That being said, modern audiences might find its pacing too slow and the film's lack of exposition disorienting. Personally, I rather enjoy this slow-burn approach to storytelling which allows the plot to play out in its own time. The film itself provides next to no exposition for audiences, choosing instead to frame the story with only the following words: "A few years from now." From this point on, audiences are pretty much left to sort things out on their own. While the scenes of tender sexuality are outnumbered by those that are voyeuristic or downright violent, it's the portrayal of the world's worst instances of road rage that really set Mad Max apart. Miller's vision and cinematographer David Eggby's camerawork captured the vast, arid landscape of the Australian highways, a setting that proved perfect for the post-apocalyptic dystopian story. Organic energy infuses both the law-enforcing members of the Main Force Patrol and the chaotic agents of the scavenging Acolytes, unfettered by stilted dialogue or claustrophobic sets.
The films of Australian New Wave were characterized by a few traits: a relatively fresh vitality that was absent in films before this era, a penchant for capturing vast open spaces within the frame, the suddenness of violence, scenes of intimate sexuality, and a straight-ahead narrative style of storytelling. So how did it become the most profitable film for decades to come? With all that green talent both behind and in front of the camera, Mad Max had every reason to fail. Teaming up with first-time screenwriter James McCausland, Miller and Kennedy then turned to casting their film with fresh-faced actors relatively new to the cinematic scene. It was through his interest in film that Miller met up with amateur filmmaker Byron Kennedy at a summer film school, where they formed a partnership that would lead to massive success with Mad Max. First-time feature director Miller was, up until this point, an emergency room doctor exposed to all sorts of violent injuries and deaths. And yet, the safe bet in 1979 would have been that this film would simply crash and burn.
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