The Dish
By Andrew
Ford
The Dish (2000) is a tale of small
town pride, and their sense of importance as NASA attempts to co-ordinate the
greatest achievement man has ever undertaken. It’s July 1969, and the small
town of Parkes in rural New South Wales is “smack dab in the middle” of the
Apollo 11 flight mission to get man on the moon.
Parkes got
involved because of their enormous satellite dish they have situated just out
of town, in the middle of a sheep paddock. The dish is run by three men Cliff,
‘Mitch’ and Glen, played by Sam Neill, Kevin Harrington and Tom Long,
respectively. Their small town lifestyle is turned on its head when NASA pick
their dish to use as the primary receiver of Apollo 11’s transmissions when
it’s not on the American’s side of the world. (Parkes’ dish is the biggest
satellite dish in the southern hemisphere in 1969).
Cliff,
Mitch and Glen have to learn to swallow their pride when the big boys blow into
town. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) wants to use their
dish for all southern hemisphere transmission to and from Apollo 11, and Parkes
mayor Bob McIntyre readily agrees. “You know why this means so much to me?” he
asks his assistant (Andrew S. Gilbert). “It’s a vindication. A vindication of
my campaign to get that dish here in the first place. They said I’d never pull
it off. And now which town is part of the Apollo 11 mission?”
NASA has
installed a representative to oversee the Parkes crew and make sure they pull
things off smoothly. American actor Patrick Warburton (Seinfeld’s Puddy)
plays NASA rep Al, a stiff, seemingly by-the-book individual who rankles
Mitch’s feathers. Mitch thinks Al (and by extension NASA) doesn’t respect what
the local Parkes crew are capable of.
The movie
plays out over the course of the Apollo 11 mission, from launch to moon
landing. The movie doesn’t have a deep plot, rather it relies on the characters
populating Parkes and their relationships to each other. To create tension and
drama at a crucial stage in the film, the writers employ the threat of nature
to keep the audience on their toes (even though a positive outcome is, as
history has taught us, inevitable).
Written by
Rob Sitch (also the director), Santo Cilauro, Jane Kennedy and Tom Gleisner
(production company Working Dog), The Dish is an amusing, uplifting
portrayal of Australian country life and the pride the towns people feel in
being involved with (and almost crucial to) the Apollo 11 mission, a huge event
in human history. With little to no plot to speak of, the charm comes from the
script which brought a smile to my face for most of the running time, and made
me laugh out loud in some places (the Nicolas Bell cameo being one of them: “I
must stress these are NOT to scale.”)
This is the
first movie of Working Dog’s two picture deal for Village Roadshow. Their first
feature film, The Castle (1997) was a huge hit in Australia.
Unfortunately, it did not play so well overseas (principally the United
States). This could largely be attributed to the fact The Castle was
uniquely Australian, and would have been hard for international audiences to
enjoy as much as Australians did. The second time around, Working Dog chose a
subject (the moon landing) that while still Australian focused involves the
Americans and is well known by practically the entire world. It is a very
interesting Australian story (our involvement in the moon landing) but it would
be naïve to say Working Dog were not thinking of the international market when
they made this movie.
Evidence of
this are in the scenes when Glen ‘translates’ what Mitch is saying to Al.
Phrases in The Castle had to be redubbed by Miramax so that they would
be understood better by American audiences. In The Dish the Australian
and American terms both make it into the pic.
Working Dog
are no strangers to comedy. Their previous projects are all comedic in nature.
They inject their characters in The Dish with dry senses of humour;
people who are not adverse at having a bit of a laugh, at themselves or at
others. They are true Aussie larrikins. All the Aussie blokes at the dish have
a “she’ll be right” attitude, which sharply contrasts with Al’s supposed sullen
misdemeanor. Eventually, the boys get through to Al, who goes along with their
plan to bluff NASA when they lose track of Apollo 11. Later at dinner at Bob
McIntyre’s house, Al cracks a few jokes and shows the lighter side of his
personality.
Sitch
doesn’t rely on fancy camera tricks or special effects. They do use a lot of
archival footage from NASA and old news reports from Australia at the time.
However the movie relies on the strength of its script, and it’s a pearler. The
jokes are funny, and the drama is moving. The Dish has a strong sense of
cultural identity and national pride. When the Apollo 11 mission succeeds, the
town of Parkes can’t help but think they were an integral part of the success.
And when Parkes is bumped up to be the prime receiver of the television images
from the moon, Bob McIntyre can’t believe it; he is overjoyed that it was his
dish that beamed the images to the rest of the world.
Working Dog
have made another humourous, feel good movie that pokes fun at the Australian
identity and at the same time celebrates it. Parkes can’t help but feel proud
of their role in the historical moon landing, and Working Dog should be proud
of their role in bringing that story to the screen.