GLOBAL HAYWIRE
GLOBAL HAYWIRE |
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East meets West across the economic and cultural battlefield in Bruce Petty's satirically animated documentary about a magnificent man and his flying machine. | score 3+ |
moviereview rates films from 1 (unwatchable) to 5 (unmissable) |
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| Cast Gore Vidal, Tariq Ali, Noam Chomsky, Robin Nevin, Barry Otto Director Bruce Petty Screenwriter Documentary Country Australia Rating / Running Time M / 85 minutes Australian Release April 2008 Official Site (c) moviereview
2006-2008
ABN 72 775 390 361 |
Bruce Petty’s satirical cartoons have graced the pages of The Australian
for decades. Fondly regarded for his uncompromising approach and
comical touch, Petty is something of a national icon. So it is with
surprisingly small fanfare that his extraordinary style makes the leap
from newsprint to celluloid, from a single frame to some 118 thousand
of them. In his sights is the magnificently intricate mechanism of
civilized humanity that spans thousands of years and still
doesn’t work. September 11 is the springboard for a quick history lesson to ask the relatively simple question – how did we end up in the cultural mess we’re in today? Tariq Ali, Noam Chomsky and Gore Vidal are among many prominent commentators who lend their views, yet rather than compile another series of talking heads cut with historical footage (yawn), Petty takes us somewhere quite unique and unusual indeed. Vince, he argues, is to blame. An insatiable inventor, he has created a flying Freedom Machine in which all humanity lives and will be cared for. Yet it’s a flawed device. Those on B-Deck want a taste of A-Deck action, those on A-Deck have devised organizations to maintain democratic peace and keep B-Deck where they are. An international body is established to investigate what went wrong. Since The Committee is populated by humans, cartoons and Virginia Wolf, it might go some way to illustrate the line taken by Global Haywire. It’s irreverent, caustic and entertaining: Terry Gilliam meets Douglas Adams. Although Petty’s voice is singular and his message occasionally cluttered, he balances intent with entertainment and brings new energy to a familiar argument: global democracy is a myth and there will never be peace until Western self-interest is broken. Then a committee member requests a translator, someone who ‘speaks balloon’, and it all makes sense. // COLIN FRASER |