Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)

 "You can shovel ****, can't you?

The critics are wrong. This film is a masterpiece, and easily the best of the original Mad Max trilogy. Yes, as good as the first two are, especially the second, this film is truly great. 

Firstly, not that the previous film didn't, but this film utterly owns the post-apocalyptic aesthetic. It looks bloody brilliant, with the deserts of Australia being as much a star as any of the cast. This is also a profoundly Australian film, as are its predecessors. A nuclear holocaust would wipe out all of Europe, North America, and the Soviet Union near as dammit. Australia would survive, even if its civilisation wouldn't.

Ah, civilisation. That's the core of the film, and it's done without didactricism. Take Auntie and, incidentally, while one may not necessarily expect a singer to be worthy of such a role, Tina Turner gives an admirably nuanced performance as Auntie.

She's framed as the baddie, and is certainly hostile to Max. But is she really bad? After all, she made Bartertown, a genuine holdout of civilisation. Yes, it runs on pig manure, but, well, nice metaphor. And, much as I tend to be very libera in matters of justice and Auntie isn't, she hasn't the luxury of living in a civilised, industrial society. Even the sublime John Stuart Mill made an exception for such things. If Auntie hadn't provided the level of civilisation she has, wouldn't society, if that's the word, be quite Hobbesian?

It's an interesting contrast in post-apocalyptic political systems- back to basics- in that the antithesis of Auntie and her harshly enforced civilisation isa bunch of kids with great, poetic dialogue but basically a cargo cult.They get their plane ride; they get their city. But, somehow, I suspect it will be the Aunties of this wrld who ultimately rebuild civilisation. But, admirably, none of this is in any way didactic.

Profound, looks sperb, exciting, and overall just a bloody brilliant film.