Hugo Weaving, Bordertown, smoke
 

n.  Hugo Weaving ~ Bordertown 

AU Mini Series 1989: 
Hugo Weaving content p/ episode: approx  1)10% 2)29%   3)18%  4)9%   5)44%   6)12%   7)12% 8)30%    8-b)24%   9)34%
Character: Ken; sarcastic and witty scouse teacher, regretful widower
Cast: Cate Blanchett   Bianca,  Mitchell Butel   Nino,  Linda Cropper   Bev,  Petru Gheorghiu   Dante,  Sophie Heathcote   Peggy,  Kim Hillas   Maeve, Melita Jurisic   Adrianna, Norman Kaye   Pieter, Robert Mammone   Cesare, Alex Menglet   Mihaly, Geoff Morrell   Bates, Joe Petruzzi  Joe,  Peta Toppano   Diomira, Christine Tremarco   Louise, Hugo Weaving   Kenneth 
Dir: Ken Cameo  , Ian Gilmour  Wri: John Alsop, Sue Smith
Availablity: not available in UK. DVD available in US.

Hugo Weaving: Bordertown Plot/Comments:

Bordertown is a highly ambitious miniseries in that it is gimmick free, low-concept and entirely character driven.
    A centre for incoming immigrants to Australia, it is the temporary home of disperate hopefuls, fugitives and people looking for a fresh start. The series focuses on a small group of these new immigrants, paid by the Australian government to work in the camp, either in a professional capacity (teachers, doctors) or a manual one (farmers, labourers). 
     Among this core group are the isolated base commander; the dry base manager (Linda Cropper); feuding Italians; refugees from the Holocaust, Nazism or Communism; and a Liverpudlian English teacher (Hugo Weaving) with his budding teenage daughter.
Hugo Weaving, Bordertown, Linda Cropper

     Roughly  two are chosen are chosen as the main focus for each episode, with the others in support. The problem with this approach is that some characters are far less interesting, making for weaker episodes. 
  Bordertown has been remarketed on DVD as a Cate Blanchett miniseries: in reality, her slightly mad Italian albino 'slut'/witch/outsider is only in it for 2 ½ episodes. The real standouts in the ensemble cast are the fab Linda Cropper; Mitchell Butel as the good-natured but extremely simple Nino; Christine Tremarco (a real Scouser) as Louise, blossoming and desperate for love; and Hugo Weaving as her loquacious, self-loathing, guilt-ridden father and the camp's asinine English teacher, Ken.

Episode 1, 2, 4, 6, 7: Little notable Hugo Weaving content.
Episode 3: Excellent episode, with a Tremarco/Weaving-focused second storyline. 
    The main story has Joe finally adding Bev (Cropper) to his tally of conquests. 
      Meanwhile, Ken is obsessed with finding the ungrateful bastard who dropped an "I'm bored, what is the point of all this?" note into his class suggestion box (it turns out to be his own comment, doodled during a pupil speech). 
      In fact he is so obsessed by this attack on his teaching and talent, that he is oblivious to his daughter's pain at rejection in love. When he does realise, years of emotional glibness make it difficult for him to comfort her, although he tries, awkwardly and glibly. 
Tremarco  and Weaving are fantastic together: their relationship is full of verbal sparring and deep, but unspoken affection. 

Bordertown Gallery
Next: The Alchemist
Back: Babe
Web Weaving

Episode 5: A superb episode and another which gives Weaving plenty of storyline. 
     Offended at the rubbish government assessment on his teaching of English as a foreign language, Ken sets out on his ultimate challenge to prove the assessor wrong: to teach idiotic Nino how to speak correct English, telling an involving story off by heart. 
     Finding  Mihaly's stunning ink drawing of a young boy, crouching from unknown attackers, brandishing a paprika as his only defense, Ken uses this as his teaching stimulus; getting excited about teaching again, and writing his own great short story.

Typical Hugo Weaving Quotes:

  • "Why does anybody die? I suppose it'd get a bit overcrowded if we all hung around"
  • "Satisfied? I haven't been this satisfied since I opened my veins in the bath"
  • To an illiterate Italian: "I beg your pardon, I must have slipped into swa-heeeelie  again"
  • [Glibly]: "Ah, this face…a tragical, comical, hysterical, pastoral widower's visage if ever there was one…of course, you don't have this face to contend with: there are days when I can't bear to look myself in the mirror ~ especially with my throat exposed and a razor in my hand"
  • To his barber: "Not too much off the top…[winces] if you can find any"
  • On being told that his barber has just dropped dead: "I thought he wasn't keep up his end of the conversation"
  • On knowing when love is the Real Thing: "I don't know that I ever did…until it was too late"
  • On a malicious joke to teach him to hate: "It's too late! I've been practising on myself for years"

 

Trainspotter Comments and Queries:


 
Hugo Weaving, Bordertown, teacher

Meanwhile, the true story of the mysterious drawing and the significance of the paprika is told in flashbacks with a dual plotline focusing on Mihaly, who also befriends a gypsy boy, mirroring the relationship with his son (the original brandisher of the paprika). 
      Speaking as an English teacher myself, Weaving displays some fantastic teacherisms ~ clichés ahoy; this episode is funny, touching, thought provoking and beautifully acted, written and shot.

Episode 8/8-b: A wonderfully acted, dark two-partner, concentrating on Dante, the rejected Italian husband from episode 2. 
     Ken finds the result of his chest X-ray, which brings him potentially closer to mortality and his desperately-missed wife than he would have wished. 
    He tries to give his (newly pregnant) daughter a hint of impending doom and a tender admission of love in a beautifully set-up scene involving mistaken identities, which is discussed under Hugo Content. 
    You will blub freely during this. 
Hugo Weaving, Bordertown, confession

Episode 9: Loads of quality Weaving and another tear-inducer. 
     The nature of Ken's illness is finally disclosed over one of his midnight ether-raiding sorties, which he uses to numb the physical pain and his years-old grief at losing his wife. Bev must choose between love with Joe and stability with Bates The camp is closed down. Louise's pregnancy/love for Nino are publicly disclosed and revenge for a seemingly petty misunderstanding between Mihaly and Ken leads to potential disaster. 
    There are many wonderfully tender scenes between Weaving, Tremarco and Butel. Somehow, the series manages to end with a combination of a double marriage and a note of sadness, as all the remaining characters drift off on the bus to their new lives; all completely transformed from the beginning of the series.

Bordertown far exceeded expectations, though with such a watertight cast, perhaps it is no surprise. For such a low concept, potentially soapy premise, it is incredibly touching and memorable. A fantastic showcase of ensemble acting, and exceptional writing and direction, it is highly recommended

Hugo Weaving content: 

Full of self-doubt, bitterness, intellectual constipation and bone-dry wit, Ken is one of the least flashy parts in the series and although he is a constant presence, his character is never given the main focus of any episode. 
     However, he is one of the anchors of the series and provides Weaving with all of the best lines: he seems to really relish delivering the fast, cocky, sarcastic patter of the exceedingly facetious Scouser. 
Hugo Weaving, Bordertown, laconic

On the other hand, he also carries the weight of the really emotive scenes of the series, and Weaving's considered, sensitive portrayal of an emotional man unable to actually show his emotions to the only thing in the world that he loves, will have anyone crying unlooked-for buckets.
    There is a beautifully staged scene where Ken obliquely hints at his illness, awkwardly confessing his love to his daughter, who he assumes is comfortably secured under her blankets. However, it is actually Nino who is hidden underneath; she is absent and will never know what he has told her.