Justin Herman
Med231
Semester 1 2005
Assignment 2
THE DISH
PART 1: Film Information
Director – Rob Sitch
Written and conceived by – Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner, Jane Kennedy, Rob Sitch
Line producer – Debra Choate
Producer – Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner, Michael Hirsh, Jane Kennedy, Rob Sitch
Director of Photography – Graeme Wood
Editor – Jill Bilcock
Casting – Jane Kennedy
Production Design – Carrie Kennedy
Art Direction – Ben Morieson
Costume Design – Kitty Stuckey
PRINCIPAL CAST:
Sam Neill – Cliff Buxton
Kevin Harrington – Ross ‘Mitch’ Mitchell
Tom Long – Glenn Latham
Patrick Warburton – Al Burnett
Genevieve Mooy – May McIntyre
Taylor Kane – Rudi Kellerman
Billie Brown – Prime Minister
Roy Billing – Mayor Robert ‘Bob’ McIntyre
Andrew S. Gilbert – Len Purvis
Lenka Kripac – Marie McIntyre
Matthew Moore – Keith Morrison
Eliza Szonert – Janine Kellerman
John McMartin – U.S. Ambassador Howard
Carl Snell – Billy McIntyre
Billy Mitchell – Cameron
-For a list of the full cast and crew for The Dish: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0205873/fullcredits
PRODUCTION COMPANIES:
Dish Film Ltd. [au]
Distant Horizons (as distant Horizon)
Village Roadshow Pictures [au]
Working Dog [au]
Released in Toronto Film Festival 15 September 2000
Released in Australia 19 October, 2000
Released in USA 14 March 2001
BOX OFFICE:
Opening Weekend: $70,612 (USA) (18 March 2001) (6 Screens)
£218,114 (UK) (13 May 2001) (187 Screens)
AUD 2,995,500 (Australia)
€2,676 (Italy) (9 February 2003) (5 Screens)
Gross: AUD 17,900,000 (Australia)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Dish Official Site - Overview:
http://thedishmovie.warnerbros.com/overview.html
IMDB news:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0205873/news
Steven Holden’s review from the New York Times:
http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?title1=&title2=Dish%2C%20the%20%28Movie%29&reviewer=Stephen%20Holden&v_id=220887
“Shooting the Moon” Review by Ross Anthony:
http://rossanthony.com/D/dish.shtml
“The Truth about The Dish” – Separating fact from fiction:
http://www.pcug.org.au/~mdinn/TheDish/index.htm
Review - “‘The Dish’ telescopes depth and emotion”:
http://www.kcstar.com/item/pages/fyi.pat,fyi/3acc9fb1.426,.html
Review - “It’s Not Cricket to Play in “The Dish”:
http://www.kcstar.com/item/pages/fyi.pat,fyi/3acc9fb2.426,.html
FOR FURTHER REVIEWS: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dish/
PART TWO: Critical Review of Film and its Literature
When considering the Apollo 11 moon landing, of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Alderin’s first steps on the moon, the typical commendation is directed towards the United States. However, The Dish reminds us of this spectacular feat, and that the U.S. had some crucial assistance. It is the story of the small town of Parkes, in NSW Australia that happens to have an enormous satellite dish – in a sheep pasture - and how it became the relay station in the Southern Hemisphere for the Apollo 11 moon landing.
This tongue-in-cheek comedy has two story lines; the main story of the technicians operating the satellite with their NASA counterpart and the troubles that arise during the mission, and the town of Parkes’ reactions to the enormity of international responsibility in which its dish has been placed. The satellite’s crew includes the almost father-like project director Cliff (Sam Neill), the sarcastic technician Mitch (Kevin Harrington), and the constantly terrified mathematician Glenn (Tom Long). They are also joined by a NASA representative to oversee their contribution to the project, which gives an immediate American response to their actions; the mistakes and mainly the successes.
The trio makes an entertaining team throughout the film, both to advance the story and for comic timing’s sake. Not a single joke stands out as a highlight in the film, yet I remember constantly laughing. The subtle nature of the humor complements the film, without retracting from the emotional response to the momentous occasion.
The first problem that sets the team back comes from the cocky Mitch’s careless mistake with the backup generator. There’s a power surge and with the computers temporarily shut down, and they lose the coordinates of Apollo 11 on its way to the moon. The last thing they want is for NASA to think they’re incompetent, so Cliff’s impulse is to “bullshit NASA” to buy some time. They work throughout the night to try to get back on track, and even have to fake a radio correspondence between Armstrong and NASA when the U.S. Ambassador stops in for a visit, but they eventually regain the coordinates of the space craft. A later scene has the ambassador explaining how the consistent weather in a place like Parkes makes it a perfect site for such a large satellite dish, just as we cut to the onslaught of dangerous winds, almost rendering the dish useless. Despite winds of four times what the dish is supposedly equipped to handle, the operators decide to put their own lives at risk and go ahead with the mission in order to assure the world can watch the historic moonwalk.
The second story line of the people of Parkes is essential to keeping the story light and humorous. Each character is eccentric in their own right. The mayor is petrified of any mistakes happening at the biggest moment in his career, his wife can’t stop correcting his manners at the most inopportune times, his daughter is a militant liberal feminist whose point of view no one wants to hear, and their youngest son is the expert on the technicalities of the moon landing. Then there’s the security guard who is so excited to be “securing” different sectors of the dish that he forgets to stop people from coming in, only to remind at the last minute that he authorized their access. His sister brings the dish’s crew lunch every day to foster her feelings for the nerdy Glenn, who eventually gets the guts to ask her out.
Much of the humor from the townsfolk doesn’t just come from the individual quirks of the characters, but the collaborative miscommunications with the Americans as well. For example, during the towns’ ball celebrating Parkes’ important mission, the kids in the band play the theme from “Hawaii Five-O” in place of the American national anthem as the U.S. Ambassador slowly removes his hand from his heart. The constantly stressed mayor of course apologizes, but there are no hard feelings. “I sometimes wish that was our anthem” the ambassador jokes.
This reoccurring concern of seeming inferior to the U.S. runs throughout the film. For example, when the dish’s crew lies to NASA to fix their mistakes on their own, not only are the crew and the mayor worried sick, but so is the whole town. I was concerned at first that pushing this part of the story line with such quirky characters that exist in the town, it was going to undermine Australians in general, depicting them as frantic and distressed when given any large collective responsibility. But with the consistent lighthearted tone and comedy of the film, its obvious you can’t take the characters too seriously. In the end what turns out to be a successful partnership with the Americans actually stresses the importance of this moment in history. It symbolizes a huge moment in Australia’s international collaboration to help make history.
Although I felt this was an extremely well done film overall, it had its moments that I feel didn’t work. The token NASA representative (who wasn’t actually there in 1969) was supposed to represent the uptight, by the book NASA scientist in all respects, and by the end of the film “loosens up” to the relaxed Australian lifestyle a bit (depicted when he also “bullshits NASA”). But this didn’t come across much beyond the bow tie. The character’s lack of animation gave him a varying tone compared to the Aussies, but any “uptight” nature was apparent but didn’t come across in any impacting way. His lack of emotion almost made his character boring, but was saved by the constant joking of his Australian associates. Because he was a reasonably dull character in comparison to the rest, Mitch’s anger towards his didn’t play well and seemed forced. Luckily the problem was resolved early on in the film.
The book ending of the film with modern-day elderly Cliff revisiting the dish didn’t take away from the film, but wasn’t necessary. It gave a visual representation of the reminiscent feel of the film, offering the audience the chance to remember with the main character, however the entire film is a visual representation of remembering this moment thus making the scenes redundant.
One of the most impressive facts I found out about this film was that they shot it in 11 days. It is therefore fairly obvious the collaborators on this film have some experience working together, and I’d assume relied heavily on extensive rehearsing prior to the shoots. The production company that made the film, Working Dog Productions, is a collaborative comedy group often labeled the Australian version of the United States’ “Saturday Night Live.”
Working Dog Productions consists of those responsible for writing, producing and directing the film; Rob Sitch, Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner, Jane Kennedy and Michael Hirsch. Although they have been working together for almost 25 years, this is only their second feature film. Their first, The Castle, was a critical success. According to an interview, The Dish was actually the first film the group wanted to make, but they opted for starting with the much cheaper one to shoot.
I haven’t personally seen their first film, but based on reviews and financial success, they seem to have greatly improved on their craft. All reviews I’ve read have had a very positive response to the film. The only consistently negative remarks I’ve come across were found in “The Truth about The Dish” (http://www.pcug.org.au/~mdinn/TheDish/index.htm), a website set up by a member of the working team during the 1969 moon landing whose taken it upon himself to separate the movie myths from fact. The Dish was also the 5th highest grossing film in the history of Australian cinema.
Sam Neill deserves much praise for his contribution to this film. He has had an extremely successful career, with 75 roles to date in television and film. He’s worked all over the world, from Australia and New Zealand to England and the United States. He received his first major critic successes in 1993 for his roles in Jurassic Park and The Piano.
His performances are always strong, yet in this film he took a character that I thought was written a little over the top in his emotional background and created an incredibly realistic depth to Cliff. The writing of the part bordered melodramatic when in the heat of the story Cliff reveals to his NASA associate that his wife died about a year ago. It then hit overkill when we learn the first time man walks on the moon happens to be the same day Cliff turns 52. Come on, what are the odds?* Yet Neill’s subtle yet attention-stealing presence is where much of the serious sentiment and passion in the film is derived.
*1/365.25
One of the largest strengths of this film is its reflection of the potential value of Australian film. There is a unique tone to many Australian comedies, as represented in The Dish. Its lighthearted feel gives a lot of flexibility in the characters and story. They can represent these absurd, eccentric personalities, and yet they do not depict Australians as a certain stereotype, because you can’t take them too seriously; yet seriously enough to be emotionally involved in the story. The closest comparison I can make to this style of filmmaking in the United States is the Spinal Tap troupe. They also utilize the tongue in cheek humor and screwball characters, yet there isn’t that same emotional attachment to the story as we see in The Dish. The success of such a film gives an immense legitimacy to the Australian comedy in its efforts to tell a thematically driven story.
As previously alluded to, I’d primarily classify this film as a comedy. The humor drives much of the film including the entire second story line of the townsfolk. The filmmakers are also renowned for their comedy, thus making it a clear distinction for the type of film.
But as with most films and genres, there is often an overlap. This film has also been classified as “based on a true story,” and although that may not be an official genre, it is certainly a type of movie and should be recognized. Because of the unique approach at using comedy in telling the story, this classification of “based on a true story” can be in a subgenre in the comedy genre itself. I’d choose to classify this subgenre more along the lines of “historically or culturally relevant.” In quite a few Australian films, the stories are based on real events or moments in Australian history and do successfully give the audience an accurate feel or depiction about that particular event or time period. For example, Dirty Deeds is a film that is not based on any real people or events, but does have reoccurring references to the Vietnam War, as one of the characters just returned home from fighting. It reflects this event to a small degree in the story, yet also uses it as the source of a continuous joke. The war veteran learns of pizza from the Americans in the war and wants to open his own pizza shop one day, but he fails repeatedly at actually making the product. Although I’d classify this film primarily in the crime genre, it also uses many comic elements and story lines to advance the narrative. Therefore I would argue it’d also fit in this subgenre of “historically or culturally relevant.”
The Dish also has elements of melodrama, but the comedy dominates the means of pursuing the story, while the drama that unfolds is a result of the fact that the story is based on a true emotional story. The exception is Cliff, who is arguably the only character driven by primarily melodramatic conventions. For example, the heartache of losing his wife, who loved his work and would have been an important source of support for him in this project. With this one exception, drama is not what drives the narrative; it is more the result of the story unfolding.
This film had major success on a number of levels. First of all, financially it was one of the most successful Australian films of all time. It also received critical acclaim not only in Australia but internationally, including at its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival and in the United States. It also proved to be one of the most successful roles star Sam Neill has played to date. But most importantly, it brought significant recognition to Australian film, while well representing the Australian impact on one of the most significant events in modern history. This film is a great example of the use of comedy to tell a compelling story while still shooting for, and accomplishing, a strong emotional response. Working Dog Productions deserves a lot of credit for advancing an Australian style of filmmaking further into the international limelight, and will hopefully continue to do so in the future.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
“It’s Not Cricket to Play in “The Dish.”
<http://www.kcstar.com/item/pages/fyi.pat,fyi/3acc9fb2.426,.html>
Holden, Steven. New York Times. 14 March 2001. < http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?title1=&title2=Dish%2C%20the%20%28Movie%29&reviewer=Stephen%20Holden&v_id=220887>.
“‘The Dish’ telescopes depth and emotion.”
<http://www.kcstar.com/item/pages/fyi.pat,fyi/3acc9fb1.426,.html>
“The Truth About The Dish.” <http://www.pcug.org.au/~mdinn/TheDish/index.htm>
<www.imdb.com>. (accessed 19/4/05 – 25/4/05)
<www.rottentomatoes.com> (accessed 22/4/05)
<www.thedishmovie.warnerbros.com> (accessed 20/4/05)