Are cane toads the most maligned creature Australia has ever known? Some might call Pauline Hanson a “creature” but sure, why not? Despite playing mascot to the winningest team in State Of Origin history, our sallow-skinned friends are loathed by pretty much everyone, undeniably gross and a perpetual threat to crops in Australia’s north. Mark Lewis explores this phenomenon in the Werner Herzog/Michael Moore endorsed film Cane Toad The Conquest, an 85 minute doco which follows “the unstoppable journey of the toad across the continent”. Cue skin crawling footage of bloated toads sliming all over each other and just as irksome locals disposing of them in fridges. According to the film’s website “an estimated 1.5 billion toads occupy over 1 million square kilometers of territory – and their conquest steadily continues,” which, racial cleansing vibes notwithstanding, is pretty fucking scary. And gross. Urgh, so gross. With the shared migration narrative we’re thinking March of the Penguins but with less Morgan Freeman and way more golf clubs. So many golf clubs.
Cane Toad The Conquest opens June 2.
