Walking with Cavemen & After the Deluge

This Column first ran in the Age on June 14

Walking With Cavemen (Thursday, ABC, 8.00pm) plays with time and digital effects to such an extreme that the story of mankind, played out over millions of years, becomes a pacy thriller in four parts. Did you know that we walk on two legs because India crashed into Asia six million years ago (an event that takes two minutes of television time thanks to what they call 'Deep Time-Lapse'), causing the Himalayas to unfurl and change the weather patterns? It is also shamelessly sentimental in its narrative structure so, in the first episode, we find ourselves (well, maybe it was just me) crying over the fate of Lucy, our tiny ancestor who stood about 3 foot tall and was found in the bottom of an African lake 3 million years after she had her skull smashed in. She was named after the Beatle's song 'Lucy's in the Sky with Diamonds'.

But I was already in the mood to cry that day, having sat down to watch After the Deluge, which runs for two hours over Sunday and Monday nights (Channel 10, 8.30pm). I thought I would have a quick peek and then move onto other shows I had planned to review, but instead found myself, four hours later, with my arms wrapped around a cushion and two Burmese cats, having a bit of a weep. Co-Produced by Cox & Knight (who bought us Sea Change) it is hard to imagine a more impressive cast. It stars David Wenham (Alex), Hugo Weaving (Marty), and Samuel Johnson (Toby), as the brothers. Ray Barrett plays their father, Cliff (Aden Young is Cliff as a young man) who we get to know as Alzheimer's releases his memories of the past into the present, allowing us to understand how it was he alienated his family to such a degree. Allowing us to understand, in fact, that despite his medal for heroism in WW2, he made the greatest sacrifice of his life for his sons, some 15 years after the war.

Vince Colosimo plays Cliff's nurse and appears to moves with him between his past and present. The way actors and sets blur as Cliff's mind lets go is really impressive and at one point there is a violent battle from WW2 being played out in the old Cliff's back yard. The loss of the love of his life appears to occur within the confines of his nursing home.

As Cliff unravels, so do the lives of his son. Marty is a once famous rock star and Rachel Griffiths plays the woman who is his only hope for a dignified life. Catherine McClements is impressive as Alex's wife. She dumps him early on leaving him to confront his failings, fathering, and the world, alone. Wenham is a stand out as a man, struggling like his brothers and father, to live in the present. While Samuel Johnson looks too young, he is good as Toby, a happily married man whose life is marred by an inability to have a child, and to accept the imperfections of the family he already has. It's great stuff. Watch it.

Posted by Sophie at 04:38 PM