Word: kangaroos
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...course, there is the enigma of Richard Somers. Although he is an unlikeable, pompous snob, his inner conflicts are potentially compelling. He is intensely torn between Kangaroo and the Reds between power and the ideals he fought for in England. But the audience cannot become involved because the conflict is not believable...
...write, his neighbors try to involve him in their fascist organization, offering him a ministry when the planned revolution is complete. Soon the socialists begin also to woo Somers, with the enticement of editorship of a socialist newspaper. His inner struggle to choose between the two provides Kangaroo with dramatic intensity...
Unfortunately, Kangaroo fails to satisfy the viewer. The problems, whether faults of Lawrence's writing, Evan Jones' screenplay, or Tim Burstall's directing, lie in the characters. Not one is likeable, an aspect of the film which both irritates the audience and makes it impossible for the viewer to care about their concerns...
...characters seem to be caricatures rather than real personalities. General Kangaroo (Hugh Keays-Byrne), for instance, is a one-dimensional fascist, a leader without compassion, love or warmth. He has no traits other than greed and we are left wondering why his devoted cultish followers would ever have taken him seriously...
...fascist elements pulling at Somers are insane and psychopathic. General Kangaroo announces at one point that he is having "an auction for the soul of Richard Somers." In another scene he demands Somers' unconditional love, which he says he deserves because he is a superior human being. The audience watches Kangaroo from Somers' eyes and cannot understand why Somers even considers this dangerous lunatic's offers, much less why he treats them as rational requests...