Hotel Coolgardie (Prime)

[MockneyReject]

Has anyone watched this?
I needed to distract myself from a family 'thing' last night. I came across this and it looked interesting, but it really, really bothered me. I'm not sure how much of that is because I'm feeling sad, anyway.
I was awake for ages, afterwards, reading reviews and, I think, hoping to find something to refute/contradict the ending.

It's a documentary/film about 2 young female backpackers, sent by an agency, to do a 3 month stint as bar staff at a remote pub in a small mining town in Western Australia. They had been robbed in Bali, so needed/wanted to earn enough money to buy a car and drive around Australia.

The thing I feel worst about is that I actually laughed, literally 'lol'd a few times.

I'd be really interested in what others made of it.

Hmm, I definitely put paragraphs in my OP!

Following as I haven't watched it but have looked at it. Just came to say I can definitely see your paragraphs!

Thanks - I can't see them, though!

I was going to say watch it and let me know what you think. But that sounds like a recommendation, and I'm not sure I want to recommend it, really.
A lot of the reviews compared it to a horror film called 'Wake in Fright' but I don't watch horror. Because I'm easily 'bothered'
Obviously, it's only a 'doco', so not scary, or even shocking; more depressing. Sad.

Surely, someone else has watched this?

Yes! It's very unpleasant, if I remember rightly, the men in it are horrible! It is very like that film you mention called Wake in Fright in spirit/ culture, but I wouldn't really call that film a proper horror movie. It is just similar to the 2 girl's situation in a sort of Deliverance-lite way. I felt sorry for the girls, but, no they weren't really suited to such a place.

I watched it a couple of years ago and I really liked it. True life. That’s how it is there.

Used to live near there - well it was where we went for a night out ). I can imagine it would be a culture shock for young female British backpackers. I was working in the mining industry at the time and was never there on my own. Now I'm curious.

Worth a watch, Rocio. Ironically, they had 2 British girls there as bar staff before the 2 on the film ( who were, I think, Finnish) and they fitted right in, life and soul types. I don't think the two Finns were sure of what was expected of them and the boss was a dick and very unpleasant imo.

www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jun/22/i-was-crying-and-i-was-angry-hotel-coolgardies-shocking-portrait-of-sexism-in-the-outback

I've watched and I've been to that bar. It's pretty rough and ready out there, but I believe the management of the pub has changed, so hopefully things have got better. Kalgoorlie is a bit of an eye-opener too!

I've just finished it. Uncomfortable viewing.

I watched it recently and felt so sorry for the girls - and especially poor Lena - but as always with these 'fly on the wall' type documentaries, I do wonder how selective the footage was.

Not doubting at all that they were treated poorly or that the men's attitudes were appalling, but I suspect that the footage was carefully edited for shock value, and that a lot of the time it was pretty mundane. It's just two hours of TV out of several weeks of life, so there's clarly a lot that isn't featured.

SPOILER
Of course, it's edited, as it's meant to be 'entertainment', but surely the ending is true?
I think that's what bothered me the most - seeing Lena reassure her parents, by phone, that everything was ok, whilst watching her being raped, then seeing her feet rot and, finally reading that she went blind!
Her life and her future changed, and for what?
I realise that when you're young and travelling, you hook up with people, but Stephie didn't seem too outraged. I know that she was also in the same situation, and they might not have known each other long, and she's not responsible, but...

Watching it now. Have been to Australia and loved it in Queensland. This looks very duelling banjos.

Okay, have finished.
Thank you for the thread OP as I would not have seen it otherwise and I did find it interesting.
It was a sad mix of culture clash, language barrier, inexperience, being literally stuck in the middle of nowhere, sexism, the ''Ocker'' trope, xenophobia, misogyny, toxic masculinity, the nature of consent and a health warning to boot.
And loneliness above all else.
A lot to unpack there.
Will grab a and some then come back...

I lived in Kalgoorlie, mad place, I had lots of fun though.
Never actually went to Coolgardie, but worked in lots of other wee similar towns.
The guys really are like that, however that manager was horrible and I'd have walked out of there.
You have to accept the guys are rough and ready there was be sexist jokes but it shouldn't go further and you absolutely should be kept safe.
I was there on and off from 99-2001 so a long time ago.

The film was shot in 2012. Because post-production was long and complex (80 hours of footage to a 3 hour rough cut to a 1hour 20 minute edit) it took another 4-5 years to be released to festivals and so on, but the new owner Debby appears to be running it well enough, if you see the reviews on trip advisor.
I found it fascinating.
I have been a summer au-pair twice in Europe, been an ex-pat for many years when living away and I come from a mining town - not a ghost town - but nonetheless a quite insular, parochial place.
So the whole idea of assimilation and integration, and the price of that, is compelling. As the director says, Becky and Clio would have been a different film altogether. They seemed better equipped at dealing with the bloody awful misogyny masquerading as banter and seemed to know their way around a bar - I have done barmaiding (including a rough as fuck pub) and you do need to have a sense of humour, hit the ground running, keep the beers coming and have craic with the punters. Even I'd have struggled there though.
Lina and Stephie, with English as a second language, limited bar experience/not au fait with Ozzie brands and slang, not used to a bingedrinking culture, there as a means to an end, are sitting ducks.
Anthony - flirty, drunk cause of Lina's morkkis (Finnish for remorse after drinking) - Lina may have been too drunk to consent but suspect he was too tbf; not sure she viewed it as rape OP
James - fellow-traveller seems to have pre-warned them pre-assignment how it would be, possible own experience of small communities
Jamie - most awkward lunch date ever whilst claiming the company was enough, another one who hasn't seen his daughter for 6 years and is bitter about his ex
Joseph John Lowe - lonely estranged father, buying them bracelets and trinkets, living in a noxious car, recycling cans for a living
Pete Coffey - awful owner. Claims you don't need experience if you are pretty but berates them for not having experience. Looks like he is in real estate now?
Pikey - reminded me of that Bogan Chopper incel mentality, berating his lack of success with the opposite sex while calling women bitches
Local women calling them 'slack tarts' for not knowing the ropes/manning the bar quickly enough
I think letting the locals know that they saw their hometown as a shithole, were only there for the dollar and had zero interest in their crappy anecdotes (as was their right) was the final nail in the coffin tbh. I am amazed they lasted four weeks in such a toxic environment.
The diabetes causing complications with the infection was heartbreaking - Lina's Mum asked her repeatedly to keep on top of her bloods. You have to, especially if type 1. I did wonder - assuming they had health insurance - whether the crew should have intervened earlier rather than let a twenty-something ignore her obvious injuries.

Anyway, thank you OP - 'enjoyed' is entirely the wrong word, but I did get something out of the ob doc. Felt they all needed healing by the end of it.
Plus I learned a few new phrases - fuck me dead, skull it and rough as bags

Am surprised that the director hasn't gone on to make more films, he made that one on a budget, getting Finnish-speaking tourists to help with the subtitles, and having to make a narrative from copious amounts of footage. Wonder if it put him off for the life or whether the opportunities for film-making just aren't out there; certainly Covid's made it harder.
www.imdb.com/name/nm2656658/

And in the end we did have to step in and provide some assistance once there were medical issues involved.
Ah, there was some intervention, just not soon enough, with the glory of hindsight.

I haven’t seen this but remember passing through Coolgardie on a visit to Western Australia a good few years ago. We were astonished at the bar culture in nearby Kalgoorlie where female bartenders were expected to regularly flash their breasts to punters, I think they were called “titty bars”. Not sure if this still happens.

I’ve just taken out a subscription to Prime so will check this out.

@RocioMartinez I'm curious to know where you lived that Coolgardie was a night out!
I once went for a night out in Leinster when working in an even smaller place with nothing but a mine site and a tin shed pub, and a friend considered Merriden a good night out when in a remote wheat belt town.

I'm honestly not sure what to say about the Documentary, it absolutely showed the worst, but I met some great people too its certainly a v different culture and I guess you need to embrace the good/nod along with/ignore the bad to make it work.
I wonder what on earth the agency said to them in the first place to get them there, or if they were just desperate for money?
I'd have liked to hear what the two English girls had to say too, I expect their experience was more like mine.

What I will say is that what I accepted as bants/culture difference/travelling experience at 21, and what I'd accept as a 43yr old are very, very different, I'd be horrified now.

@applesandbananasandoranges - when I was there there were "skimpies" or skimpy-nights. Basically barmaids dressed in little more than their underwear. This was 40 years ago mind.

@ISpyCobraKai - to be fair we usually went to Kalgoorlie (still have lots of friends there), but Coolgardie was a useful stopping off point on the way to or from Perth. Suffice it to say that Laverton and Leinster were very different in those days. What really shocked me though were the aboriginal communities right next door to affluent mining towns.

@SequinsandStiIettos, thanks for some interesting background info! I found the documentary fascinating too. I don't feel that Line was raped either. It's worth checking out the film mentioned on the Guardian review, Wake in Fright. It's really old (early 70s) - there's a school teacher trying to get home/ go travelling on his hols, but he ends up stuck in a similar mining town to the one in the doc we've been discussing and various " adventures" arise. Think it's on Prime too ( at least in UK). I love weird late 60s/ early 70s stuff. I also recommend A Cold Day in the Park and Deep End. Both from that time and very odd/ unsettling stories.

That should be Lina, sorry!

Thanks to everyone that's watched it and/or is familiar with the area, and has posted insights.
Thanks for the link to the interview with the film maker - that's what I was looking for, really.
I agree that Lina didn't feel it was rape, but it made me uneasy. He'd already planted himself in their private quarters and refused to leave - "you cant make me?" He'd previously propositioned both of them, and it was established that Lina wasn't a big drinker. The men had openly discussed getting them drunk, with the intention of getting sex. Lina had already told him, very clearly, that she wasn't interested. Also, she said she couldn't remember it. I think she'd have a case, at least here in the UK.