TRACKS

TRACKS is a contemplative and visually arresting film based on the true story of Robyn Davidson, a young woman who embarks on a 1,700-mile solo trek across the Australian desert in 1977 with only four camels and her loyal dog. Directed by John Curran and adapted from Davidson’s memoir, the film stars Mia Wasikowska in a quietly compelling performance as Robyn, and Adam Driver as Rick Smolan, the National Geographic photographer who intermittently documents her journey.

The film begins with Robyn arriving in Alice Springs with an audacious goal: to cross the desert from the Red Centre to the Indian Ocean. Her motivations are never fully explained, which is exactly the point — TRACKS is more about internal landscapes than external ones. What unfolds is a poetic meditation on solitude, trauma, connection with nature, and the human desire for freedom.

Cinematographer Mandy Walker captures the stark, otherworldly beauty of the Australian outback, making the desert itself a central character in the narrative. Every frame feels like a postcard from an untouched world — blinding white salt flats, red sand dunes, and boundless skies. Wasikowska delivers a performance of quiet intensity, balancing emotional vulnerability with fierce independence. Her chemistry with Driver’s awkward but warm-hearted photographer adds subtle human texture to her otherwise solitary odyssey.

Where TRACKS shines is in its refusal to dramatize unnecessarily. It respects the audience’s intelligence and allows the journey to unfold slowly, mirroring the physical and emotional fatigue Robyn experiences. It's a film less concerned with the destination than the transformation that occurs along the way.

Though TRACKS is based on a completed journey, a fictional sequel could explore Robyn’s return to the desert decades later — not as a seeker of solitude, but as a guide, environmentalist, or reluctant celebrity. In TRACKS: Return to the Red, a now older Robyn (played again by Wasikowska in aging makeup or a new actress like Cate Blanchett) is pulled back to the desert when a proposed mining operation threatens to destroy sacred Aboriginal lands she once crossed. Forced to confront both the changes in the land and within herself, Robyn joins forces with Indigenous activists and young environmentalists.

This sequel would be a reflective companion to the original, exploring themes of memory, legacy, environmental justice, and reconciliation. Rather than a solo trek, this new journey would involve community, mentorship, and perhaps a reckoning with the past — both personal and colonial.

The desert would remain central, but now shown as a contested, politicized space. Robyn, once a solitary wanderer, would become a voice — hesitant, imperfect, but deeply human — in a much larger conversation.