Freedom (1982 film)


Freedom is a 1982 film directed by Scott Hicks, starring Jon Blake and Jad Capelja.

Plot

Ron is an Adelaide man in his early 20s struggling to find work after he is laid off from his machinist apprenticeship. Though his crass attitude and language have been a hindrance, Ron also blames others around him for blocking his dreams. In particular, he fantasises himself driving along a coastal road in a Porsche 911, with a girl in the passenger seat, following a black sedan driving erratically before driving into a ravine. Ron can sweet-talk into situations favourable to him, including joyriding in a Triumph Stag under the pretence of a dealer test-drive.
One day, Ron comes across the Porsche from his dreams around the corner from his house. He is also surprised to find out the driver is an old school friend of his, Annie. The two agree to meet-up later in the city, but when Ron overhears Annie on the phone implying to use him to spite a lover of hers, Ron steals the Porsche and drives out of Adelaide.
At a roadside service station, Ron meets Sally, whom asks if Ron can take her to Sedan, South Australia. She later reveals she has a son there in foster care whom she wants to take back. In Sedan, Sally tries to retrieve her son, but Ron quickly pulls her away and escapes when he sees the police arriving. Apparently, an elderly woman in town alerted the police to Ron and Sally's presence, whom also want Ron due to causing an accident the night before.
After accidentally running down a policeman whist escaping, Ron is disenchanted from his and Sally's escapades. The following morning, Ron leaves a sleeping Sally behind as he draws the police away from a nearby roadblock, but damages the Porsche's engine in the process. By sheer coincidence, he finds himself on the same coast road from his dreams, even finding the black sedan wrecked at the bottom of the ravine. Noticing the incoming police, Ron pushes the Porsche into the ravine, and escapes by hitchhiking a nearby car heading back to retrieve Sally.

Cast

The movie was shot in May to June 1981 in the Adelaide area. Finance was provided by the South Australian Film Corporation, with additional investment from Filmco.
Scott Hicks later described making the film as:
A very mixed experience. On the one hand, it was heady and exciting and intoxicating to be making your first feature film but, on the other, there were difficulties in the way the production was organised. The writer, John Emery, and I were kept separate from each other. In retrospect this was a huge blunder because the film was never totally focused in its vision, and I think that's reflected a little in the sort of schizophrenic nature of the film.

Reception

Freedom was unsuccessful at the Australian box office and failed to generate attention internationally, aside from a run at the D. W. Griffith theatre in New York City on 14 February 1985. Domestically, the film grossed $157,000 in 1982, equivalent to $456,870 in 2009 dollars.
Critical reviews were mixed to negative. Susie Eisenhuth, writing for The Sun-Herald, compared the film to Terrence Malick's Badlands, another love on the run film. She wrote that Freedom spends "too much time on cars" and too little time on its characters. Neil Jillett in The Age wrote one of the few positive reviews, stating that the film is about "the fantasies and fears of the young and unemployed", and called it "whimsical and intriguing".

Home media

Freedom was released on VHS in the mid 1980s by Rigby Entertainment and was classified M15+. It was released on DVD in the 2000s by Umbrella Entertainment. It has been in and out of print since then. In the US, it was released on VHS by VidAmerica.