“THE EMU WAR”: The incredible story of the war against Australian ostriches arrives at the B-RETINA film festival with an action comedy inspired by a true event
The ninth edition of B-RETINA, the B Series Film Festival in Cornellà de Llobregat, will host on September 21st at 10:00 p.m. at the Auditori Sant Ildefons (Carles Navales Square) the Spanish premiere of “The Emu War” (2023), a hilarious action comedy that adapts, with a lot of imagination and a sense of humor, a real historical event that occurred in Australia at the end of 1932, when the government decided to use armed soldiers to control a plague of emus, a type of native bird very similar to the ostrich and that devastated crops.
This absurd and surprising story, known as The Great Emu War, has transcended in the popular imagination as one of the most unusual conflicts in the history of humanity, inspiring memes, video games and now, a film that promises large doses of action and laughter. “The Emu War” is part of the festival’s Official Competition Section and is presented as one of the highlights of B-RETINA.
Directed by Jay Morrissey, Lisa Fineberg and John Campbell, this 75-minute Australian comedy takes the already peculiar historical situation to the extreme, portraying emus as fearsome killing machines that put a disorganized platoon of soldiers in check. Among these soldiers is Major Meredith, who, haunted by the kidnapping of his son at the hands of the emus, leads a suicide mission behind enemy lines with the aim of killing the Emu Queen, the cunning leader of the plague.
“The Emu War” is not only a satire loaded with black humor, but also an absurd and eccentric look at one of the most ridiculous episodes of the military’s past. Emus, despite being unable to fly, proved to be formidable rivals due to their speed (up to 50 km/h) and strategic movements. The soldiers, armed with Lewis machine guns, were surprised to discover that the birds were faster than military vehicles, making a mockery of the Australian armed forces.
THE REAL EMU WAR
According to media such as National Geographic, the real Emu War can only be described as surreal. It all started when an emus plague began to devastate wheat crops in the rural western regions of the country. At the height of the Great Depression, Australian farmers, many of them World War I veterans who had been relocated to marginal lands, faced the destruction of their crops by these birds, which migrated to the coast after the breeding season in search of food.
Faced with the desperation of the farmers, the government decided to take a drastic measure: sending the army to deal with the birds with machine guns. The conflict was led by Major G.P.W. Meredith and his platoon, armed with Lewis machine guns, with the mission of eliminating the emus. However, despite the heavy weaponry, the operation quickly became a chain of errors.
The birds did not fly, but were extremely fast and used evasive maneuvers that frustrated the soldiers. On one occasion, the military attempted to mount a machine gun on a truck, but the plan failed miserably when the emus managed to dodge the vehicle, leaving the soldiers unable to fire a single cartridge.
Over several days, thousands of bullets were fired, but the number of animals killed was small compared to the magnitude of the plague. Meredith commented that the birds “seemed to be better prepared than the soldiers themselves,” as they formed organized groups and managed to escape before the military could react. After weeks of failed attempts, the operation was officially canceled, leaving the emus as the unofficial victors of this singular war.
