This post is to all my Australian friends (and this is actually the first Australian movie on my blog).
Charlie and Boots is a 2009 Australian Drama-Comedy, staring the well known Australian comedian/actor Paul Hogan (e.g. the movies Crocodile Dandee) and Shane Jacobson. The director is Dean Murphy, and the film is dedicated to those who died in the 2009 Victorian bushfires.
The film's plot is quite simple, and is based on well known models of classic American "road trip" movies. Boots (Jacobson) is the adult child of Charlie (Hogan). Charlie's wife (and Boots' mother) dies unexpectedly. In an attempt to make his father to escape his depressive reaction and to make him come back to life (so to speak) he decides quite spontaneously to take him on a road trip to fish on the northernmost tip of Australia - because this was his father's childhood promise to him as a child.
The rest of the movie is basically one big road trip featuring the beautiful landscapes and villages of Australia, with their unique people, culture and traditions.
As someone who's never been to Australia (and who loves the Australian accent and "relaxed" temper - I enjoyed to movie very much. There is nothing really special about the movie, and for all matter it looks like a "copy paste" to American road trip movies. Nevertheless, it is still a simple, enjoyable, heart-warming, Australian spirited film: you laugh, you cry, and you have a good time.
As for gerontology: naturally there are significant gerontological issues which arise: the inter-generational relationships between Boots and his father; the meaning of loss in old age; anti-ageist portrayals of old age (e.g. Charlie); or narrative and life-course perspectives in old age. However, I must admit that if you are thinking of this movie as a trigger for good gerontological discussions - I would recommend much better road-trip movies (e.g. The Straight Story).
2009
Australia
Director: Dean Murphy
Official Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hluFW0zBa0
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