<PERSON>
The Mango Tree begins with some allusions to themes that suggest a film concerned with grand narratives and myths of the old world as experienced by Australians in the early decades of the 20th century. In this newly conquered Eden perhaps the mango tree will stand-in for that ancient apple tree? Maybe it does, but this film is solely focused upon actors and moving through the narrative. It feels like much has been shorn from the source material, except there is no source material. <PERSON> is a main character in that we open with him on a train, then fade back to the town from which he is departing. Not that this is especially clear either. There is nothing to suggest this is all a flashback, and it absolutely does not need to be. The Mango Tree is so generic that it almost becomes a joke. But there is a warmth here. It may basically be a fantasised episode of A Country Practice as taking place during The Great War Years, but it has a way of presenting death that is honest and lacking in manipulation. These deaths don't get much meaning as the film leaps from one short vignette on social issues of the time to another. 295
But they happen with a simple suddenness that does reflect life. Plus there's a mad preacher on the loose with a shotgun for a bit, which was an unexpected delight.
The Mango Tree is kind of nothing. For the most part it is overly manicured and detached. It doesn't capture a sense of place very well, which is a shame as I was most curious about that. My grandfather and father were both Queenslanders, <PERSON> was fighting somewhere in Europe at this time in history. I would have liked a better sense of physical place. From the stories and experience my Dad told me, however, they certainly captured the pig-headed nastiness of it. It falls to <PERSON> to counter this nastiness with her own dedication to not being a dick. She breathes fire and passion into The Mango Tree, almost single-handed, as <PERSON>. Even <PERSON> is only a brief backup chorus to her resolute humanity. For her alone it is worth watching (and the deranged preacher subplot). 80