Romulus, My Father

Raimond Gaita's father loves to collect beetles* and make them fly in the wind. "For luck", he says. And also for self belief and resilience - words he does not state, but lives his life by. The film adapation of Romulus, My Father, starring 'Hector' Eric Bana, is a touching interpretation of Raimond Gaita's novel by the same name.

At heart a simple tale of survival and kinship, there are several interesting scenes in the movie. The young Raimond once takes eggs for one of his friends - an old, decrepit man who lives in the back of beyond in remote Australia. The old man is delighted, but there is no water - so our man pees into a pan and boils the eggs in them, much to young Raimond's consternation!

Then there is Hora, Romulus' s friend in need and a father figure to young Raimond. An unlettered handyman, Hora loves reading and dispenses several words of wisdom to the eager youngster during their outdoor pursuits. While kayaking with Raimond, he quotes Bertrand Russell and states - If you enjoy wasting your time, then it is not a waste. Later, during a difficult time for the family, he remarks - Things change; watch your thoughts, for they decide what you become in life.

Probably the best part about the movie is that while it is a tribute to Romulus, the audience gets enough time to get to know the other key characters - Raimond, his manic depressive mother Christina, Hora, and Hora's brother Mitru, who falls in love with and marries Christina but is finally driven to take his life by this decision.

Romulus himself is outwardly no hero, just an ordinary man who loves his son and posesses an intense will to survive against all odds. So it is that he recovers from a near fatal accident and a later bout in an asylum after his wife's death, and lives to see his son study at St Joseph, a dream he had cherished and nurtured.

There is an interesting scene when Romulus is beating metal against fire to mould it to his will (he is a handyman - good with his head and hands - which may explain why the locals call him Jack). The beating of the metal fades into the incessant ringing of the bell at St Joseph's, interrupting young Rai's reverie. Thus it is that the lives of the father and the son are entwined.

The ending manages to bring in a bit of suspense. Romulus is back home from the asylum, but has he recovered? He wakes his son in the middle of the night - it is time to move home. On the way, upon Raimond's prompting, he narrates how Mitru was killed: He biked to the top of a tower, and jumped; but before that, he stuck a knife pointing upwards in the ground, "Just to make sure". They stop for the night by a cliff, Raimond sleeps, Romulus is gazing across the rocks. Morning breaks, Rai awakens and looks around - there is no sign of Romulus. He rushes to the cliff and looks down in fear at the sheer drop. The despair on his face echos the question in the viewer's mind - has Romulus abandoned his son too, just like Christina and Mitru did? "Pappi !", screams Raimond. "I am here", comes a gruff voice . Romulus is collecting beetles by the side of the cliff - for luck, and life.