Displaying items by tag: Russell Kilbey
Man from Coxs River
THE MAN FROM COXS RIVER
Australia, 2014, 88 minutes, Colour.
Norma Carlon, Luke Carlon, Chris Banffy.
Directed by Russell Kilbey.
Title is meant to echo, and does, the classic Australian problem film, the Man from Snowy River. The emphasis is on the mountain outback, horses, brumbies, 19th century.
This is a 21st-century documentary, the focus on brumbies, especially in the Megalong Valley, the Blue Mountains. There is a divided issue about freedom for the brumbies, the wild horses and their feral way of life, the difficulty with their roaming wild, travelling the countryside, the challenge to the environment. And the political question of culling them or transporting them – and the skills for each approach.
The focus of the documentary, which is beautifully photographed and wonderful mountain and valley scenery of New South Wales, is the Carlon family. A history of the Carl on men is given, but the talking head is that of Norma Carlon, widow and mother, a welcoming host to explain the situation, the history, the family and involvement. On the other talking head, also sympathetic, is Luke, her son, carrying on the family traditions. And one of the main traditions in the late 20th century was organising tours for groups to ride horseback exploring the countryside. But then came the naming of wilderness areas and national parks and the access was too difficult.
With the move against culling the brumbies, Luke and his associates become involved with ranger, Chris Banffy, in rounding them up, corralling them, taming them as best as possible, leading them onto vehicles and transporting them to other locations. The film notes that the challenge is to remove 80 of the horses to make this part of the valley and the Megalong environment environmentally safe and acceptable.
There are quite a number of sequences of the rounding up of the horses, more difficult than audiences might have been expecting. And then there is the reaction of the horses to the curtailing of their freedom, lots of sequences in the corral, the energy of the horses, even young foals, and horses lying down and remaining on the ground in protest.
Eventually, a number of horses are rounded up, tamed and taken away.
The focus of the issue here is New South Wales and the Megalong Valley but there are other parts of Australia where the problem still remains – and, especially in the mountains of the Snowy River terrain.
