|
The Castle
Director: Rob Stich
The
Castle follows the story of a good hearted working class man named Darryl Kerrigan
(Michael Caton) who stands to defend his house against corporate greed. Kerrigan views the world in a unique way. He looks at the humming
power lines above his house and instead of seeing a cancer threat, he sees a symbol
of human progress. He is proud as pouch that he can say her daughter has a tertiary
education when she graduates with a diploma of hair dressing. He welcomes his
Greek son in law to the family by taking the piss out his family. He observes
something on the chicken and asks his wife what it is. "Seasoning,"
she says proudly. Darryl beams: "Seasoning! Looks like everybody's kicked
a goal." Most importantly, Darryl
loves his home and is constantly improving it with modifications like a 'false
chimney' that adds a bit of 'charm'.
When
the owners of the neighbouring airport serve Darryl notice that his home is being
compulsorily purchased, Darrly is defiant and fights for his castle. Initially,
he makes a statement by stealing the gates from his assailants house but a policeman
arrives on his door and advises him to pursue legal means . (The policeman also
advises him to hide the stolen gates from public view. )
Darryl
hires the same bubbling lawyer who defended his son when he son was sentenced to 8 years jail and sure enough, he loses his case. However
at the court, he meets a Queens Council who is sympathetic to his plight. The
Queens Council offers his services for free and takes the case to the high court,
using the precedent of 1992 Mabo vs Queensland. (Aboriginal land rights case.)
The
Castle espouses the larrikin ideal. It depicts the warm hearted fool who loves
his family, takes the piss out of others, stands up for his beliefs, bends rules,
looks on the positive side and despite becoming wealthy in the end, retains his
humility and love of powerlines.
Despite being a comedy, the political undertones did elicit the criticism of others. Some left-wingers saw it as demeaning to the working class. The associations with the 1992 Mabo vs Queensland judgement also caused The Castle to be associated with some of the varied attititudes towards the judgement.
|
