Film Theory Essay – The Rover
The Rover is a hybrid genre of crime and drama, set in Australia during an economic collapse, a man get his car stolen and starts a relentless search across Australia. This film fits the normal conventions for a crime drama as the character is driven by something which had happened and wants to get what was taken back, this is usually what would happen in a crime film. However this film does not fit the normal conventions for a crime drama as it is set in different towns in the Australian desert instead of a fixed location like a village or big well known city, also the title of the film in a crime drama usually gives you a clue about what it is about however “The Rover” keeps you guessing until the end as in the film nothing is mentioned in the film about a rover until the end when the audience figures it out. Also usually you have to people or two detectives on the case whereas in these one of the two main characters is forced into helping the main character and then slowly form a bond, as he wants to find his car. The rugged main character played by Guy Pearce also reminds you of a gritty detective from typical crime drama and his accomplice played by Robert Patterson which reminds of half-witted but lovable sidekick from a drama but it is done in a subtle way that you don’t even realize.
It also has lots of iconography that you would typically find in a crime or maybe an action drama it uses lots if guns, military, vehicles and so on but you can also see lots of iconography that you would find in a post-apocalyptic film such as filling jerry cans full of petrol and having water bottles that you fill instead of going to a shop.
You could also say that props theory fits into this film as you could say that Guy Pearce was being a hero or a donor as he wanted to help himself but also he taught Robert Patterson’s character on the way to be stronger and stand up for himself. You could also suggest that there’s a prize as in the car, in that the characters that stole the car wanted to keep it and Guy Pearce’s character wanted to search for it. This all fits in to the conventions of a crime drama genre in that there always looking for something and that the main character is driven by something, in this film the car or something in the car that the characters wants.
In “The Rover” the representation of Guy Pearce’s character at the start of the film is a man which looks like he’s given up on life and you see the character grow and change throughout the film as he gets to know the Robert Patterson’s character. You also see a lot of the male characters as authority figures, in charge, a lot of them telling others what to do. There is not many female characters and those that we do see only one of them seemed to be in charge most of the time having authority, perhaps the females are represented as a higher authority to men as you don’t see them much maybe they don’t think they deserve to live in the world as it is and stay out of the way. You also see Australia represented as a wasteland as instead of towns full of people it is a town run down and empty, maybe they wanted to show what the world could be if things didn’t matter which is maybe represented in the characters we people that will stop at nothing to get what they want.
In this film there is a lot of high key lighting and is very surreal as in some parts it reminds you of a dream sequence and the audience could think that maybe it’s not real and the majority of the film uses natural lighting as you sometimes see sunsets and creates a mood in which the audience think everything is fine until there’s a disruption, which links to Todorov’s theory in which every story has an equilibrium, disruption and finally equilibrium again, in this film there is not equilibrium until he has his car back. In some scenes it uses low key lighting to make you feel sorry for the characters as in the scene he’s looking at some dogs in cages and lighting creates a feeling of being in an interrogation room making you feel sorry for the dogs in the cages, making it feel like each cage is an individual prison for the dogs. The shot works very well as some viewers could relate to this as having a dog or any animal it makes you feel sympathy for the dogs and the main character as the audience would hate to see their own animal in that situation.
The costume and makeup used in this film reflects the characters personality and reflects the type of things they would do and reflects on how that character sees the world now as Guy Pearce’s character wore a dirty shirt and shorts throughout the whole film and matches the world around him maybe the whole world is shown and reflected off what the character is wearing and the world is falling apart and is being forgotten, showing that possessions maybe aren’t as important. You can also tell that the characters do not care about the world as much as the body language of the characters are very limp and tired actions, you can also tell this from the image, as the characters arms are limp and by his side maybe, which could also come back as intimidating as his limp body language could suggest that he doesn’t care but knows what he’s doing, he’s done it over and over again and is fed up of it. 
The décor used in this film is mainly odd bits of furniture that don’t belong in the room and pots and pans, broken bits off of walls it gives the scene a tired look, looks like they have worked hard to build their home from scavenging from different places but when you see the bits of broken walls, grubby windows and bits of the chairs missing it shows that maybe they gave up and no one can be bothered to do anything about because the world is in that much disrepair. It could also be that going outside was too dangerous and everyone was too scared to leave and everyone felt protected inside their houses, you could also link this to Levi-Strauss’s theory of binary opposites, dark vs light, inside vs outside. When a character goes inside you can tell that the mood completely changes as the lighting is very low key, you can tell that the main character feels afraid as the tones of voices change and lower and sound very nervous.
The narrative for this film is linear as the story goes in a logical order and you can make sense of what is happening in the film. You could also argue that the film could be non-linear as when they are travelling from place to place you don’t know the time or whereabouts and is just a scene in a car, the audience does not know when or where.
