The Dish
Directed by Rob Sitch.
Starring Sam Neill.
If you haven’t heard a lot about The Dish already, you haven’t been paying attention. I was listening to Santo Cilauro give an interview on Triple J just moments ago.
Santo alleged the film was a drama, but I spent a significant part of it laughing. Apparently Australian drama is inherently amusing. The movie is not the slightest bit scientifically oriented, which is a relief, but don’t invite any geeky types to the post movie coffee — they’ll be too irritating.
The Dish is based on the true story of Australia’s involvement in receiving and transmitting the television images of man’s first steps on the moon. The images were relayed from the Parkes radio telescope, picturesquely located in the middle of a sheep paddock somewhere. The reason for this is illustrated during the movie with the aid of a basketball (no I don’t mean why it’s in the middle of a sheep paddock!).
In the movie… everything is about to go wrong because of an oversight in maintenance. Apparently Parkes did actually lose Apollo 11 during its mission, but the boys at Working Dog used a little artistic license when it comes to how.
The Dish is augmented with a very special version of backyard cricket, and two romantic comedy side plots. One of these manages a sort of philosophical segue into the overall plot climax, which I always find a little less than satisfactory. Go and see The Dish, I can’t think of a film you’re more likely to enjoy!
The Dish is produced by Working Dog, producers of The Castle. It’s directed by Rob Sitch (again, as for The Castle) and was apprently written before The Castle. The cast includes Sam Neill, Kevin Harrington (Sea Change), Tom Long (also from Sea Change), Patrick Warburton, Genevieve Mooy, Tayler Kane, Bille Brown, and Roy Billing.
David Ireland
