Popular Culture Review Vol. 3, No. 2, August 1992 | Page 53

The Transformation of Mad Max

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In the time of this film, about 15 years after the events of
Mad Max, gangs still roam the highway always looking for "juice,"
the oil to make their vehicles run. The narrator tells us of Max; " . . .
a shell of a man, a burnt out desolate man, haunted by the demons in
his past, a man who wandered out into the wasteland, and it was
here in this blighted place that he learned to live again." Finally,
the action of The Road Warrior commences.
Total solitude is not for this older Max. He has a dog with
which he shares companionship and scarce food. So even at the
outset of this adventure, we know that partial healing has come to
Max. He makes his way to a desert community living within the
walled complex of an oil refinery. They have the oil, but no adequate
vehicles to get them to land 2000 miles away where they can begin
farming and building new lives. One of the children, a strange fey
mute called the Feral Kid, is integrated only partially into the
conununity. He takes a liking to Max, helps him, clings to him, and
begins the regeneration process of Max.
A ferocious battle ensues between the would-be settlers inside
their fortress and a murderous gang of oil thieves. With Max's aid,
the good guys win again. There is one last terrific road battle; a large
gang attacks their caravan, specifically the oil tanker that Max is
driving. The Feral Kid is in the cab with Max and saves Max's life at
one point. Nonetheless, when the settlers-to-be have triumphed.
Max stays behind. The caravan goes off, with the Feral Kid sadly
waving goodbye to Max. The last shot is of Max walking slowly off
into the badlands once again. Like Shane, he rides away to the pleas
(silent, of course) of a child, "Stay! Come back!" Tlie overvoice
resumes. The narrator tells us of the successful journey of the settlers
and how he (the Feral Kid) "grew to manhood, in the fullness of time
. . . became the leader."
The title of the third film. Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.
refers to what I believe is the less interesting part, full of gore,
brutality, and mindless battles—and of course Tina Turner,
remarkably convincing as the leader of one of the two hostile factions
of Bartertown. The film presents Max with two societies bom out of
the ashes. The first is Bartertown, a ragtag collection of drifters,
scavengers, thieves, murderers, and the like, run by two antagonists.
Auntie Entity and Master-Blaster. We see Max at the opening of the
film, a solitary wanderer through the desert with a camel train.