Traps

In 1975, nearly five years before Ronald Reagan became President of the U.S., replacing relatively liberal Democratic and Republican regimes, Australia's Labor Party experienced a similarly sweeping and devastating reversal of fortunes. At the time, many on the left suspected that the C.I.A. had a hand in this startling transformation of the political landscape. This docudrama explores this thesis and carries it as far as it will go, as it follows the efforts of a journalist to trace the changes which took place in 1975 through to the time of this film (1986). Whatever one's views about the probability of the theories explored here, the film's style made waves among local critics at the time, who found it both innovative and irritating.