Sándor Lau/NZ/2003; R0
Siren Visual, NZ$19.95 | Reviewed by Tim Wong

SÁNDOR LAU'S solo northbound walkabout – 500km from Auckland to Cape Reinga by foot, to be exact – sounds encouraging for blisters and swollen ankles, but is more like an unexpected collision course with Israeli stoners, Tasmanian hippies and other backpacking anomalies. Claiming to be New Zealand's only Chinese/Hungarian-American, Lau's trek "backwards" to the country's spiritual tip is an arduous one (try telling those Stateside to get off their ass and walk a fraction of the distance), and yet unearths up some heady personalities buffeted by a witty disgust for oil, urban sprawl, McDonalds and the WTO.

Despite any apparent exhaustion, there's enough vigor in this first-time documentary maker to dredge up some enlightening observations, particularly about Maori land rights and the evils of television; ironic, given Behaviours of the Backpacker first gained attention courtesy of the radiation tube. Lau fashions a sort of Maui-fishbowl perspective around this backpacking improv-voxpop, discovering along the way that fellow international wanderers and even local Maori themselves have plenty in common with his dispossessed outlook on life. Ultimately, he describes the journey as a "McGuffin", and appropriately so: we all know there's a lighthouse and a globalised signpost up there, but it's what's in between that could teach us a thing or two about this country, or indeed ourselves.


Behaviours of the Backpacker screened in two parts on Asia Down Under, TV1 (TVNZ) in December 2003, and received the show's highest ratings for that year. It was repeated later in 2004, receiving a number of highly complementary reviews. Lau's doco is an unusual piece, in part because its national insightfulness derives from a foreigner of all people (although he's very much an honorary Kiwi at that). Distributor Siren certainly has to be commended in its release of a film which obviously won't set the sales figures alight, but deserves as much of an audience as it can get. The DVD is presented in a standard 4:3 television aspect ratio, and includes a bonus music soundtrack disc. Those interested in purchasing should visit sirenvisual.co.nz, or check out arovideo.co.nz, where the doco can be rented or purchased.