Last night I saw the Australian movie RAMS (not the Icelandic original the story is based upon).
Two brothers, Colin (Sam Neill) and Les (Michael Caton) live next to each other on sheep stations, but they haven’t talked to each other in decades. Along with a handful of other farmers in the district, they are custodians of a rare breed of sheep. When a disease takes hold in the valley, government officials are determined to destroy every last sheep so that the disease doesn’t spread. And so, both brothers have choices to make.

I come from a farming background, and so much of the milieu is familiar. On the basis of the trailer, I brought my overseas-born wife along. She has historically had little interest in older Australian culture, a perspective which I have come to understand better. After all, it’s a long way removed from what she’s used to, and of course, much of the “traditional” culture has been quite blokey and narrow in scope.

All I was hoping for with this movie is that she’d have a good laugh. She did laugh, and so did I. But she also said that she now had a much deeper respect for farmers, and how hard their way of life can be. And I was glad to hear it, because there is much more going on in this movie than just comedy.

For me, the social relations were the most interesting part of the film. The fact that two siblings didn’t talk to each for years is not unheard of in many societies, but it really stands out in this movie, where the two houses stand maybe 100 metres apart. There’s real fear here – without giving too much away, one brother appears to really fear retribution by the other, who is a Vietnam veteran. There is a grudging mutual respect between them, buried deep under the surface, but alcoholism is a real barrier to them. One brother gets to the point where he just lets the other suffer the consequences of his own behaviour (having seen it all before far too many times), with both sad and very comical results.

Beyond that, however, is the broader community. In real life, the annual show is something many farmers work towards – it means more than just show bags and rides. And that is true here too. As custodians of a heritage breed, there is rivalry between themselves and other district farmers. They all know one another. As you’d expect, this has its good and bad sides. For those who don’t see eye to eye, adding alcohol to sore feelings doesn’t end well. When disaster threatens – there is no-one else to call upon but each other; there is no opting out. For better or worse, they are a community.

Angela (Asher Keddie) is the unanointed leader, and despite having lost her husband, she appears more open and communicative than her male peers. As a result, it doesn’t surprise me to see her taking a leadership role later in the movie, and to be asking broader questions about what it means for the town if people move away.  Lionel (Wayne Blair) is pragmatic and takes life as it comes. He’s in tune with Colin, but he’s also capable of thinking beyond himself and his own situation.

The other two male characters, though, are struggling. Fergo (Travis McMahon) and Frenchie (Kipan Rothbury) don’t get along. One of them makes the decision to move his family away, which brings all of the previously suppressed emotion around the quarantine scenario to the surface.

While the area being filmed (Mount Barker, Albany and the Porongurup Ranges in Western Australia) is not that isolated at around 400kms from Perth, it is another world, especially socially. Farming families can spend a fair bit of time away from other people, due to both distance and cost. The financial pressures on farmers, and increasing amounts of regulation, the withdrawal of many services from smaller communities, the (relative) lack of mental health support available[1] becomes a real issue.

Sadly, suicide rates in regional and rural Australia are up to twice as likely as in urban regions, especially for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people[2]. This paper points out[3], however, that this pattern doesn’t exist everywhere, which means that local culture and ideas around manliness have an importance influence.

I think the examination of male social mores is a really important theme in the movie. While it’s stereotypical to portray farmers as people as men of few words, there may be grains of truth to it. The spirit of independence and self-reliance that makes them capable of undertaking farming’s duties can have a darker side - as the farming workforce ages, farmers like those in the movie, especially single ones, can find themselves socially isolated.

This theme feeds into the relationship between Colin and Cat (Miranda Richardson), who plays the ex-pat British veterinarian. She turns up one night wanting company, but (for reasons unknown to her). Colin refuses to let her into the house There’s a persistent line in the movie around her being a blow-in, and even worse is that she’s English – never mind that she’s actually from the part of England the rare sheep breed originates from, and is ideally suited to help with it. So, Cat is experiencing low-level racism from some in the community, and she’s also seeing what the sharp end of the laconic “No dramas” culture actually looks like. It’s not actually “no dramas” at all, but rather a toxic (mostly male) inability to communicate effectively, especially from one particular man – Colin. This pattern continues for quite a while, until one day (understandably) she lets fly at him.

The gold-medal prize for unlikeable character, however, goes to De Vries (Leon Ford), the public servant sent from Perth. At one level, it was disappointing to see such a stock trope being used (“i.e. out-of-touch-public servant comes in from far away and destroys lives without a second thought”), but then again, someone has to be the baddy. On a purely emotional level, though, this worked spectacularly well with me. I didn’t just want to punch this character, I wanted to bite him! Ford did appear to enjoy playing the role, and I congratulate him on doing it so well.

Another theme that came through (maybe by accident) is that nobody in this movie looks even remotely well off, with the exception of De Vries the scumbag. It was a shock to realise how similar the two brother’s houses are to my father’s previous houses, both in terms of architecture and décor. This, along with the background music, really gave the film authenticity. These places were built decades ago out of fibro panels, and nothing has changed in them since. While reflecting the brothers’ characters (one being clean and the other dirty), nothing has changed in either place since the 1970s. The curtains are yellow with dust, because the houses are on tank water.

Finally, the landscape is breathtaking, even in the middle of the summer heat. I haven’t been there for many years, but I still remember the beauty of both the Porongorups and the Stirling Ranges (Koikyennuruff). And as for the Albany coastline, it’s just superb. I visited in early autumn, which is why the photo above looks so dry. Despite the cold, I’d like to see it all in winter or spring too. If I had no ties, and was independently wealthy, I’d probably retire to that part of the world, and just paint the landscapes all day long.

In summary, go and see this movie. I hope you enjoy it, and I’d love to hear your thoughts about it in the comments field down below.

[1] Figure 5, https://crrmh.com.au/content/uploads/RuralSuicidePreventionPaper_2017_WEB_FINAL.pdf

[2] Figure 7, https://crrmh.com.au/content/uploads/RuralSuicidePreventionPaper_2017_WEB_FINAL.pdf

[3] Box on page 4, https://crrmh.com.au/content/uploads/RuralSuicidePreventionPaper_2017_WEB_FINAL.pdf