When I was at university, in the early 90s, the done thing in my circle was to drink until you passed out. On special days, like the day of the Christmas ball, you’d be awakened by guys jumping on your bed and pinning you down as they poured shots in your mouth. Then you’d drink all day until you could barely clamber into your tuxedo. Which is when the partying really started. It was accepted ‘fun’ at the time. Now I’ve not touched a drop of alcohol for 15 years and I shudder at the (blurry) memories.
The trauma-as-tomfoolery world of unbridled machismo is captured unerringly well by Wake in Fright, in which well-spoken teacher John Grant (Gary Bond) gets stranded in dust-caked, sun-blasted Bundanyabba en route to Sydney. The Yabba is, says a cabbie, ‘the best place in Australia… a friendly place’, and the population of sweaty, braying men in vests pour beer down Grant’s neck. ‘Don’t you worry, lad, drink up,’ is the consolation when he loses all of his money gambling, and a series of delirious days spent under the booze-sodden wing of Doc Tydon (Donald Pleasence) culminate in Grant being taken on a night-time kangaroo hunt. It’s an appalling massacre, captured by director Ted Kotcheff riding shotgun on a real hunt to shoot documentary footage.
Goat, based on Brad Land’s autobiographical book, tracks 19-year-old Brad (Ben Schnetzer) as he follows his older brother Brett (Nick Jonas, excellent) to college and seeks to join the same fraternity. To be accepted, Brad and the other ‘goats’ must first survive the hazing of ‘Hell Week’, in which they’re continually roughed up and humiliated and water-boarded with booze. ‘Nice cute smiles, Guantánamo-style,’ they’re ordered as they huddle, half-naked, for a photo.