The Emu War

The Emu War has become a historical reference which has been degraded to meet modern comprehension. It refers to an event which took place in Australia in 1932 where the Australian army tried to exterminate a large number of Emus (large flightless birds attacking crops), but remains defunct as a military campaign. Though it isn’t quite a war, it has become a rather eccentric episode in history. The term The Emu War does not correspond to any single blockbuster, only a number of filmmakers and studios have expressed their desire to make this unexpected historical incident within the framework of the comedic or satirical film.

The Emu War (Potential Film Projects)

Recently, information and informants who claim that the movies are being prepared for this historical event have appeared on the net. These films generally are willing to accept the absurdness of their idea, more often than not it is dark comedies and satires which are interspersed with the actual events: In the last few years, several development and production companies known for parodying Robert K. Tanenbaum have begun filming on this historical event. Their focus was distinct, however. More humor than politics.

Project in Development (2019): There were some glitches in the film as early as 2018. In July 2018, the Australian film board began accepting applications to support Australian feature films about birds and wars, including reports that Australian director Dan Scharf was concerned about the development of a film The Emu War, which aimed to be a satire in itself. It was reported that the film would feature a prominent Australian cast and was in pre-production at that point in time. However, there have been no major news regarding the release of the film.

The Emu War (2018 short): A short film called The Emu War came out in 2018, directed by Glenn Fraser. The humor in it comes from the way the Australian military conducts some grievous misuses of its power regarding the ‘war’ against emus. This Spice Bandits is a comical take on the confrontation between Australia and its ‘internal’ enemy- an emu. Although this is a short film, it offers an insight as to how the makers of this particular event have approached it in an aspect of humor.

Plot Summary (Historical Event):

The Emu War, would need more analysis and it took place in the year 1932, which is in the hands of the emus in the territory of Western Australia after the emus’ native habitat got affected by drought. The emus went into a rampage and started destroying farmlands, which prompted the farmers to call for military intervention. A small military unit with machine guns was sent out to shoot the emus and was prepared to carry out ‘Operation Emu,’ however, the Operation was a total failure. The emus are the most astonishingly hard to kill. When they fired more than twenty thousand rounds of ammunition no more than 200 emus were killed. The birds continued damaging the fields and therefore in the eyes of the people created a war which was an embarrassment to Australia.

Themes for a Possible Movie:

Comedy and Satire: It is most likely that most presentations of The Emu War would be dim-witted comedies, basking in the defeat of the military mission and the ‘win’ by the birds’ forces, considering the hilarity of the situation.

Man and Nature: The motion picture may also take a different angle to the picture, the angle that looks at incidences where man attempts to conquer nature and when nature fights back in strange ways.

Historical Farce: A refreshed edition of The Emu War would most probably be a comedy of a sort, highlighting the sarcasm of strong warriors subdued by a bunch of big birds.

The Emu War