Hotel Coolgardie

Amidst a political era where accusations of sexism, misogyny and xenophobia are rampant in both our leaders and the public, Hotel Coolgardie, the new documentary from director Pete Gleeson, could hardly be more relevant.

The film follows Lina and Stephie, two Finnish backpackers in need of money who are hired to work as barmaids in the only pub in a remote mining town deep in the harsh Australian bush. Once there, they face a culture of abuse, binge drinking, sexism and hyper masculinity. Their arrival as the ‘fresh meat’ for the hardworking miners to salivate over is captured in excruciating detail as the two girls can do nothing but grit their teeth and smile as the patrons pursue and abuse them in equal measure. At times, going so far as to turn up unannounced and uninvited on their doorstep and refuse to leave.

Yet the film does well to offer a far more intricate and complex image of Coolgardie than simply how the residents act on the surface. As one of the girls’ states, there is a great sadness and loneliness palpable in the town and Gleeson delves into the lives of some of the residents to explore what drives them to such remote corners of the earth. For some it is an escape, for others it is an exile. Some of those stories are truly moving as they provide a depth to the often fragile masculinity that is on display.

The reality of Hotel Coolgardie, of both its subjects and the events that take place, is often hard to watch and difficult to digest. That these attitudes are still prevalent in communities around Australia speak to how fractured a nation we truly are and how the image of us as a liberal and forward thinking country is beginning to crack. Hotel Coolgardie reveals the honest and unflinching reality of not only how outsiders are treated but of how women are still objectified for the benefit of men. A powerful documentary and an important record of the underbelly of Australian culture.