Think of a prison become a fortress guarded by the fury of nine cornered kids and their teacher, all up against a group of armed terrorists. Arch Nicholson created a gripping thriller in the Australian classic Fortress (1985) with minors making the majority of its cast.
Inspired by the real life abduction of a school teacher and her students in the early ‘70s, Fortress pulls the audience into the action early in the movie as a minimal school with nine kids in the Outback (Australian wilderness) is raided by a group of masked and armed men. They kidnap the teacher Sally Jones (Rachel Ward) along with her pupils for ransom and take them to the wilderness. Instead of playing sitting ducks, the hostages make repeated attempts at escape as the reckless gang chases them down.
The story by Everett De Roche and Gabrielle Lord immediately draws the viewer into the crime scene with startling moments at every turn of the plot making it a roller-coaster ride experience with no seatbelts. The movie’s cinematography is outstanding, making excellent use of all kinds of settings –indoor, outdoor, vehicle, and more. The underwater scenes of escape are breath-stopping, and not just for the characters in the story.
Nicholson comes out successful in illustrating character transformation of the hostages as they rise against their adversaries in a flight-or-fight necessity. The teen boys turning into men out of rage and desperation, followed by the younger members of the force, would make a textbook case of behavioral change induced by one’s social situation.
Though tagged as horror movie as well on IMDb, likely because of the creepy masks worn by the criminals for concealing their identities, Fortress really doesn’t carry the horror movie vibes. It’s a riveting thriller with an adequate dose of action with and without weapons. And nothing could cap it off better than Danny Beckermann’s theme resembling a soldier’s trumpet.
Fun fact about the movie is its initial release in the United States on Cable TV; its Australian release followed the next year.
