Tracks is a true story which makes the film all the more breath-taking. It tells the story of Robyn Davidson who in 1977 took on the somewhat insane task of trekking across 1700 miles of the Australian outback completely on her own. At least that was her intention.
We see Robyn (Mia Wasikowska) at the start of the film getting ready for her journey. She knows what she needs and she knows how to get them. She begins working to finance her trip and when she is ready she heads off in search of her much-needed camels. Months later and after living in what can only be described as a shell of a house, having already gotten through some tough times, a chance meeting with a photographer means she has the finance for her trip on the condition that he accompanies her for some of her journey.
Much of the film is taken over with the breath-taking sights in which she travels. They almost become more important than what is going on onscreen at times. Robyn’s motives for embarking on the trip are never explicitly laid out but it is not hard to decipher that this is a journey of discovery for her, one that means a great deal of importance to her. What she is hoping to find, we don’t know but can only hope that by the end of it she will be happy.
Along the way, despite her original plans to do the trip totally alone, she often encounters other people and finds that it is more important to have them around than be totally alone all the time. It is indeed a journey of discovery for Robyn. Wasikowska does an excellent job of portraying the utter elation and yet the utter despair at times which Robyn must have felt.
One of those people who Robyn relies on for much of the journey is Rick Smolan (Adam Driver) who plays the part of the photographer given the job to track Robyn and take the photos for which she has been given sponsorship. A difficult job to which he does a good job. By the end of the movie they have become almost like friends, or as close to friends as Robyn is able to have.
Tracks is a film about courage, a film about putting your mind to something and doing it no matter what people tell you and no matter how many times people tell you you’re crazy for wanting to do it. By the end of this film you will want to walk out of the cinema and do that thing you’ve been holding back on for years. I know I did. It is well worth going to see for four reasons – stunning scenery, it will give you the motivation you need to kick your life into shape and it’s based on a true story and it will make you cry.