Part political satire, eco-horror, and road movie, TERROR NULLIUS is a political revenge fable which offers an unwriting of Australian national mythologies.

I don’t believe Terror Nullius is like anything I have ever seen before, but at the same time, I have technically seen this movie before. Siblings Dan and Dominique Angeloro, who together make up the filmmaking entity Soda_Jerk, created a movie that is an amalgamation of scenes from other films strung together and on top of each other to convey messages of political and social complacency, feminism and toxic masculinity, LGBTQI+ activism, and human impact on wildlife.

This movie made me question reality and my memory, externally, this movie made me question the current, past, and future state of politics and gender inequality. You can’t look away because it is not, on the whole, a coherent movie; there’s no one plot-line or set of characters to follow, however, I did notice they particularly seem to like ripping into/using Mel Gibson clips. None of it makes sense together but individually each vignette makes perfect sense as clips edited from different movies make fresh scenes that are truly hysterical moments of political and social satire. It has a very western and punk attitude as it savagely rips into authority, its anger seemed unbridled and I sat with rapt attention for the sadly only 54-minute runtime.

You know you are in for a ride with a tagline like “A Political Revenge Fable in Three Acts”. It certainly fits “the unexpected” theme for the 2019 Cinequest film and creativity film festival, where the film is due to show. Like, for example, you would not expect to see Kate Winslet (as Ruth in Holy Smoke) belting out “You Oughta Know” as Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron’s character in Mad Max: Fury Road) runs over Mel Gibson for his real-life misogynist crimes against women as Sandy from Grease gleefully looks on, would you? You wouldn’t expect Crocodile Dundee, long-time Australian symbol and the pinnacle of masculinity, taking a bullet to the chest from his love interest in Crocodile Dundee, would you? You wouldn’t expect the creepy horror monster, Babadook, terrifying Essie Davis as Amelia with his apparent gayness, would you? You wouldn’t, but now thanks to Soda_Jerk’s extreme technical skills, you may see these and other such postmodern mind trips play out in this political art piece.

Now, I do not deign to know the ins and outs of the Australian culture and spirit, but this patchwork quilt of a movie should be their new flag. If not, its messages and playful chastisements can be applied to many western countries of today; it is Australian, but it is very worldly as well. Terror Nullius‘ cultural efficacy, however, has been questioned by none other than its own financial backers, who initially gave $100,000 to the project but have since announced their disapproval and have opted to be disassociated with the film. So much the better, fore if you’re not pissing someone off, you’re not doing anything. Soda_Jerk has said, “If our film paints a less than perfect picture of Australia it’s because we think these dark political times absolutely call for it,” and Terror Nullius certainly does shine a glaring light, deconstructing film, imagery, and other media and building them into this re-imaging of Australian history.

Try not to go into this movie with any predisposed thought process – clear your mind and open yourself to the experience. This is a movie deserving of multiple viewings and you will have fun picking out all of the easter eggs and movie references. Pay close attention to Terror Nullius‘ messages to inspire important conversations afterward, or at that very least, possibly inspire a drinking game to take a shot every time you see Mel Gibson. In any case, if you are a fan of internet memes or funny compilation videos, then this movie is definitely for you.

TERROR NULLIUS will screen at
Cinequest 2019 on March 6th, 15th, 17th