The makers of Kangaroo: A Love-Hate Story knew their documentary was going be controversial, just not this controversial

The film begins late at night, with scuzzy, clandestinely shot black and white footage capturing kangaroos being hunted and killed. Later, we see emotive images of the animals majestically hopping across a sun-kissed landscape, contrasted with subsequent, horrific images of their body parts and mangled corpses strewn across bloodied land – the aftermath of a gruesome and unlawful slaughtering session.



After watching Kangaroo: A Love-Hate Story, a new documentary that argues Australia is terribly mistreating its beloved national animal and mascot, two things are crystal clear. One: the film-makers are on the side of environmental activists, outraged by the animal’s treatment. And two: their button-pushing documentary will be a lightning rod for controversy.

Co-directors Michael McIntyre and Kate McIntyre Clere were expecting A Love-Hate Story to ruffle some feathers. Nevertheless, they have been gobsmacked by the response.



Funding Dora: fears Queensland will lose out on major film productions Read more

“We were shocked at how polarising this is. We knew it would be polarising, but not this polarising,” says Michael McIntyre. “Especially among the scientific community. I thought that’s why you become a scientist, to have these robust debates. But that’s not happening. All that’s going on is this incredible attempt to discredit anybody who stands up for the kangaroos.

“There doesn’t seem to be any middle ground, including in the general public. There is nobody willing to be mature about this and to bring parties together, so we can at least discuss this in a mature way.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Filmmakers Michael McIntyre and Kate McIntyre Clere (centre, left) were expecting A Love-Hate Story to ruffle some feathers. Photograph: Hopping Pictures

Predictable parties have attacked the film, including the kangaroo meat industry and conservative media who, the filmmaker says, have slammed it sight unseen. It is reasonable to assert, however, that the directors themselves – with their incendiary and impassioned, emotional approach – have not exactly occupied the middle ground either.

One issue core to the film, and the broader discussion about kangaroos, is population count. At a key point in A Love-Hate Story, close to the end, just before a beautiful close-up of a kangaroo looking directly into the lens, one interviewee puts forward an alarming hypothetical, saying: “As Australians we take them for granted, that they’re always going to be there. What if they’re not?”

The implication is clear: the very existence of kangaroos may be in danger. Earlier this week, however, Fiona Simson, president of the National Farmers Federation, claimed the film was misleading and said there are nearly 50 million of the animals in Australia. Kangaroo: A Love-Hate Story incorporates official estimates, of 27 to 33 million, but then questions the methodology by which kangaroos are counted, arguing these estimations are deeply problematic.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest There is a double standard when it comes to the ethical treatment of kangaroos compared to other animals, the filmmakers argue. Photograph: Hopping Pictures

Even if official estimates are off by a whopping amount – let’s say, they double the actual number – that would still mean there are around 15 million kangaroos. But, says McIntyre: “That’s a hypothetical that’s too hypothetical to answer. There are some population estimates we saw that had an error rate of 80% to 90% ... I just think it has been so misrepresented that, you know, I don’t even think we are close to even knowing the truth.

“Anecdotally, I travelled extensively throughout New South Wales and Queensland. I was expecting to see a lot more kangaroos. I know I am not an ecologist, but boy I was expecting to see a lot more.”



Amid the hullabaloo surrounding the film’s release, ethicist Peter Singer, who appears in it as an interviewee (with others including Tim Flannery, Terri Irwin, Lee Rhiannon and Ken Henry) clarified to ABC News that he does not think the animals are at risk of extinction.

Missing from the film is a rigorous analysis of exactly what effect kangaroos have on the Australian ecosystem. This might have helped audiences understand whether they are indeed “pests”, a label often attached to them.

McIntyre says there was no room for this: “There was so much we couldn’t fit in the film. We certainly wanted to cover that.” Although, he adds: “How can an animal that has basically evolved long before human settlement, have possibly created a scenario where they are causing the problem?”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Terri Irwin, one of the many interviewed famous faces in the film, with a kangaroo. Photograph: Hopping Pictures

One more or less indisputable aspect of the documentary, which is powerfully argued by the filmmakers, is the existence of a double standard when it comes to the ethical treatment of kangaroos compared to other animals. Most people are much more vocal about the welfare of other animals found in the supermarket, such as cows and chickens.

What McIntyre calls our “hatred of wild animals” has its roots in colonisation, he says: “Our belief now is that it started that far back, with white settlement. As soon as white pastoralists arrived, the native animals were something to be dealt with, rather than them saying ‘let’s figure out how we can exist with this precious wildlife’.”

Enter the dragon: how Australia became China’s gateway to Hollywood Read more

The gruesome footage the directors include is confronting, to say the least. It says something about their approach that they chose not to explore a core issue – how kangaroos affect the ecosystem – but did include visions of bashed joeys, severed heads and body parts. It is reasonable to assume, however, that most viewers would be sickened and outraged by such footage, and that it is in the public interest for it to be seen.

“You should have seen what we left on the cutting room floor,” McIntyre says. “We were shocked. We sought advice on whether it was going too far or not. But this is a nightly reality, not a fiction. This is a fact that’s going on every night around Australia. As Australians, we thought we had to represent this. It’s uncomfortable, but this is an uncomfortable issue. We make no apologies about it being uncomfortable to watch.”

• Kangaroo: A Love-Hate Story is in cinemas now

