocritical. She says that she does not do it to prove anything to herself, but to prove that anybody can reach anything if they really want to. And then she even writes about it, which puts a huge question mark behind her motivations for this trek. Later she even wrote a book, which for me destroys almost all the non-materialistic reasons she gave for going off to the desert.

However, in starting the journey, she enters an area of the planet where men simply don’t belong. As a consequence, kangaroos and camels die just like her dog (though the scene is not as tragic as the one in a certain Will Smith movie). Life is precious. Why would she do these things, only to prove anything to herself or other people? It is embarrassing to watch how she acts like she became one with the nature and the Aborigines. She finds it funny when one of them acts like a wild animal towards tourists, because she knows it is just an act and they are not really this way and the tourists don’t. Well the tourists are not the ones who shoot camels, then, on a later occasion, chase them away and only not kill them because they did not move any closer. You can’t blame Wasikowska though for Davidson’s disgusting choices. Well.. to some extent you probably can as she accepted playing the character. Her performance is solid, though nothing out of the ordinary. Rainer Bock played his part well. Adam Driver, however, has a cheesy love interest role that did not need to be included, even if his character really existed. He does nothing for the movie and his character is completely forgettable. Hopefully things will look different when he shows up as the main villain in the upcoming Star Wars film.

“Tracks” already had a hard time with me before it started due to Davidson’s actions. Neither the direction, nor the acting or writing could make up for it. When she reaches her goal, she dives down in the water and I guess this was supposed to be a major emotional moment, but it did not felt like that for me. The only thumbs up I can give this movie is for the great cinematography and landscapes depicted here. But you can see this also in uncountable nature documentaries. Not recommended.

Take a ride

While this is not a documentary, it is based on a true story (pictures at the closing/end credits will remind you of that, even if you didn’t know by then). But don’t go away yet. While that tag has been overused and some people may find it rather appalling than appealing, this is a human story about a journey that takes more than just courage. And of course you cannot plan something like this to the last detail.

But the human story is impressive, showing us a side of camels that I had no clue of. Camels as other animals obviously have their own personality and their own mind, seeing this depicted in a movie like this is amazing. Speaking of amazing: It’s not only the performances of the actors that are great, but also the visual presentation of the journey we’re taking with the “characters”. Inspiring and emotional, this might be able to touch you, if you go along with it (no pun intended)